Las Vegas, NV — Dana White handed out another four contracts on this week’s instalment of the Contender Series. And after some closely contested fights, the UFC President believes that fights from the show should be considered when it comes time to dish out year-end awards.
“One of the things that you guys as the media need to start looking at is, these are possible fights of the year, possible rounds of the year, knockouts of the year,” he told media outlets including Cageside Press after Tuesday’s card. And he was clear that taking a loss on the show doesn’t close the door to the UFC for a hopeful fighter.
“These are the best kids that are out there that are unsigned,” noted White. “And when you come in, you’re fighting the other best kids that are out there. Some of these kids that are coming in are undefeated, or only have one loss. You lose, and you go back out and you keep winning, yeah, you [can] come back. This isn’t like the NFL, you get one shot and you never get heard of again. You keep doing your thing and keep improving and keep winning, you can work your way back to the show.”
White also addressed talk of Nick Diaz vs. Robbie Lawler 2 at this weekend’s UFC 266 moving from welterweight to middleweight. “Robbie Lawler texted me that he’ll hit me when he lands. So Robbie wants to talk about to me about this whole thing,” revealed White. “I know that the Diaz camp wants the fight at 85.”
News of the weight change broke earlier on Tuesday. Pressed on why Diaz wants the change, White replied by saying “I don’t know, he probably doesn’t want to make weight. Listen, every time you come into a Diaz fight, you know what I mean? And we forget because we haven’t seen Nick in a few years.”
Watch the full Contender Series Season 5, Week 4 media scrum with Dana White above.
DWCS 5 Week 4 Dana White Scrum
DWCS 5 Week 4 AJ Dobson Scrum
DWCS 5 Week 4 Michael Morales Scrum
DWCS 5 Week 4 Victor Martinez Scrum
DWCS 5 Week 4 Kleydson Rodrigues Scrum
