zuffa, llc moderator: dave sholler april 20, 2010 10:00 pm ct

ZUFFA, LLC Moderator: Dave Sholler

04-20-10/10:00 pm CT Confirmation # 7754703

ZUFFA, LLC

Moderator: Dave Sholler April 20, 2010 10:00 pm CT

Operator: Good day and welcome to the Zuffa, LLC WEC 48 conference call. As a reminder, today’s

conference is being recorded.

At this time for opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr.

Dave Sholler. Please go ahead.

Dave Sholler: Hello everybody and welcome to the Aldo vs. Faber conference call. Today, we are happy

to be joined on the call by world featherweight champion Jose Aldo, featherweight challenger

Urijah Faber, world lightweight champion Ben Henderson, and lightweight contender Donald

Cerrone.

At this time, I’ll turn it over to UFC President Dana White. Dana?

Dana White: Thank you. Good afternoon gentlemen, thank you for calling in, we appreciate it. Obviously

very excited for this fight. I’m excited to put the last UFC bout behind me and get this one going

on Saturday night.

I’m confident I believe that, you know, the Aldo/Faber fight if it’s not the fight of the year it’s

definitely going to be a contender for fight of the year.



And as the co-main event, you know, there’s no secret these two, you know, they have been fight

of the night candidates a couple of different times. I expect fireworks on Saturday night. I -

seriously, I’m very pumped up for this fight and I’m ready to get this one going and put the last

one behind me. So let’s open this thing up for questions. Like I said the main event and the co-

main event are both on the phone.

Operator: If you would like to ask a question at this time, please press star 1 on your phone. If you are

using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is disabled. Once again to ask a

question it is star 1 at this time and we’ll pause just for a moment.

And we’ll go first to Justin Case with American General Media.

Justin Case: Going guys, I just wanted to say that we’re looking forward over here, looking forward to a

fight in Albuquerque. My question is for Urijah.

Urijah, what type of different arsenal are you going to bring? Jose Aldo is so explosive. What do

you - how do you plan to counter that and what type of arsenal that’s different that you’re going to

bring to this?

Urijah Faber: You know, I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do different. You know, I’m a fast

((inaudible)), I’m explosive as well, fancy footwork is going to be important, and just making sure

that I’m ready for anything, you know? It’s a fight out there, it’s what I do, you know, 26 fights thus

far and all my opponents have been different so, you know.

As far as the preparation, it’s been fairly regular, a little bit more kickbox aligned because you

have kicks and knees but other than that I’m just going to be ready to rock and throw down.



Justin Case: And for Jose Aldo, you know, as explosive and as fast as you are, how do you plan to

counter on Urijah’s strength?

Ed Soares: (Speaking in Foreign Language).

Jose Aldo: (Speaking in Foreign Language).

Ed Soares: I don’t think it’s any surprise what I’m going to do. Everybody sees my style of fighting. I

come in aggressive, I come in explosive, and, you know, I’m going to come in and always looking

for the knockout and take whatever he can give me. It’s no surprise what I’m here to do. I’ve put a

good strategy together with my coach and we’ll see Saturday night what’s going to happen.

Justin Case: Excellent, thank you gentlemen and good luck.

Dana White: Thank you.

Operator: We’ll go next to Dave Deibert with Canwest News Service.

Dave Deibert: Got one. I guess I just want to talk about pressure and I guess different forms of it that any

of you might be feeling. Jose and Urijah, the event is basically built around you guys. The

company was waiting to go to pay-per-view before they - or waiting for a main event of this caliber

to go to pay-per-view.

Do you feel any extra pressure to put on a good show whether it’s for the crowd, for yourself, and

Urijah especially you, you know, hometown. You’ve dealt with that before but this is at a whole

other level. Do you guys feel anything extra, any I don’t know if it’s a burden, if that’s the right

word but any extra pressure?



Dana White: Go ahead and answer Urijah and then I’ll ask Jose.

Urijah Faber: For me it’s another - it’s just the same thing. I’m fighting with one guy, I’m fighting one guy

who’s going to be trying to beat me up, I’m trying to beat him up, and it’s pretty primal to me.

I’ve felt the, you know, media stuff for a long time now. I’ve been, you know, a pretty vocal guy for

the company and someone that people especially the media has turned to kind of represent so it

hasn’t been anything different for me really. I mean, it’s, you know, the difference is it has nothing

to do with me really.

Dave Deibert: Okay.



Ed Soares: No I don’t feel any extra pressure, you know. I’m here; I’m here to defend my belt. I’m an

employee of Zuffa and the WEC and this is the fight that they put in front of me so my goal is to

go in there and give it my all and give everybody the show that I’m sure everyone wants to see.

Dave Deibert: Okay thanks. And for Ben and Donald, you guys put on a fantastic match the first time.

How do you top that on Saturday?

Ben Henderson: You want to take that one first?

Dave Deibert: Whoever.

Donald Cerrone: Go ahead, Ben.



