UFC ON FOX: SHOGUN VS. VERA Postfight Show on FUEL TV Notes. – 8/4/12
Evans and Sonnen Break Down UFC ON FOX: SHOGUN VS. VERA; Plus Exclusive Shogun, Machida and Bader Postfight Interviews
LOS ANGELES, CA – The following quotes are from the UFC Postfight Show on FUEL TV for UFC on FOX: SHOGUN vs. VERA, hosted by Jay Glazer. UFC Light Heavyweight Rashad Evans and Middleweight Chael Sonnen offered analysis. Two-time MMA Journalist of the Year Ariel Helwani conducted backstage interviews.
UFC Postfight Show on FUEL TV Analyst Rashad Evans on the night’s fights:
“It was such an exciting night from the minute it started to the end.
The guys went out there and gave it all they had. When you watch a UFC
fight, all you care about is that they go out there and give it their
all, and they did that.”
UFC Postfight Show on FUEL TV Analyst Chael Sonnen on Lyoto Machida vs. Ryan Bader:
“You know listen, we watched these two guys fight and I still don’t
know who the better fighter is because Bader didn’t fight today. He went
to the job site and didn’t bring his tools. Machida went forward and
shut him down with one big shot.”
Evans on Machida vs. Bader: “Machida does something that he always
does, he mesmerizes and when you get a little impatient he is going to catch you and stick it to you.”
Dan Henderson on Machida:
“He gets you to start watching him. He
gets you mesmerized and then he gets you. Bader wasn’t doing any level
changes or moving around and Bader got impatient and that is when
Machida struck.”
Henderson on Machida:
“He is a guy I have always watched over the
years. He has gotten to grow on me a little. Early on he was a little
boring and waited a lot, but he is also a guy that would be fun to
figure out. It’s a different type of guy, different style that you
aren’t used to fighting, so it changes it up and makes
it a little fun for me. Bader didn’t really do anything, he just stood
on the outside and Machida didn’t get impatient, he just waited.”
Henderson on what Bader should have changed:
“I would have liked
to see Bader fake a little more, fake strikes, fake takedowns. He
didn’t even try to take him down once. I think he might have been
nervous about getting kneed. I think he was just out there a little
nervous and scared. When the fight started, he kind of got
big eyes.”
Machida on if he wants to fight Jones or Henderson: “Whatever,
anyone. I can’t choose.”
Machida on if he was surprised Bader didn’t come with his usual skills:
“I trained very hard for this fight and every time I changed my base,
he comes a lot and I feel I can put my punch and I can connect my punch.
That is what happened.”
Machida on if he brought wrestlers into his camp:
“I didn’t bring
in any wrestlers, but I trained a lot of wrestling. I moved to America
to train because I know there are a lot of wrestlers here. That is why I
moved my camp here.”
Machida on if he would drop down to middleweight:
“I want this
fight to go into the title fight at 205, but maybe in the future. Who
knows? I can drop my weight to 185, it’s easy for me. But, I never
tried. I always walk around at 205-210, but this time I had a great camp
and I lost a lot of weight. That is why I drank
water before the scale.”
Machida on what he would do differently if he got to fight Jones again:
“It is very hard to say because he is a very unpredictably fighter. You
can’t predict where he is going. But, I think I would try to keep a
little of the same training, to keep my distance and my timing. Maybe I
need to train a little more wrestling.”
Insider Ariel Helwani asks Ryan Bader how he feels:
“I feel okay,
sore. When I woke up I didn’t know what was going on and I was sitting
on the stool or lying down, I don’t know. I have no idea what happened. I
thought I was still fighting and woke up and people were around me. I
don’t remember if I got hit with a straight
or left.”
Bader on if he got baited:
“Yeah, I wanted to put some hands on
him and get him to respect my power and get some takedowns on him. He
caught me coming in. He was patient and he did the right thing.”
UFC President Dana White on if he is happy with the card:
“It was
a great night. I sweat these shows like you don’t even know; they take
months off my life. But this night was great, they were great fights.
Everyone delivered. I always want to have the best possible showing, I
know how talented these athletes are and what
they are capable of and when they don’t do it is disappointing.”
White on why Machida gets the title fight:
“He is the most impressive
in not just the knockout, he just seems like he wants it more than
Shogun wants right now. Shogun is not giving me the vibe that he wants
this title fight. Shogun isn’t overwhelming me with demands to fight for
the title.”
