Tuesday's boisterous UFC on Fox press conference was hosted by UFC President Dana White and open to the public in Hollywood, California. Featured on the panel was UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, number one heavyweight contender Junior dos Santos, and Fox executive Eric Shanks. The press conference was streamed live on MMA Nation, as well as the UFC's website.
The MMA community was out in full steam, as fans attending the Hollywood press conference provided a raucous backdrop for the brief question and answer session. White spoke at length about the massive expectations for the UFC's primetime debut on Fox. Likewise, both Velasquez and dos Santos voiced their excitement at being part of such a momentous event.
UFC on Fox is scheduled for November 12th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. For more analysis, follow MMA Nation (@MMANation) on Twitter.
Here are partial notes from each participant.
Dana White:
- Obviously you want to go with your best foot forward, and everybody loves the heavyweights. I can guarantee you that if this fight goes 30 seconds or 25 minutes, this is going to be a fight right here.
- Cain Velasquez is the Terminator. He will not stop until he finishes you.
- I wanted to go with a fight that I knew, if i had to bet anything, if I had to bet everything, would be great. And I know that these two are going to bring it.
- We've got a lot of big plans for that night. Fox productions have a lot of big plans for that night.
- With all the new, exciting things that are happening in the sport, all the guys want to be involved.
- Our deal does not start until in January. We've already had the most meetings I've ever had with TV executives.
- The pressure is on us to deliver. To deliver an event never seen before in combat sports.
- The next seven years are going to be amazing. Amazing for us, amazing for the sport, and amazing for the fans.
- Whatever happens will be exciting.
- Reality is better than any script you could ever write.
- If the fight goes quick there is a chance we could air Henderson vs. Guida.
- Ben Henderson vs. Clay Guida is the co-main event.
Cain Velasquez:
- The recovery feels good. My body feels good. I feel ready.
- For this fight I've been watching videos, having my team behind me, doing the things I normally do.
- This is my toughest fight.
- I'm ready to go five rounds. It's going to be a war out there for five rounds. That's always how I prepare myself.
- No pressure to go in and perform. It's what we do.
- I do what I'm asked of. That's go in and train everyday, train hard. I try to leave it all out there when I train and I fight.
- Junior is definitely one of the hardest hitters out there.
- I expect to go everywhere in this fight, on the feet, to wrestling, to down on the ground, to jiu-jistu. Wrestling has to be key. Boxing has to be sharp.
Junior dos Santos:
- It's good to receive good energy from the guys. It doesn't matter if people are rooting for me or not. It matters that they're here cheering for the fight.
- My last fight gave me a lot of good experience going all three rounds.
- I'm feeling great, in great shape.
- I'm really, really excited to be fighting for the title. To be fighting against Cain Velasquez, a great guy, undefeated champion. And for sure more excited to be fighting on free TV.
- I love to fight standing, but I will be prepared to fight on the ground. It doesn't matter where the fight goes.
- I'm training everything now. I'm learning wrestling very fast.
- I feel no pressure too. That's what I love to do and I will be ready to make a good show.
- I'm doing my camp in Brazil. I'm getting prepared for this fight very well. I'm bringing in Lil Nog, Big Nog, Anderson Silva, and they're making me better.
Eric Shanks:
- As of yesterday the entire event is sold out from an ad sales perspective.
- The response from the advertisers has been amazing.
- I can't tell you how many times people inside the business told me 'it's a fad,' it's not going to last.'
- It's just a sport that we wanted to be in business why for a long time now and the opportunity finally came.