Ben Henderson: Oh cool. You know, I know Donald, you know, he’s bringing his A game. You guys

better believe I’m bringing my A game. We’re just going to go out there and rinse and repeat, you

know? Nothing special about it as far as that goes, you know, like no hidden agendas, no

necessary talk for oh we’re going to do this or we’re going to do that. You guys are going to see it.

You know, come five days from now you guys are going to see it.

Donald Cerrone: Hey you get me fired up Ben, I feel the same way man. I don’t feel any other added

pressure for having to put on the same show, another fight of the year. I don’t feel the pressure of

having to do that, I just feel like we’re going to go out there and just let it all go and see what

happens.

Dave Deibert: Okay, all right, that’s great guys, thanks very much.

Operator: We’ll go next to Franklin McNeil with ESPN.

Franklin McNeil: The question is for Urijah. Urijah, going into this fight you’re taking on a guy who’s

beaten a guy you lost to twice recently. Why should that not be an issue in this fight at all?

Urijah Faber: Basically this sport is about matchups and, you know, I think I have the tools to beat Mike

Brown, I feel like a couple of, you know, one mistake and some bad luck was really the difference

in those fights. It’s not that, you know, I was like, you know, outmatched by any means.

And the bottom line is I’m just a whole different fighter than Mike Brown is and this is a whole

different matchup and I’ve been training my whole life for this stuff, this is what I do. And I’m an

able bodied top level athlete so I’m just ready to go out there and get a belt. And, you know, it just

comes down to that and everybody who knows this sport knows, you know, that’s how this thing

is.



Franklin McNeil: Okay and my next question is for Jose -- again a similar question that I asked Urijah.

How do you - have you looked at his fights with Mike Thomas Brown? And how is it that you’re

going to go into this fight not being overconfident believing that you can beat him because he’s

had whatever the cause of the losses to Mike Brown, you should have the edge?



Ed Soares: You know, I’m not going into this fight overconfident. Yes I’ve watched the fights with Mike

Brown against Urijah Faber but like Urijah said, a fight is a fight and anything can happen in

there. You know, every time I go into a fight I don’t go in thinking about anything else but the

opponent that’s in front of me.

And Mike Brown was a great champion, a big champion, and same with Urijah, I think Urijah was

a great champion. And, you know, I’m going in very focused and not overconfident because I

know anything can happen in there and I’m just going in prepared for anything and to put on the

best show and give my best inside the ring.

Franklin McNeil: And one last question for anyone on the call who’d like to answer, obviously the big talk

last weekend was what occurred in the aftermath of the event in Nashville. Based on what

happened, is this - any of you guys feel it’s important being the first fight and the first card

afterwards to again show the class and the professionalism of mixed martial artists regardless of

the outcome of your fight?

Dana White: It’s Dana. No I don’t think so. I think, you know, anybody that’s involved in this organization

always has, you know, and I think that when you see this event on Saturday night, that’s why -



listen it’s been a bad couple of weeks for MMA, you know, it really has. And I’m one of these guys

that always wants to get right back on the horse. I’m excited this fight is happening.

We couldn’t have a better fight following all this crap. You know, Aldo and Faber is going to be a

sick fight. Like I said, styles make fights. You never know who’s going to win, you never know

what’s going to happen. Aldo’s 6-0 in his last six fights, six KOs, Urijah Faber is very motivated

and wants to get back on top.

The co-main event is awesome, the place is going to be sold out, packed, great energy, and

believe me I’m - thank God this fight is happening, that’s all I have to say.

Franklin McNeil: Okay Dana I’ll talk to you later anyway. Take care guys.

Operator: Over next to Neil Davidson with The Canadian Press.

Neil Davidson: Yes. I wanted to sort of follow up on what Dana just said. Dana, are you hearing - do you

have any evidence that MMA has taken a hit or is it just anecdotal? People are telling you that

they got turned off by what’s happened I guess with what happened in Abu Dhabi in the main

event.

And I guess they’re referring to the strike force brawl. Are people telling you that they got turned

off?

Dana White: People don’t have to tell me. You know, listen at the end of the day I’m a fight fan. I’m as big

as a fight fan or bigger than anybody who loves the sport. I love it. And I was very unhappy with

what happened in Abu Dhabi.



You know, last week was, you know, an embarrassment. These guys were on and everybody -

listen, I know, you know, everybody on the phone knows those guys don’t belong on CBS. It

shouldn’t have happened anyway. They shouldn’t even be there.

You know, it was bad for the sport. These guys are going to end up going away anyway so now

we have to go out and fix it. We’ve been working hard for ten years. We’re not even in New York

right now. We’re not in Toronto.

We’ve got all of these other countries we’re trying to break into. The last thing we need is bad

stuff happening in the sport. So my point was what I’m happy about is I’m - I know for a fact, you

know, these guys are going to go out and perform on Saturday night.

They always do. They always have. These guys are so motivated. For anybody, you know, to talk

about this fight and this fight card and say that this thing oh, it’s on pay-per-view, why should we

buy it? Why should you buy it?

Because you’re a fight fan and these guys are great fighters and this is going to be an incredible

card on Saturday night. And do you know who’s going to show up? The people who are true fight

fans are going to show up.

