If you’ve been around mixed martial arts for any amount of time, you know that UFC president Dana White is a vocal defender of the sport. Never is he more vocal than when he feels someone or something has besmirched the reputation of the UFC, the organization that he has long been the face (and voice) of.
Following UFC 162, the MMA conspiracy theorists crawled out of the cupboard, speculating that then-middleweight champion Anderson Silva had thrown his fight against Chris Weidman. White appeared on ESPN’s Highly Questionable and answered those charges, “Who’s going to throw a fight by getting viciously knocked out? You know how stupid you have to be to even think that? You are an absolute moron.”
That fixed fight talk fired White up, but what caused him an even greater degree of agita was discussing the Sports Illustrated panel that convened after the fight that weighed in on the possibility of a fix being in during the July 6 fight.
Weidman knocking out Silva was shocking, but it was not a wholly unexpected outcome. Many felt that Weidman was a terrible stylistic matchup for Silva, a fact that White made sure to point out when talking to ESPN.
The knockout ended Silva’s record 10 straight UFC middleweight title defenses. It also brought Silva’s 17-fight winning streak to a halt, 16 of those being UFC victories.
Weidman’s first defense of the middleweight title will take place on December 28, when he meets Silva in a rematch. The fight will headline UFC 168 from Las Vegas.
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