Press Release – LOS ANGELES, CA – The following quotes are from today’s UFC POSTFIGHT SHOW ON FUEL TV, for UFC ON FX 6: SOTIROPOULOS VS. PEARSON. The show was hosted by Jay Glazer, with UFC Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson and UFC Light Heavyweight Contender Chael Sonnen offering analysis. MMA Journalist Karyn Bryant conducted fighter interviews on-site in Australia. Plus, we have an interview with Cain Velasquez as he gets ready for the heavyweight showdown at UFC 155.
UFC POSTFIGHT SHOW ON FUEL TV Analyst Chael Sonnen’s impression of UFC ON FX 6: “The game I love to play with myself is deciding which fight is the ‘fight of the night.’ It comes with a big cash prize. I changed my mind four different times through the night tonight. That shows you how exciting a night it was.”
UFC POSTFIGHT SHOW ON FUEL TV Analyst Benson Henderson on the highlight of UFC ON FX 6: “What stood out the most was seeing the nice influx of talent. Not only did they show up, but they performed and they performed very well. These guys are young, hungry, and have a lot of skill. They did a great job.”
Sonnen on George Sotiropoulos vs. Ross Pearson: “It was an absolute dogfight, and to me it was in contention of fight of the night. And it’s largely due to the very first round. Every time we thought George was in trouble, he fired back.”
Henderson on Sotiropoulos’ attempts to recover from knock-down punches: “What stole the show for me, even though George lost, he came back and recovered and he did a great veteran move to recover from the early shots.”
Sonnen on Sotiropoulos trying to recover from the knock-downs: “All he was trying to do is buy himself some time. If you can clench the other guy, like in boxing, you just grab on until the ref breaks them apart. Sometimes you get saved by the bell. But I felt like he threw out his game plan after he got stuffed on a double takedown attempt, then he was stuffed on a single takedown again.”
Henderson on Pearson’s performance: “Pearson did a great job of showing his patience. He had George rocked a couple times, but he didn’t punch himself out. He was able to stay calm, stay relaxed, continue with his game plan, and kept picking George a part until he could put him away.”
Henderson on Sotiropoulos performance: “I would have like to see more insistence on George to get the fight to the ground. He had a couple good jabs that rocked Pearson and pushed him back, but he wasn’t insistent enough, I believe, to really hit. I wanted this fight to be on the ground.”
Ross Pearson on how he feels after winning the fight: “It’s feels amazing. It’s been a long time coming. There’re a lot of emotions. There was a lot going on behind the scenes. It feels like the world’s been lifted off my shoulders. Now I’m ready to move on to the next one.”
Pearson on if having a good training camp helped him get the victory: “The whole camp was great. I’ve been shining and on cloud nine. I’ve been realizing why I loved this sport. I had the confidence going into tonight. I didn’t have to cut too much weight. I felt good.”
Pearson on what he thought when he saw Sotiropoulos rocked in the first round: “I knew I had found my range. My team was holding me back and I wasn’t going too crazy. I found the shot early and then I went and found it to finish him off.”
Pearson on how he handled having Sotiropoulos on his back during the fight: “I was comfortable. I never felt in danger. I didn’t want to be in that position again, but I was never in danger.”
Pearson on if training at Alliance in San Diego helped him get the victory: “Yeah, Alliance training gives you so much confidence. All the coaches and the fighters who came in to help, the list goes on who helped me prepare for the battle and I’m sorry I can’t name them all.”
Pearson on who he wants to fight next: “Anyone. I’ve been in this sport a long time and have to keep grinding and keep working. The division is massive. There are so many guys. I’ll never turn down a fight and I’m ready for the next step in my career.”
Pearson on the success of his team: “Yeah, Team UK did great on the show. We got into it and put a lot in it. I had three guys in the final and I had one winner. I couldn’t have asked for more.”
Sonnen on Robert Whittaker vs. Bradley Scott: “I had so much fun watching this fight. Robert Whittaker, everybody keep your eye on him. He did awesome. Now Scott stood his ground and we thought he might get a submission. I really thought they could have given it to Scott. I thought it was that close of a fight.”
Henderson on Whittaker vs. Scott: “I agree here. I think the thing to take away is, both the guys are talented young kids, but what Whittaker did to win this fight was he changed his game plan. He didn’t change his game plan, but he improved. He listened to his corner and made adjustments mid-fight and did much better in the third round.”
Sonnen on The Ultimate Fighter fighters: “These guys always deliver. The finale of the TUF, it doesn’t matter where it is, it doesn’t matter what season, they always deliver. People say that Scott looks like Forrest Griffin, well he fights like him, too. I was blown away and impressed with both these guys.”