And like I said, I want to get this fight on as fast as possible and erase what’s happened in the

last two weeks. I can’t wait.

Neil Davidson: And if I could ask Ben and Jose a question as a follow up, perhaps starting with you Ben,

how has life changed since you have become champion? And in training for your title defense

does it feel different knowing that you’re the one with the target on your back?



Ben Henderson: For the first part, you know, life so much hasn’t changed. You know, you get recognized

a little more often, it’s pretty cool. The biggest thing I think is like the fan mail. I get quite a bit of

fan mail which is kind of cool. Like when was the last time I sat down and wrote out a letter?

It was kind of, you know, a very humbling experience and whatnot. So that’s been a blessing. But

life pretty much has been the same to be honest. And as far as training camp and having the

bull’s eye on my back I love it. I relish it. I - that’s what I live for.

The waking up knowing that when I was, you know, coming up in the (WEC) or even before then I

would have dreams about being the best on the planet and being topnotch and having a belt

around my waist.

I would have dreams about, you know, fighting ((inaudible)). I’d have dreams about fighting

(James Garner). I’d have dreams about that. Now knowing that there are hundreds of guys out

there having those same dreams about me, wanting my belt, wanting to take what’s mine I love it.

What more could you ask for? You know, what more motivation could you ask for? Bring it on.

Let’s do it.

Neil Davidson: Thank you. And could - Ed could you ask Jose the same thing?



Ed Soares: Well the way - actually quite a few things have changed in my life. The first thing is being

that, you know, this is a dream that I’ve had ever since I started training MMA was to be a

champion. And now the dream finally came true.



I’ve worked my butt off to get there. And basically now every time I have a match I don’t look at it

like I’m the defending, you know, like I’m defending the belt. I’m going out there like this is a

brand new fight, like I’m going to win a brand new belt.

And, you know, it’s like I have a whole new dream and that’s to get another belt. So, you know,

every time I go into the gym even though I am the champion I, you know, things haven’t really

changed much.

I’m still - I go in there very humble, always wanting to learn, always wanting to get better and

always trying to put on the fight that the world wants to see.

Neil Davidson: Thank you.

Operator: We’ll go next to Dave Meltzer with Yahoo Sports.

Dave Meltzer: Okay. Thanks guys. For Dana what type of numbers are you looking for, for this thing to

be a success?

Dana White: I knew somebody was going to ask this. You know what? I honestly don’t know. Obviously

you guys have seen over the last ten years all the people that have come out and tried to

compete and do all of this stuff.

And making the jump to pay-per-view isn’t, you know, everybody thinks it’s the answer, it’s the

key, it’s how we, you know, that, you know, we’ll put on some fights and we’ll go right on pay-per-

view and this thing is going to make tons of - it’s not how it works.



You know, there’s a method to the madness. You have to get on - make that jump to pay-per-

view at the right time and do it the right way. And I truly believe that this is - what’s that? I truly

believe that this is the card to do it with.

And, you know, this card is stacked with tons of great talent and I honestly I don’t know. I don’t

know what to tell you. I know we’ve had a bad couple of weeks with some crappy fights that

doesn’t help, you know, and some bad things happening.

I don’t know if that really helps us at all but we’re here man, we’re doing it. And these guys

deserve to be on pay-per-view. This is a pay-per-view worthy card and we’ll see what happens.

Dave Meltzer: When it comes to the play, you know, I mean that’s been a subject of a lot of talk, you

know, of going in with the same price as UFC. I mean what, in the end why did you make that call

to start at $44.95?

Dana White: Because why should - this is a great card with great fighters on it. Should this card be less

than what normal cards are? Listen, you can buy a shitty boxing match for $65.00 okay? I can

guarantee - and what you’re buying in boxing is one fight.

I think the number came in - maybe Dave, I know you would know, you’re the perfect guy to be

asking. You know, the Roy Jones fight did $70,000, is that right?

Dave Meltzer: I heard $90,000 but it still wasn’t good.

Dana White: Ninety? Let me tell you what, if Jones/Hopkins does $90,000 and these guys don’t double

that that’s terrible. Do you know what I mean? This isn’t just one shitty fight with two old guys

fighting.



This is a card full of talented guys and you’re going to get a great night of fights for 45 bucks?

Please. Come on.

Dave Meltzer: And for Cerrone and Henderson, what - for you guys are you guys - having gone through

that war last year what do you look at different?

I mean is there something like - Donald for you like for example, is there something that you’re,

you know, looking at whether it’s, you know, that you know you’ll need to improve on to make

sure that you win this fight? And Ben kind of the same question.

Donald Cerrone: Yeah. I mean absolutely looking back and seeing what he did to counter what I did, you

know, of course. But man, just going out there and letting it all go is what my main plan is. You

know, just give it all just like, you know, to start the fight like I ended it last time.

And I’m always working my ((inaudible)) that’s the one thing I’ve (needed) over the years and the

one thing I’ve been working on. So I think if I can counter Ben’s take downs and give him the

standard ((inaudible)) is going to be the trick.

Dave Meltzer: And Ben, the same question.

Donald Cerrone: Bring that shit on Ben.

