Dana White happy that Shogun vs. Henderson wasn’t Main Event on “UFC on Fox”

During the UFC 139 press conference, Dana White was asked if the exciting match between Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua should have been the main event of the first UFC on Fox card, which led to this response:

“If that fight that happened [with Henderson and Shogun] went on FOX for the first time ever, let me tell you what, I would not be having a good time these last five or six days… We’ve got to ease our way … look, we live in this bubble that the rest of the world doesn’t live in and doesn’t understand. We’re still in an education process and educating the masses about what the sport is and what it’s all about.”

“Those of us who are in this room and people who have been watching this for a long time just incredibly appreciate what those two did in there, and you can understand what they went through and what’s going on. The rest of the world would go, ‘Oh my God. What was that?’”

Immediately before announcing this, White said he believed that Shogun VS Henderson was one of the top three fights in the history of the sport. Velasquez VS Dos Santos lasted an underwhelming 64 seconds, with neither man attempting any grappling (which puzzled even White considering he expected Cain to try to take JDS down rather than slug it out), and ended with Dos Santos knocking out the champ and taking the gold for himself.

“The hardcores can [expletive] about that fight. I couldn’t care less what they think about that fight. I don’t care. People are like, ‘Oh, you don’t care what your fans think?’ No, I do not care what you think. That fight had to go the way that it went because none of you guys understand what goes on behind the scenes… Those of you that think we didn’t do the right thing on the first Fox fight do not understand what it takes to build this sport beyond national television. So shut up again.”

Via 5th Round