Add UFC President, Dana White, to the list of people who were impressed with the 54-year-old Tyson’s comeback performance against Roy Jones Jr. on Saturday night.
There was a lot of doubters and haters leading up to the Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. comeback fight on Saturday night (Nov. 28, 2020), and how could you not be suspicious the whole thing would be a cash grab nothing burger featuring two fighters without the remaining skills or wills to brawl. But the general consensus following Mike Tyson’s “Legends League” debut is both Tyson and Jones Jr. gave a good accounting for themselves despite their age.
Was it a fight that people will never forget? No, but it was entertaining enough.
UFC President, Dana White — never a fan of older fighters scrapping — even went so far as to gush about the fight and Tyson’s performance.
“Listen guys, you’ve been asking me questions leading up to this thing and I didn’t want to say anything negative because I love Tyson and he’s a good friend of mine,” White said at the UFC Vegas 15 post-fight press conference. “I was nervous — he’s 56 years old. Time is undefeated, okay? Time takes us all down. And one of the things I was worried for Mike is that he has this incredible aura still. And 56 years old? Fighting is young man’s game.”
“All that being said, he looked f—king awesome tonight — I was blown away by how good he looked,” he continued. “One of the things I was worried about with Roy — Roy’s 51 years old, but Roy’s been way more active than Tyson has been. But, Roy actually got more tired tonight than Mike, which was shocking. I’m happy for them. I hope they both made a f—king zillion dollars. And it exceeded my expectations.”
When asked if he thought Tyson should continue, White made it clear “Iron Mike” didn’t need anyone to validate any future fights after the exhibition bout with Roy Jones Jr.
“He looked good, he looked good,” he said. “He’s a grown ass man, he’s going to do what he wants anyway. But good for him. It was actually a good fight. It was an entertaining fight to watch. And I thought he looked really good. I’m happy for him.”
As for that draw handed out by the celebrity judges?
“Tyson won the fight.”
Said everybody with two eyes and a brain.