Ben Henderson: You’d better believe it buddy. You know, along the same lines, obviously I want to

improve my overall game, my wrestling and my take downs and my boxing and my kickboxing,

my ((inaudible)), all that good stuff, you know.



Along those lines and then I want to be better at everything. I want to be the best (UFC) guy on

the planet. I want to be the best kickboxer on the planet. I want to be the best boxer on the planet.

So I want my overall game to be taken to a whole other level.

And that comes with time, you know? It takes a lot of time, a lot of effort and hard work to be put

into it. So I think I’m getting better and, you know, I’m excited to put it on display, to show it on

Saturday.

Dave Meltzer: And again, for both of you two guys when the fight was over the last time, before the

decision was read, what were your thoughts as far as the fight that you had just been in, the war

you had just been in, kind of the way, you know, like wow.

And what did you think as far as - did you think you were going win? Were you crossing your

fingers? Like when that fight ended what were you - what was in your mind, both guys?

Donald Cerrone: I think that, you know, I feel like I won the last two. I feel that Ben won the second and

third. And the first caught up in the air. So like I said, it was - I wouldn’t say it was much crossing

my fingers but man, when it was over I was like hell yeah, fuck yeah, man that was awesome.

You know, just like either way it went I mean it - after the decision I went into the dressing room

like hell yeah, Ben, that’s what’s up. That’s what people want to see. And that’s how I plan on

fighting every time. You know?

Dave Meltzer: And Ben, I mean like what were your thoughts? And also how close did - how close was

he on some of those submissions?



Ben Henderson: I’d say we were close on some of the submissions. The closest one I think was probably

the ((inaudible)) in the first round just because he kind of surprised me. So I was going for the

take down and then yeah, a ((inaudible)).

And I was like oh, well I’m going to change the take down and then I was like wait a second. I’d

better start defending first before I get this take down. So I think that was probably the closest

one.

And then as far as what I thought after the fight, immediately after the fight before the decision

was announced, I thought that I had won the fight, you know, along the same lines as Donald. I

was thinking, you know, heck yeah. That was a war. That’s exactly what people wanted to see.

I’m glad I was a part of it, you know? So I thought that I did win. I thought I won the rounds, you

know, one, two and three. And I thought Donald was kicking my butt in rounds four and five.

Dave Meltzer: And for Jose what do you see as the main difference? Obviously they’re completely

different fighters - between Urijah and Mike Brown and what type of different strategy would you

employ for this fight?



Ed Soares: I think probably the biggest difference between Mike Brown and Urijah is I feel that maybe

Mike Brown might be a little bit slower. I think Urijah is a lot quicker. Probably, you know, probably

just as explosive but I definitely think he’s quicker.



And as far as my strategy going into the fight is, you know, I have that in my head and I’m going

to go in there and try to put on my strategy and win that fight.

Dave Meltzer: Okay. Thanks everybody very much.

Male: Thank you Dave.

Operator: We’ll go next to Mark Billingsley with The Sacramento Bee.

Mark Billingsley: Gentlemen, good afternoon. This first question is for Dana just going back to the pay-

per-view. How much did Sacramento being the venue have to do with your decision to make the

first WEC pay-per-view to bring it to Sacramento? And then I have a follow up for Urijah.

Dana White: Actually - it’s actually - it’s interesting because when Aldo wanted the fight with Faber he

wanted it in his hometown in Sacramento. And listen, anytime you’ve got Urijah Faber in

Sacramento it’s a no-brainer. You know, the kid’s an icon out there.

The people love him and this place is going to be sold out and rocking on Saturday night.

Mark Billingsley: So Aldo actually told you that he prefers the site?

Dana White: Aldo...

Mark Billingsley: So...

Dana White: Aldo wanted to fight Faber in Sacramento in his hometown.

Mark Billingsley: Wow. Does that kind of surprise you? I mean pleasantly it probably did.



Dana White: Pretty nasty, you know? That shows what kind of a fighter this kid is man. To want to go into

a guy’s hometown - especially, listen, it’s not just like walking into any hometown, you’re walking

into Faber’s hometown. Faber is huge there, you know, he knows that he’s going to get the

support of the people. And Aldo wanted that fight there; love it.

Mark Billingsley: You mentioned earlier Dana, you’re expecting a sellout.

Dana White: There will be 15,000 people there that night and they’re not going to be cheering for Aldo.

Mark Billingsley: I'm sorry, how many did you say?

Dana White: I said, "There’s going to be 15,000 people there that night, and they’re not going to be

cheering for Aldo."

Mark Billingsley: So a sellout then, for you, is going to be 15,000, right?

Dana White: Yeah.

Mark Billingsley: Because I know some of the previous WEC, I mean there was a - there’s been some

limited views and some curtains and things...

Dana White: Yeah.

Mark Billingsley: ...so this one’s going to be ((inaudible)).

Dana White: You won't see a curtain at this one.