Whittaker on how it feels to win the fight: “It is an absolute honor and privilege. I am so stoked at the moment. The crowd amped it up. It hasn’t really hit me yet.”
Whittaker on what he expected from Scott: “I expected him to be more resilient. He fights like a tank, but even if a tank runs into a wall too many times, it breaks down, and I wasn’t going to back down. My game plan is to always to be explosive. I like to think that one of my greatest strengths is to adapt to every fighter style.”
Sonnen on Fletcher vs. Parke: “Both these guys are submission masters. They are excellent at it. Fletcher has tremendous length, but Parke dominated this fight. He had side control all night long.”
Henderson on Fletcher vs. Parke: “Parke did a great job. He was never in too much danger from Fletcher, even though he has those long arms. He was able to stay out of danger. He did a great job.”
Henderson on what impressed him about Parke: “His composure. It’s a big fight. These guys have a lot of hyper built up. They are excited about, but he was able to stay composed and stick to his game plan. That says a lot about him.”
Norman Parke on his win: “It feels unbelievable. I have been training for this for the last four months and tonight was the final piece. Now I can go home, have a few drinks and celebrate. I am a happy boy and so is my team. I expected Colin to be strong when I backed him against the cage. The stronger punch was his stand up, so I had to be aware of that.”
Sonnen on Hector Lombard vs. Rousimar Palhares: “I was expected a tough battle here. Both of these guys are big and powerful and they don’t waste any time. They just go after it. But Hector would not be denied his first win in the UFC tonight.”
Henderson on Lombard’s confidence: “You could almost feel that Hector would knock him out. His swagger was back. He was back in Australia where he’s never lost.”
Sonnen on Palhares: “I was surprised at the lack of resistance with Palhares. That confused me.”
Henderson on Palhares: “He threw some leg kicks. I’ve never seen that. He showed some improvement. But he was backpedaling the whole time.”
Henderson on Lombard’s finish: “Hector is like a shark. When he smells blood in the water, he goes after it.”
Sonnen on Lombard not wanting to fight on the ground: “What a compliment to Palhares. Lombard didn’t want to fight on the ground. But he had confidence in his hands and turned it into a slug fest.”
Bryant asks Hector Lombard how he feels winning his first UFC fight: “It feels great. But I believe that I won my last fight. I’m happy that I won today. The last one bothers me a lot. It wasn’t my best performance. But everyone who watches it says I won it.”
Lombard on how he got the win: “This fight, my team and I came up with a game plan, and we studied. We did everything right for the fight. You asked me before about training, and said I looked happier. Today I proved it.”
Lombard on why he didn’t fight Palhares on the ground: “My ground game is fine. I like to stand up and KO people. It feels great.”
Lombard on who he wants to fight next: “Bisping, I want Bisping. I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s sort it out in the cage. If not Bisping, then Munoz. I want to fight in a couple of months, I’m healthy, no injuries. I’m ready.”
Sonnen on who he’d like to see Lombard fight next: “He called out Munoz and Bisping, however Munoz is injured and Bisping is busy fighting next month. I think he should call out someone else who’s available, but I’m excited to see him fight anyone.”
Cain Velasquez waiting more than a year for this rematch with Junior dos Santos: “It wasn’t too bad. In the meantime, I fought Bigfoot. I wasn’t sure if the UFC was going to give this fight to someone else or what the holdup was. Now that it’s finally here, it’s a big relief.”
Velasquez on his thoughts about losing the last fight to JDS: “You think about it, but you just take away the good stuff. You have to tell yourself that I did this wrong in the fight and take stuff from it and just improve it. I need to think about it and improve on it.”
Velasquez on if he felt dos Santos was ducking the rematch with him: “How I view it, to me it didn’t matter. I was going to fight him and it didn’t matter. The champ doesn’t choose who he fights, he takes on all comers.”
Velasquez on what he’ll do differently in the rematch: “This time, I just want to be aggressive, push the pace forward. I didn’t do that I sat back and threw some leg kicks. I know I need to push the pace forward, throw a lot of punches, and try to get some takedowns as well.”
Velasquez on how being totally healthy in training for this fight is different from having a knee injury last time: “It’s totally changed this time around, being able to do everything in training. They say, ‘the way you train is the way you fight.’ I was limited the first time. Being 100 percent going into a fight doesn’t guarantee a win, but mentally it makes you just that much more prepared.”
Velasquez on how he thinks the fight will end: “I’ve seen it a hundred ways. I’ve been visualizing it so many different ways, knockouts, TKOs or having it go long and being grueling. But I’m just seeing my hand raised at the end of it.”
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