Las Vegas — On hand in Las Vegas for the latest Zuffa Boxing card, Dana White took a moment on Sunday to reflect on the new and improved Sean Strickland that was on display following UFC 328.
The one who admitted he’d gone too far with his trash talking. The one who claimed his “hate battery” had run out.
“One of the many things that I love about combat sports is the unique type of badass— mentally, physically and emotionally— that you have to be to compete in the sport,” White said in regards to Strickland and Khamzat Chimaev showing nothing but respect at the conclusion of their grudge match.
“And when you look at all the things that were said by those two leading up to that fight, normal people like us can never even imagine what it must feel like to walk out of that tunnel and then go deliver in front of the entire world. It’s part of what makes combat sports so unique and badass, and the athletes that compete here, amazing.”
That said, White went on to state that “I highly doubt we’ll have a new and improved Sean Strickland. I’ll believe it when we see it, but I’m not buying it.”
Instead, White suggested that “I think that night, all the emotion comes out after the win. And yes, he broke his nose in the first round.”
“I think we saw that much of Sean Strickland,” said White, holding his thumb and forefinger rather close together. “I don’t know how long that will last. If that’s where he’s headed now, no one’s happier than me, I promise you that. But I’m not buying it.”
Dana White also touched on taking Zuffa Boxing to the UK, which will mark its international debut. “We have an incredible Sky [Sports] deal. We’re going to do a lot of fights over in the UK,” stated White, who went on to add that “realistically over the last 15, 20 years, boxing has become a European sport. It definitely doesn’t have the same power it had in the United States in the 90s and early 2000s.”
Watch the full Zuffa Boxing 06 post-fight press conference with Dana White above.