Mark Billingsley: Okay, no ((inaudible)) at this one. All right good. Next question’s for Urijah, I mean, first

off respond to that; the fact that Aldo wants you in your hometown. And two, has there been any

extra pressure on you because of the pay-per-view angle, the novelty - I don't want to say novelty

necessarily but, you know, since it is so new in the WEC, has there been any pressure on you,

extra pressure for you to get out and - and - and basically slog the media to drum up that interest

and to sell tickets?

Urijah Faber: First question was, "What do I think about Aldo wanting to fight in my hometown?"

Mark Billingsley: Right.

Urijah Faber: Yeah, I don't care where we fight, to be honest. I think wherever we go I'll be a fan-favorite;

maybe not in Aldo’s hometown in Brazil, but I think everywhere else.

Mark Billingsley: Okay.

Urijah Faber: And then, you know, I think it’s good man. It’s going to be the best, most electric, biggest

event. And I think that’s what we both want so, you know. Originally I was told that he didn't want

the fight in the hometown, but I don't know if - you know, you never know what’s being said and

what is not being said. And you know, this is all big, you know, a big event. But, you know, it

really comes down to two guys are going to fight and we want it to be as big as possible. So I

think that’s good.

The other thing is, you know, we have you know, the pay-per-view, but you guys have got to

understand, you know, I was the guy at the beginning of this push, the WEC, this is actually -

hasn't been a crazy media thing for me. It’s in my hometown, I took one trip to LA, which is about

an hour away. I've done a ton of, you know, phone interviews, but I'm on the phone quite a bit



during the day anyways. So you know, most of the people I'm familiar with, so it’s talking with

people I know.

So it hasn't been too crazy. I think, you know, my focus has been on fighting. It’s been that since

the beginning. Before I took multiple trips to New York and Times Square and to Florida and all

this crazy stuff, this has been a time where I answer the same questions over and over, and I'm

ready to fight, dude. I can't wait to fight. I'm itching to fight. I just can't wait to get in there and get

that belt and fight a war.

Mark Billingsley: Thank you.

Operator: We'll go next to Ray Hui with AOL Fanhouse.

Ray Hui: Hey guys, this one’s for Ben; after your fight with Donald the first time around, you talked about

how you had to cut more weight than usual. It was also your first five-round fight. So are you

more confident coming to this fight knowing that you’re a little more used to the spotlight and

knowing that you've gone five rounds and won before?

Ben Henderson: Yeah, definitely more comfortable knowing that I have been here before, I've done this,

I've you know, cutting the weight, getting ready for a five-rounder, being a little bit bigger. You

know, I'm adding more muscle and not being as small as (F55), you know, I want to do that. And

then you know, rehydrating the proper way, doing - it’s all the little things.

You know, devil’s in the details. Stay in charge of all the little things, right? You know, having

been here twice before, with Donald and then with (Jamie), yeah, I'm very comfortable right now.



Ray Hui: Okay thanks. And for Ben and Donald, you know Dana told USA Today that the WEC

Lightweight Division will probably head to the UFC. So what are your guy’s thought’s on moving

that promotion?

Male: Go ahead Donald.

Donald Cerrone: And - I'm comfortable with where it is right now. If it does plan to go to UFC and merge

one day, awesome. You know, like Ben said is, if you train to fight ((inaudible)) and the (Franky

Ager)s and the (Joe Daddy)s, you know, out there. So for us all to be under one big family would

be great man. Fighting for WEC I love, fighting for the UFC I'll love even more. So I mean it’s a

great honor for us all to be at the same level I think.

Ben Henderson: I would have to, you know, my sentiments exactly, you know. Fighting for the WEC,

fighting for the UFC, all - both owned by Zuffa, they do a great job. They take care of the fighters.

You know, they treat them well, treat them with respect. None of the horror stories you hear from

(Strikeforce) and that you know, guys walking into a lobby, (Strikeforce) employees there not

walking up shaking their hands, not meeting them.

Zuffa’s way different, take care of our - take of their fighters. I'm - I - if it did happen, if it did go

through, I would you know, love to test myself against some of those guys. You know, I am all for

it 100%.

You know, I want to be the best on the planet. To do that, I have to fight the best on the planet.

So you know, let’s get it done.

Ray Hui: Okay great, thank you guys.

Ben Henderson: Yep.



Operator: We'll go next to James Brydon with Sportsnet.ca.

James Brydon: Hi. My first question is for Ben and Donald and perhaps get Dana’s comments too. If your

fight Saturday is as close and memorable as your first meeting, but with the opposite result,

would you like to see a third one right away? And in general, do you like seeing immediate

rematches for belts? Let’s start with Ben, then Donald and maybe end with Dana.

Ben Henderson: Sure. I'm - I actually - that has not occurred to me, to be honest. I - that has - I have not

thought about that.

James Brydon: Well I'm sure you’re planning to win, so.

Ben Henderson: Yeah exactly, exactly. But yeah, if it were to go the opposite way this time and there

was, again, another close fight and Donald was to get the nod, you know, I don't know about an

immediate rematch. But yeah, a rematch right away, I guess, that'd be fine with me. Obviously I'd

be coming off a loss, and I don't like that so I'd want to get in there right away again and square

up with him once again.

