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UFC on Fox: Dana White admits he’s nervous, fighters say no way
By Steve Cofield
For the hardcore fans of mixed martial arts, Saturday night's UFC card on Fox will look familiar, but Dana White is sweating bullets. The usually unflappable UFC president looked beat at yesterday's prefight press conference and stammered a bit. He's nervous with such a big event on tap on network television.
By Steve Cofield
For the hardcore fans of mixed martial arts, Saturday night's UFC card on Fox will look familiar, but Dana White is sweating bullets. The usually unflappable UFC president looked beat at yesterday's prefight press conference and stammered a bit. He's nervous with such a big event on tap on network television.
"I'm a … wreck," White told the media on Wednesday near Staples Center. "I haven't slept. I feel weird. I can't wait for Saturday to be over with. I want to nail this thing. I want to do it right and put it behind me and move forward."
Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos are cool customers. They're in L.A. to fight just like were going to next week in San Jose at UFC 139.
"It feels the same as any other fight," said Velasquez.
"I'm feeling really excited for this fight, but no pressure," said Dos Santos.
White has to be hoping he gets two or three rounds out of the UFC heavyweight championship fight. There's no worry about the tilt being boring, but one has to wonder what a 30-second fight would do for casual fight fans. White told Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole that the one-fight format is what Fox executives asked for."I'm feeling really excited for this fight, but no pressure," said Dos Santos.
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White said it was important to spend part of the hour introducing new fans to MMA.
"There's going to be storytelling, there's going to be explaining on who we are, what this is, what these athletes are about," White said. "There's definitely going to be some breakdowns and a lot of explanations, more than you would see on a typical UFC event."
