Post-UFC 97 Press Conference Notes And Video

Some notes from the post-UFC 97 press conference:

- UFC Prez Dana White talked about Chuck Liddell and how they had discussed retirement, but wanted this Rua fight. White wanted him to stop after the Evans fight, but Liddell said he would get into shape and give it a go against Rua.

- White said that everyone was dogging Rua about the fight against Mark Coleman, but that he was coming off two knee surgeries and that he came ready.

- White thought Liddell/Rua was the most exciting fight of the night.

- Liddell said that he would talk with his people Monday or Tuesday but that could have been his last fight. White pretty much verified that following Liddell's exit.

- A reporter asked Silva about his fighting style, but Liddell lept to Silva's defense, blaming Leites for not doing anything. Silva, hand in chin, seemed bored during this discourse, which also involved Silva's interpreter himself getting heated during this exchange. Fast forward to 1:30 below to see that.



- White wasn't happy with the Silva fight and later said that he was embarrassed as a promoter (this was after Silva had left). He said that Silva was still the champ and still unbeaten and that Georges St. Pierre was runner-up for the world's best pound-for-pound fighter.

- Here's more from Silva:



- White ridiculed the notion that Fedor Emelianenko is the world's best pound-for-pound fighter and that he's "at a buffet in Russia somewhere" and needs to compete against the world's best before getting that title.

- For those that think it's all about Anderson Silva vs. GSP, White said that GSP has the toughest fight of his career coming up with Thiago Silva and that all his fans need to not look past that.

- White speculated that Silva may need to challenge himself a bit more and maybe that needs to be in the 205-pound division.

- Here's a little more video - including some of the above -courtesy of Wrestling Observer/Figure Four Weekly.

Josh Nason - josh [at] ropesringandcage [dot com] - has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He joined up with Bleacher Report in 2008 and achieved Columnist status in 2009.