Donald Cerrone: Yeah I agree 100%. You know, when I do win on Saturday, Ben, you’re welcome to

come back and ((inaudible)). I mean it’s going to be an awesome fight. The first was. This one’s

going to be great. So a third one or a fourth one or a fifth one is going to be even better, you know

what I mean? We’re just going to figure out each other more. And you know, bring the shit on,

anybody, any way. So I'm excited you know, so I offer 100% for a third fight or a fourth fight.

Ben Henderson: Yeah.



Dana White: Well obviously, you know, you can't call something like that until the fight happens, you

know? If it ends up, for a rubber match, and it’s a great fight and people want to see it, listen, my

job is to put on fights that people want to see -- they want to see it, then we'll do it.

James Brydon: In general, do you like to see rematches, or do you prefer to see someone have to fight

one more before getting back in there? ((Inaudible)).

Dana White: Well it depends, you know? Obviously that fight was such a war, you know, people will want

to see this fight again. You know, whether or not you do rematches depends on whether their

great fights. There’s always great trilogies, man.

When two guys match up well and they’re two durable guys that love to go in and go to war,

people love that stuff. Throughout, you know, boxing history it’s happened, and you know, it

happens here too. Then you have situations like, a fight like (Franky Edgar) and (BJ Pen) that

was so close, it’s controversial.

And people are on both sides, you know, "Oh I think (Franky) won," "Oh, I think (BJ) won;" you've

got to have the rematch to answer the question of who really won the fight.

So there’s always a different scenario for rematches. But, at the end of the day, my job is to put

on fights that people want to see. And if people want to see this fight a third time, and it ends up,

you know, in a rubber mat situation, why not?

James Brydon: Okay, my next question is for the three guys who have won WEC belts -- sorry Donald. In

the context of what happened this past Saturday, I was just wondering what your emotions are

right after winning a belt and do you feel like that’s your moment and you shouldn't be confronted

in the cage by your next potential challenger?



So let’s start it again with Ben, then Jose, then Urijah.

Ben Henderson: Personally, I would you know, appreciate a little bit of time, like hey dude, like give me,

like 24 hours to soak it in and appreciate it. And go online, go talk to all the reporters you want to

and go make a scene and say you want a rematch, go lower our heads and go do all that stuff.

But give me a little bit of time, we like - let me get outside the cage or something, you know?

But the feeling is - you know, it’s awesome. It’s a dream come true. It’s all your life’s hard work,

ambitions, blood sweat and tears. As much - as crazy a life as you live, and everything you've

sacrifice to get to that point and you finally get it, you know, it makes - it vindicates your lifestyle

and what you do and all the sacrifices you make.

So it’s just a great feeling. I was incredibly happy and incredibly blessed, you know. I sure thank

God of love, and all that good stuff.

Male: Apologize.

Urijah Faber: Yeah it would have got on my nerves probably. I mean, I don't think I would have tried to

fight anyone about it. But you know, who knows man?

I - this whole thing, you know, people do things for different reasons. I don't know if they were

trying to promote something. The whole thing was just pretty crappy. And they shouldn't had a

bunch of people in the cage. ((Inaudible)) probably shouldn't go with the shield. Everyone

probably shouldn't have jumped in.

The only that’s 100% consistent always is, you know, the DSOs will jump in and help out their

buddies if there’s a fight. So that was the one thing I did expect. But you know, that’s what it was.

It was what it was. That would - it would've got on my nerves for sure.




Ed Soares: I would - really wouldn't mind it at all. I mean, I believe that once you become a champion, I

mean, you kind of put a target on yourself and everybody’s looking and everyone’s gunning after

you. And at the end of the day, I believe you know, if a guy wants to come in and challenge you, I

think it’s a good promotion. And it just leads off the promotion for the next big fight. You know, I

just believe that as a champion everyone’s gunning for you and kind of have to expect that.

James Brydon: Very interesting answers. Thanks.

Operator: We'll go to Dave Meltzer with Yahoo Sports.

Dave Meltzer: Yeah in - Dana when you talked about the, I guess today, the lightweights moving to UFC,

is there any kind of a timetable you’re looking at? Or is it just something that is, you know...

Dana White: No, no, no. What I said was, "As we start to add more weight divisions to the WEC, when

we start adding lighter weight divisions, that 55 lb division would probably make sense just to put

into the UFC." That’s what I said.

Dave Meltzer: And - but, not you know, like you don't have any kind of like timeframe, like it’s going to

happen like next year...

Dana White: No.

Dave Meltzer: ...or six months, or three months or...

Dana White: No.



Dave Meltzer: Okay. Okay, thanks, that’s what I was checking on.

Dana White: Yep.

Operator: We'll go next to Joshua Carey with Bleacher Report MMA.

Joshua Carey: Yes, good evening gentlemen. Question for both fighters in the co-main event and then

Dana at the end. Question for Ben first; you mentioned that you’ve (packed) on more fights for

this fight against Donald, how’s that benefited you in your camp so far?

