UFC 102 Pre-Fight Press Conference Notes

Dana White held court yesterday as the UFC held a UFC 102 pre-fight press conference yesterday.

White touched on many topics including naming B.J. Penn’s next opponent, whether or not he would offer live counter programming against Fedor Emelianenko’s Strikeforce debut and whether or not he would merge the WEC with the UFC as both promotions are owned and operated by Zuffa.

Diego Sanchez will get the next crack at the 155lb. title that B.J. Penn has held since January of 2008. Penn recently defeated Kenny Florian via a fourth round submission at UFC 101. Penn once again proved that when he fights as a lightweight, there is not too many fighters that can hang with him.

Sanchez brings an impressive 21-2 record into the fight. He is 2-0 as a lightweight with victories over former number one contender Joe Stevenson and Clay Guida. His bout with Guida will certainly garner its fair share of votes for fight of the year as the two set a frenetic pace for the entire fifteen minutes.

The bout between Penn and Sanchez had been rumored for UFC 105 which will take place November 14th in Manchester, England. According to White the lightweight title will not be decided on that card or at UFC 106 which will take place one week later in Las Vegas. White said that the fight will take place sometime in November on a third card that will not air on either Spike TV or pay-per-view. When pressed for further details, White said to wait and see. Could a network deal be in the works?

As far as offering a live card to go up against the debut of Emelianenko in Strikeforce, White said he didn’t think that was necessary. White was quotes as saying, “I can beat Strikeforce with a show that we’ve aired 790,000 times.” Emelianenko’s bout with the undefeated Brett Rogers has neither a date or venue as of yet.

The topic of merging the WEC with the UFC was brought up and White said it wasn’t something that he was thinking of doing anytime soon. He did say however that we may start to see some of the WEC’s biggest stars fighting in the UFC in 2010. With plans on running three cards per month next year the UFC has plans on placing some of the smaller fighters on their cards.

With so many great fighters on both rosters and the decision to run three shows per month next year, it is a great time to be a mixed martial arts fan. All this talk of extra shows means something is close to being finalized as far as a network deal is concerned. In these tough economic times, the UFC has to know that the majority of its fans could not afford to purchase two or three pay-per-views every month. I for one trust White and in the job that he has done. He has accomplished so much in such a short time. I believe that he has the fans best interests at heart. I do not always agree with his tactics but it always seems to work out for him in the end.