The pre-fight press conference for Saturday's UFC on FOX 4 took place earlier today, and present for the brouhaha was UFC president Dana White and main eventers and co-main eventers Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Lyoto Machida, Brandon Vera and Ryan Bader. Until I can figure out how to embed video, you're going to have to follow this link to watch it. The presser itself doesn't start until around the 26-minute mark. Highlights include:
- White on whether or not the public outcry over announcing that the winner of Shogun vs. Vera would get a title shot caused him any frustration: "Nope, not at all. I said it before and I'll say it again: the way that I look at my job is I'm here to give the fans what they want. They're the ones who decide what they want to see and what they don't want to see. They weren't thrilled with the just the main event being up for the title shot, then the co-main and main event now are. Whoever wins the most impressively on Saturday will now get the shot at the title."
- White on if the performances in the main and co-main event are less than stellar: "If it sucks on Saturday, I'll be the first one standing up here letting you know."
- Machida on if he'd be interested in a third fight with Shogun: "I think it will be a great opportunity for both of us. The trilogy will come for me and Shogun for sure."
- Shogun on a possible third fight with Machida: "I respect a lot Lyoto, and it would be a great opportunity to fight Lyoto. Maybe in the next TUF season in Brazil. It would be a dream come true."
- White on the UFC implementing the ref cam on Saturday night: "I'm still not interested in it… The thing about it is it's great in boxing. Maybe it'll be fantastic."
- Vera on if the announcement that his fight could determine who gets the next shot at the title added any pressure: "Everybody's been asking this question, whether or not it means more because there's a title shot on the line. I don't know what makes you guys think we weren't taking this seriously before, that we weren't going to try to knock the person out that was across from the Octagon from us that evening. I can't speak for everyone else, but that is after the fact. That's a bonus."
- Machida on if he trained with Steven Seagal for this fight: "This camp I did not train with Seagal, but I had a lot of support from my family and from my team. Maybe I'll have a surprise on Saturday."
Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ufc-fox-4-presser-highlights-201212228--mma.html
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