Ben Henderson: You know, it’s gone a long ways, being - having more at the end. You have to do it the

right way, you can't you know, be a slouch about it and be lazy and do things the wrong way. You

know, you have to - if you want to do it the right way, it is hard, it takes time. But you know, the

benefits are definitely worth it towards the later rounds and you know, 4 or 5, and round 6 having

more energy and being strong, and still being explosive and all that good stuff.

Joshua Carey: Okay, great. Thanks Ben.

Ben Henderson: Yeah.

Joshua Carey: And on to Donald here. Donald, when your teammate (Leonard Garcia) was at (Giskard),

I know that you two are really close, how much of a boost was that to your own training camp?

Donald Cerrone: Oh yeah man, always. It was funny because they called (Leonard) and said, (Leonard)

you want to fight? And he said yes before they even offered him the opponent. ((Inaudible))

cracking up. So yeah, and it’s awesome always to train - I mean we train together, live together,



everything we do is together you know. And so having him just getting fired up and having to train

for himself while pushing me is good too you know? So it was awesome.

Joshua Carey: Great. Thanks guys. The best of luck to both of you Saturday. Question for you Dana, this

card is so stacked with great talent from top to bottom that besides the main and co-main events

of the night is there a fight in particular that you’re really looking forward to seeing on Saturday

night?

Dana White: Yeah, I was talking about the Gamburyan and Mike Brown fight. I’m interested in that fight

too and I agree with you. I mean it’s a stacked card and you never know which one could end up

being - you know I was talking about Urijah Faber and Aldo being you know a contender for fight

of the year if not fight of the year.

Plus you know the co-main event, I mean these guys have proven that they’re fight of the night

material. And who knows what else, there could be another fight on the card that ends up being

the best fight of the night, you don’t know, that’s how good this card is.

Joshua Carey: Yeah, absolutely It’s a great card and looking forward to seeing it Saturday. Thanks Ben

and Donald and thanks to yourself Dana as well. Have a great week.

Dana White: Thanks for the support, appreciate it.

Operator: We’ll go to Dave Deibert with CanWest News Service.

Dave Deibert: Hi, thanks again. For Jose, everyone except you involved anyway has talked about you

wanting the match in San Francisco - or Sacramento or not wanting it there. Just wondering what

your thoughts are about fighting on Urijah’s home turf.





Ed Soares: Yeah, I mean since the WEC can’t go Brazil I’ll probably feel comfortable in Sacramento. This

will be third time fighting there and I feel very comfortable at home there.

Dave Deibert: All right. And just a quick one for Dana, what is the thinking behind you being the face of

the company, and Mike and Joe handling the commentating and Bruce now doing the

introductions on the card?

What’s the thinking there?

Dana White: It’s not that we’re - that I’m going to be the face and we’re going to do this. We’re the pay-

per-view team. We’re doing the pay-per-views, when these guys are on Versus it will be the same

crew that does the show for Versus.

Everybody will be the same. Nobody’s been demoted or nobody’s gone or we’re bringing in new

guys.

We’re the pay-per-view team and the other team is the versus team.

Dave Deibert: Okay. All right, good enough. Thanks you guys.

Dana White: Thank you.

Operator: We’ll go next to Steven Marrocco with MMA Junkie.com.



Steven Marrocco: Hi, question for Urijah. Urijah I’m wondering what you have riding on the success of

Saturday’s show? I mean you’ve spoken in the past about fighting on pay-per-view is sort of a

next level in your fighting career.

I’m wondering what you have riding on Saturday’s show?

Urijah Faber: For me it’s like this you know, this is a business so it’s been apparent since I started this

thing that you know the more money you can make for your boss the more they’re going to kick

you down and I’m just having faith that I’ve been a great employee.

I’ve put on you know my heart and soul into everything that I do and you know really I think the

model pay-per-view is what has allowed the sport of martial arts to grow and I’m thinking that I

want to prove that I can make some money and hopefully get some in return. So - and I feel like

every one on the card will benefit if the card does well

You know I know that selling out to Arco Arena is big and having people interested in the fight is

big and you know this is what I’ve been working towards is to prove that I can make some money

and hopefully get some in return.

Steven Marrocco: And Dana, is it like a traditional UFC pay-per-view where the main event fighters are

rewarded on the success of the pay-per-view?

Dana White: This fight, listen what we do in these situations, we have a better grasp of what’s going to

happen in a UFC pay-per-view. We can actually you know - we can actually almost nail the

number on what we think we’re going to do.

This is our first time doing this so we don’t know how this is going to do but yeah, these guys, the

WEC fighters on this card will make more money than they’ve ever made before.



Steven Marrocco: Would you describe the whole WEC pay-per-view thing as sort of an experiment, a

sort of let’s see how it goes or more of a long term strategy?

Dana White: Well it’s our long term strategy so hopefully this thing you know it does well. I don’t see why

it wouldn’t. This is the card to break through on to pay-per-view with and you know I’m confident

that this thing’s going to do well.

Steven Marrocco: And then really sorry to harp on this but I was wondering if you could just sort of clear

the air and just tell us what the UFC’s official polices are for fighters in the cage after a fight and

(cancel) and that sort of stuff.

