Plenty of UFC stuff

November 21, 2008

First of all, in case you haven’t seen it, we have two stories on the UFC in today’s Star-Bulletin.

THE FIRST is a short piece with quotes from both Dana White and BJ Penn about the suddenly not-so-good chance the UFC holds an event in Hawaii:

And then we also have a story HERE about the Jan. 31 fight between Penn and George St.-Pierre that could draw the biggest buy rate in UFC history based on the markets the two fighters come from.

You can only fit so much into one newspaper article, and yesterday was a great chance to pick the mind of Dana White. Before this sport exploded in the last few years, he was always in Hawaii, checking out all the fights. He mentioned that he found guys like Josh Thomson and Robbie Lawler here and saw Penn/Gomi and Kid Yamamoto and could have gone on and on.

He didn’t pull any punches, he said it like it is. Said he thought the Penn/GSP fight SHOULD be in Hawaii, but what can you do with the regulation laws apparently killing any chances of coming here thanks to licensing fees on just about every revenue opportunity they have.  He was also quick to point out just how big of a star the winner of this fight will be. If Penn wins, he’ll be the first champion in two different weight classes at the same time, while if GSP wins, he would face Thiago Alves next and then possibly a superfight with Anderson Silva at 185.

BJ was his normal self, very polite, yet you can tell he’s sick of this media circus. He’s ready to get back to Hilo and train.

Met GSP over breakfast and can’t say enough good things about him. Very respective, very polite. I asked him all the questions, but his only one for me was where’s a good club to go in Hawaii. Sorry GSP fans, he’s leaving after today’s presser and won’t be out on the town tonight. Maybe next time. Was interested to hear him say BJ may be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world even though GSP beat him. I think both guys have thrown that fight out the window. They’re both completely different fighters, and both know this will be the fight everyone remembers.

Posted in Fights