White on if Machida could do something different against Jones:
“I think Machida has the ability to do a lot of different things. He is the only one to ever win a round against Jones.”
White on Bader’s performance:
“What is surprising to me is he never
shot once. He kept running at him with punches. But, it is the second
round of a three-round fight and everything is on the line. You have to
go in there and do something. Bader had to commit to something even if
it was a shot.”
Rashad on Shogun Rua vs. Brandon Vera:
“You know coming to this
fight everyone wondered how Vera was going to handle it, but this fight
did not let down. Vera came through and surprised people because he
gave Rua an opponent. Rua came in and gave him some ground and pound and
Vera gave him a little more than expected.”
Sonnen on Shogun vs. Vera: “Shogun fights, that is what he does.
He always brings his skills with him. He never attempts to predict an opponent, he brings what he knows well.”
Rua on if he was surprised with Vera: “No I’m not surprised because
I love Brandon Vera. He is a good fighter and tonight he proved that.”
Rua on how his cardio was: “I tired a little bit. But for the next
fight I will train hard.”
Rua on Machida getting the title fight: “No problem. Okay. I am
not upset, it’s okay.”
Rua on who he wants to fight next: “I don’t know. I train hard
for everything.”
Sonnen on Joe Lauzon vs. Jamie Varner:
“This was the most under-promoted
card on the fight and we talked about it a lot. It was a fight to
watch. These guys went to absolute war, these guys on their feet going
back and forth. This was the story of the night. The entire fight there
was non-stop action. This ended up being fight
of the night and knockout of the night.”
Evans on Lauzon vs. Varner: “Back and forth action all night. Jamie
really impressed me with a lot of heart, but at the end of the night Lauzon ended up finishing him.”
Lauzon on Varner:
“I felt like he broke in the second round. He
had a good first round, but I was going to keep pushing and get him
down. I usually have good cardio and sometimes it goes bad and people
think it’s that I have bad cardio, but I actually have good cardio.”
Lauzon on being on this card:
“I am glad the UFC put me on this
card. I always finish guys so it is guaranteed excitement one way or
another. I am glad to be on a card and put on a good fight.”
Lauzon on how he regrouped mentally:
“I didn’t get caught up in
it. I felt like that during training for this fight, I didn’t get
caught up in any future fight. Before, I was too focused on other little
things. I have lots of lumps on my head and a sore elbow, but I am
happy I could show people that I can fight.”
Varner on his injured hand:
“Looks like I broke my hand. I mean
you can kind of see it, the knuckle is gone. When one of my right hands
landed it was gone, it hurt pretty bad. It was in the second round. I
slipped his jab and I came over with an over head right and hit his head
and I felt it right away. That’s when I started
throwing elbows to the body. I had to resort to take downs, which is
how I got in the triangle. I think that if I hadn’t broken my hand I
probably could have won the fight. But, he reversed me and he timed it
perfectly with the triangle. For me to say yes
guaranteed, no, but I’m sure the third round would have gone a lot like
the first one.”
Varner on if he is walking away with a smile:
“Yeah, I am proud
of my performance. This has been two fights back-to-back and I had one
of the hardest training camps of my life. I didn’t take a break. It was a
great fight. I was looking up to him for a long time. I could have sat
on the bench and not taken this fight, but
I decided to test myself. I would love to fight him again. Not right
away, but some day. And I will go ahead and give myself credit for
performance of the night.”
Evans on Mike Swick vs. DaMarques Johnson:
“This is the exhale
of the night. Mike was panicked on this in the two years that he sat
out. He definitely had his bad moments when he thought it was going to
be stopped, but he wasn’t going to let it happen and he stayed in
there.”
Helwani asks Swick if he thought he would do this well:
“No man,
it is hard to predict what is going to happen after two years. I just
wanted to get a real fight, which it was. I trained hard. He hit me
hard, I hit him hard. But, I wanted to fight. I wanted to earn my
victory and I think I did.”
Swick on if he was hurt:
“My biggest concern was that he nailed
me in the right eye and I lost vision in that eye and when that happens
in a fight, it is really frustrating. But that was really it. I didn’t
really like the position on the bottom and I was trying to make some
moves and maybe spent too much time there.”
Henderson on fighting Jon Jones:
“It is definitely a big fight,
but it seems like all my last few were big. I am not training any
differently. I gave myself a few extra weeks to train. But, tactically
this one is a little different because it’s a little longer. I feel good
right now.”
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