Dana White: Well the reason you don’t see that stuff happen in the UFC is because you know Mayhem

Miller would never run into the octagon in our event. There wouldn’t have been that many corner

men in the cage.

There’s only a limited amount of people that are allowed in there, nobody else has any business

being in there. The fighter who won, a couple of his corner men, that’s it.

All the celebration and all that stuff can be done back stage in their locker rooms after fight

parties, you know when you get that many people in the cage at the same time, bad stuff’s going

to happen.

Steven Marrocco: Okay, I appreciate that.

Dana White: Thanks.

Operator: We’ll go to Ben Fowlkes with mmafighting.com.



Male: We’re going to take two more questions too. Go ahead buddy.

Ben Fowlkes: My question is for Dana, you mentioned that the WEC fighters are going to make more

now than they have before. And you know Urijah talked abut how he’s going to prove that he can

make some money.

Was any part of the decision affected by some of the backlash you guys got you know last year

when people were talking about the WEC fighters deserve to get paid more, at this point getting

paid what UFC fighters were?

And look at and decide pay-per-view is the way to go to get the guys paying them more?

Dana White: Not at all, not one bit. Listen, we know how to build this business. You know everybody

thinks it’s easy. You know everybody looks at what we do and I’m flattered that we make it look

so easy that everybody wants to throw their money in and give it a try.

You’ve seen millions and millions and millions of dollars burned over the last year with guys trying

to do this. We know how to do it, we know how to do it the right way and there’s an evolution.

When you start you know like when we started the WEC, you build a fan base on television, you

get these guys some exposure, people know them and then you make the leap to pay-per-view

and hopefully it works out.

You know I believe that we’ve done all the right things up to this point to take a stacked card like

this with a great main event and co-main event, put it on to pay-per-view and then hopefully take

this - the lighter weight guys to the next level.



But listen, people can sit - everybody needs to make more money. I bet you if I sat around with

you and the guys you work with, you guys all bitch about when you get paid too.

Everybody needs more money, everybody wants to make more money, it’s human nature. But we

know how to do it, we do it the right way. We’re not going to blow our brains out.

Ben Fowlkes: And as a follow up you mentioned that this is not an experiment, this is a long term

strategy. Does that mean that if you did a number below what you mentioned earlier, what you

might be expecting, if you did 60,000, 70,000 buys that you would not be at all deterred when it

comes to putting on the next WEC pay-per-view?

Dana White: Yeah, listen if we put on this event and we lose money, yeah, we’re going to be a little

deterred.

Ben Fowlkes: Okay.

Operator: And we’ll take our final question from Drew Hall with the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Drew Hall: Question for Jose, Otto and Urijah favor. Jose I’m going to start off with you first. We’ve seen

lately in mix more shorts someone with a high level of black belt and jujitsu, they’ve been having

issues with a strong grappler.

Urijah kind of fits that build as a strong grappler. How do you handle somebody like Urijah on the

ground?





Ed Soares: Well I believe I’m a black belt and jujitsu and I believe that you know as a mixed martial artist

you have to be prepared for wherever the fight goes. I’m well trained standing up, I train a lot of

wrestling and I train a lot of jujitsu, so depending on where the fight goes I’m prepared to take the

fight wherever it comes.

Ben Fowlkes: Well thank you for that. And Urijah my last question is for you. You have a very innovative

striking game when you’re standing up and you made mention earlier that your Mike Thomas

Brown, first fight, he made one mistake.

Have you been trying to kind of - in this fight with Jose Aldo trying to tone down some of the wild

punches or wild elbows or knees that you throw because he is so dangerous standing up?

Urijah Faber: No, I haven’t toned down anything. You know I am 23 and 3, I’ve had two fights that have

you know that I lost because of being wild and crazy and I’ve had a ton of wins because I’m wild

and crazy.

So of course I keep refining my technique and getting better and better and I’ll be aware of his

tools for sure. But you know I don’t tone things down.

And you know the bottom line is America, the world, if they fit together the two most exciting

fighters at this weight, America picks their guy, who they have faith in to represent them. Brazil

picks their guy and the whole world tunes in to watch, I mean these are - you know it’s not just a

guy who’s pretty good at jujitsu and you know pretty good at grappling and how Jose Aldo’s got

his stand up and you know we’re mixed martial arts fighters.



We’re the best guys out there, the most interesting guys out there. And there’s all sorts of crazy

stuff that’s going to happen and I’m willing to get a little crazy, because you know that’s what this

sport’s about.

I’m going to go out there and lay everything on the line. I’m going to fight till the bitter end, my

hands cut off and my legs cut off, you know one eye, whatever the deal is I’m going to fight to the

end, so I think there’s a little room for error when you have that mentality and I’m going to get

crazy.

Ben Fowlkes: Excellent answers, guys, can’t wait till Saturday. Thank you very much.

Dana White: Okay, thank you guys, we appreciate you calling in and look forward to seeing you guys

down in Sacramento, appreciate it.

Operator: And that does conclude today’s call. We appreciate everyone’s participation.

Male: All right. Thanks guys, appreciate it.

END

zuffa, llc moderator: dave sholler april 20, 2010 10:00 pm ct

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