“UFC 148 Postfight Show on FUEL TV” Quotes & Notes

Press Release – LOS ANGELES, CA – The following are quotes from the “UFC 148 Postfight Show on FUEL TV” following UFC 148: SILVA VS. SONNEN II. Jay Glazer hosted the show, with analysis from Kenny Florian and UFC fighter Brian Stann. Ariel Helwani conducted exclusive postfight interviews backstage at the MGM Las Vegas. Here’s some of what was said:

“UFC Postfight Show on FUEL TV” Analyst Jay Glazer on UFC 148: Silva vs. Sonnen II: “There were fireworks inside this arena tonight. It’s not often you have a fight with so much build up and it delivered. I’ve never been in a fight in Vegas with so much electricity.”

“UFC Postfight Show on FUEL TV” Analyst Kenny Florian on the atmosphere: “When Chael walked out, they were booing him. When Silva walked out, he definitely got a huge welcome at the MGM.”

“UFC Postfight Show on FUEL TV” Guest Analyst Brian Stann on Silva’s performance: “You give this man any space and he can finish you at a moment’s notice. He defended the takedown well. He created angles, created space. He got one shot. He dazed Chael and finished him. That’s why he’s the greatest fighter of all time.”

Florian on Silva’s comeback after the first round: “It’s the way that Silva adjusts. It’s the way that he stays calm out there. It’s brilliant. Anderson Silva is a guy with a tremendous amount of confidence, tremendous amount of belief in himself. And he can always adjust. We’ve seen him get dominated and come back and win. And that’s the true mark of a champion.”

Stann on Silva’s comeback: “We’ve seen this before from the champion. He can come back from an adversity of four rounds. He came back from one of the worst rounds of his career. And he comes back and finishes the very next round.”

Florian on what Sonnen did wrong in the fight: “Chael did a move that was unnecessary at the wrong time. Anderson Silva, being the sniper that he is, slipped it and immediately took advantage. And that is really what makes him great. It’s unbelievable.”

Florian on Sonnen’s emotions affecting the fight: “Chael doing that spinning back with the elbow. That to me shows that he got overly emotional. It wasn’t him. He tried to take him down, but he went for the spinning back elbow and it was unnecessary.”

Glazer on Silva’s controversial knee kick: “And perhaps the deciding blow in this fight was the controversial knee. The point of the knee appears to hit the chest. Does the thigh hit the head? You see Chael’s head rock back. But it doesn’t matter. We have a winner.”

Stann on Silva’s ability to capitalize on mistakes: “There’re lots of fighters who are fighting someone who makes a mistake and they don’t capitalize on it. Now we see a guy who consistently, every time someone makes a mistake, he doesn’t just capitalize on it and score points. He finishes you in a devastating fashion.”

Florian on a possible third matchup between Sonnen and Silva: “For me I can watch them fight every night. The style match up—Chael will always give Anderson a tough time. Just the way that he matches up against him, I would love to see it again.”

Stann on who will fight Silva next: “Chael is going to give everyone a tough time in his division. The best guy to fight Chael Sonnen is going to be Michael Bisping. He’s the best guy in the middleweight division in scrambling back to his feet. We saw that when they fought. But if Chael’s going to get a third shot at Anderson Silva, he’s got to clean out more contenders. There are a lot of guys he will have to beat in the middleweight division before he gets that third shot.”

UFC President Dana White on the Silva vs. Sonnen: “Chael went out and took him down. Took that top position. But he didn’t do any real serious damage, but did hit him with a couple of big elbow in the first round. It reminded me of the Dan Henderson fights.”

White on Anderson Silva’s knee kick finish: “Our production team was telling me it landed on the chest. It wasn’t illegal. The ref didn’t call it illegal. Even if it was illegal, the ref let the fight go. But I’m hearing it was a legal knee to the chest.”

White on the Ortiz fight: “I thought Tito looked old tonight. So did Forrest. Neither one of them looked like young guys. It reminded me of the first two fights. Forrest barely won this fight.”

Ariel Helwani on who the UFC will match Silva up with next: “On Wednesday, live on FUEL TV, Mark Munoz will face Chris Weidman and I think if Mark Munoz looks really good in that fight, I think he could be next for Anderson Silva. And that fight would be very interesting because of course Anderson Silva and Mark Munoz have trained together in the past. We also have UFC 149 between Tim Boetsch and Hector Lombard. The UFC is really looking at Hector Lombard as a future contender. He could be next for Anderson Silva.”

Stann on Griffin vs. Ortiz: “It was a back and forth battle. It was a great fight. Obviously the best fight of the night. Griffin really had a good range throughout the fight. But it was Tito Ortiz who was really laying some powerful shots.”

Florian on Griffin’s fight: “It came down to the volume of Forrest Griffin. He really stayed in Tito’s face. Even when he got rocked, even when he got taken down, he just pressured Tito. And he realized that once Tito was hurt, he just kept pressuring. He also put together some nice combinations.”

Forrest Griffin on his fight: “If you watch it, it just feels like one long fight with the same feel to it. Forty five minutes over five years—it just feels like the same fight pretty much. Tito comes out strong, takes me down, beats me up a little bit. I come back on him. He gasses a little bit. I take advantage a little bit. I pressed the gas button, but nothing happened.”

Griffin on fighting Ortiz: “You don’t want to lose to that guy. You’re fighting a guy who is retiring, it makes it hard to move forward if you lose. He did exactly what he does and I do exactly what I do. I should’ve gone to the body a little more. He should’ve worked a little more that second time he took me down.”

Tito Ortiz on what was going through his mind during the fight: “Leave it all out. Come in and fight. When I was done and it was over I had nothing left. I fought with my heart and soul. The judges saw it a different way. Forrest had a great fight and I can’t take anything away from him.”

Ortiz on his emotions before the fight: “I was a kid who came from nothing. I turned a kid who came from nothing into the most successful career as a mixed martial artist. I helped build the sport that built me. And I’m very very thankful.”

Ortiz on his last effort during the fight: “I gave it my all and I think the fans respect me for that. I fought how I wanted to fight. And that was my heart and soul. Every one of my fights for the last 15 years, I gave it my all. Injuries, problems in my life, I went out and beat every odd that was against me. I’m thankful to my fans who have supported me over the last 15 years.”

Glazer on Patrick Cote: “He’s a tough guy. One of the things we didn’t see from Cung Le this time is that he did not gas out. He didn’t die out as the rounds went on as we’ve seen in the past with him.”

Stan on where he places Cung Le after his win: “The big thing here is that he is a very popular fighter. Sometimes selling tickets matters. So I think he’s still going to be in high profile fights. He’s going to be on the main card. Will he ever get to fight for the title? Probably not.”

Cung Le on his performance: “I’m not surprised I was the underdog. For the stats, you got to look at what’s on paper. He had a lot more wins. He had a lot more experience. He fought Anderson Silva. He’s a tough guy. He says he’s never been knocked out. But I couldn’t look for the knockout, even though I wanted to. I tried to stay poised. Last time I was looking for the knock out against Stanley, I got knocked out.”

Florian on if Le can be a real contender: “His wrestling is great, his striking is obviously great. But I think where he is lacking is the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills. You can see him get a little bit conservative when he was in the half guard and close guard of Patrick Cote. I would have wanted to see more attempts to pass the guard of submission attempts.”

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