UFC president Dana White had a new-age medical procedure arranged by New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez. Matt Mitrione was fined (along with the previously announced indefinite suspension) for comments about transgendered fighter Fallon Fox. There’s a new wrinkle in the possible Super Fight between Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva.
Here are the five rounds from the UFC on FOX 7 media session at HP Pavilion on Thursday:
Round 1: White agrees with Mitrione’s sentiments, not tone
White said that UFC heavyweight Mitrione was fined --- although he didn’t disclose the amount --- for calling Fox, who had gender a reassignment surgery in 2006, “a lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak.”
“He said it wrong,” White said. “I don’t necessarily disagree with what he’s saying. I have the same issue with a man who becomes a woman. You have different bone structure. You have a different jaw line. You have all the things of a man. It’s completely different.”
White said Mitrione has been contrite and called him three times after he was fined to plead his case.
“There’s nothing wrong with having a point of view,” White said. “Everybody is crying, ‘It’s freedom of speech.’ Yeah, OK, work at any company in the world and give your opinion where you come off sounding like an ignorant bigot and see how long you last at the company. You can have an opinion. It’s how you state your opinion.”
White said he knows all about it. He’ll always regret the anti-gay slur he let loose four years ago on a video blog.
“A lot of stupid things have been said over the last several years (and) by me, too,” White said. “I’m not excluding myself from this. . . . Over the years I made one mistake and I apologized for it. I know I look like a big, bald homophobe, but I’m not.”
Fox is set to compete in her third pro fight in the coming weeks.
“I don’t even think about it,” White said. “Fallon Fox is so far away from being in the UFC, it’s like talking about some lower lever guy who is fighting in some small organization beating people with losing records.”
Round 2: White joins A-Rod, Kobe, Pope John Paul II
White detailed his treatment for a long-standing ear malady, one that A-Rod talked him into.
Several vials of blood were taken from White via a needle that he said looked like a Slurpee straw at a clinic in Dusseldorf, Germany. The blood was spun down, a common technique that creates platelet-rich plasma. White said he didn’t know what else was done to the blood, but called the entire procedure “off-label.”
“A-Rod hurt his leg and his back and (Lakers star) Kobe (Bryant) called him,” White said. “Kobe said you need to go to this place in Germany. You need to do what I did.”
White said all the movie stars, athletes and even the late Pope John Paul II were patients. White said he called Freddie Roach, the boxing trainer battling Parkinson’s, and told him he needed to go as well.
White previously had surgery on his ear, which stemmed from getting jumped in Boston when he was younger.
The result: “The music used to kill me at the gym. I’m working out like a maniac now. I have never felt better.”
Round 3: Super Fight, New York update
White said after he was placing a call to Georges St-Pierre Thursday afternoon to gauge the UFC welterweight champ’s interest in fighting UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva.
“I’m going to see what he wants to do,” White said.
White again mentioned the possibility of Anderson fighting UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones as a fallback if St-Pierre isn’t interested. First, Jones would have to get past Chael Sonnen at UFC 159 next Saturday. Anderson also has a fight scheduled against Chris Weidman on at UFC 162 in July.
“If Georges says to me, ‘I want to fight Anderson,’ what do you think I’m going to say? ‘No you are not,’” White said. “’You are fighting Johny Hendricks.’”
White said St-Pierre would retain the welterweight belt if he went up a weight class and lost to Silva.
White added that chances of MMA finally being approved by state legislators in New York look bleak, meaning the Super Fight (or a 20th anniversary card) won’t be held at Madison Square Garden. Cowboys Stadium, the Rogers Center in Toronto or a stadium in Brazil will likely house this fight.
“I would pretty much call it done,” White said of New York. “Anything can happen. I’m not as optimistic as I was a few weeks ago.”
Round 4: Cormier talks some trash
Dan Cormier had some words for his UFC on FOX opponent, Frank Mir, when the two squared off for photos during the media session.
“You’re in big trouble,” Cormier told Mir, according to White.
Cormier previously told FOXSports.com he didn’t appreciate Mir saying that he wanted to dismember him..
Mir played down the short conversation --- and added he noticed something else that was short about the square-off.
“I was standing there staring over across and watching him and (Gil) Melendez standing side-by-side,” Mir said. “Me and Benson (Henderson) are fighting a guy with the same height and same reach. One is just heavier than the other.”
Round 5: Yes, Saturday is 4/20
Nate Diaz, who takes on Josh Thomson on the UFC on FOX undercard, didn’t bite when MMA Heat asked about whether Saturday (April 20) had any significance.
Like his brother, Diaz doesn’t deny smoking marijuana and 4/20 is celebrated number by pot aficionados.
“Yep, April 20th,” Diaz said with a smile. “That’s the day of the fight.”
