LAS VEGAS – The dust has settled here in the desert. Four days after the most stunning moment in UFC history, company president Dana White is already talking rematch.
“Hell yes,” White said in an exclusive interview with The Post.
On Saturday night at MGM Grand, Anderson Silva, the greatest MMA fighter to ever grace the Octagon, was knocked out by unheralded Long Island native Chris Weidman. Silva clowned around, daring Weidman to hurt him. And Weidman did, ending Silva’s seven-year reign atop the UFC middleweight division with one resounding left hook in the second round.
Call it the punch heard ’round the world. UFC 162 was the most illegally downloaded UFC card ever – after the fact – when people heard about the improbable, controversial finish. Even Justin Bieber tweeted out to his nearly 42 million followers a request to find a streaming video, to which White replied that he should find it on pay per view.
The post-fight press conference was the most watched on UFC.com by 46 percent. Weidman has been on a week-long victory press tour in New York.
“Every time I talk about what it is we do, what it is we sell, that was the epitome of it on Saturday night,” White said.
Not all the media attention has been positive, including a video on SI.com calling into question whether or not the fight was fixed due to Silva’s antics.
White says such allegations make him “crazy.”
“If you think that fight was fixed, you have to be the biggest moron on Earth,” White said. “The guy got knocked dead. His head was bouncing off the canvas like a basketball.”
Furthermore, he added, why would a multi-billion dollar company like the UFC fix a fight in which Weidman was only a 2-to-1 underdog?
“Some guy asked me if this was the biggest upset since Buster Douglas [beating Mike Tyson],” White said. “Buster Douglas was 25-to-1. Chris Weidman was 2-to-1 and most of the fighters picked Chris Weidman to win.”
The boss does admit the ending was strange, that Silva not only dropping his hands but also pretending to be on jelly legs was “craziness.” Silva has been known to draw opponents in with bizarre behavior in the cage. This was a different level.
“We’ve seen him do it before,” White said. “What the difference is, is that Weidman has real punching power and Weidman went after him when he did it. All the other guys were kind of shell shocked and just didn’t know what to do it.”
White plans on calling Silva on Thursday to discuss a rematch. He says it will be the biggest fight in UFC history and is considering holding it at Cowboys Stadium in Texas, which has a capacity of 105,000.
Doing it on Super Bowl weekend – the UFC has a show in New Jersey the night before the game at MetLife Stadium – has been ruled out, because he believes a fight of that magnitude should stand on its own. White says it could still happen this year, though it is unlikely with an already packed slate of events on the UFC’s calendar through December.
“A lot of people think Anderson beat himself,” White said. “This rematch is not only for Anderson Silva to win his belt back, but it’s for Chris Weidman to prove he’s the real deal and not a fluke.”
Silva said immediately following the fight that he wasn’t into the rematch, that he was “tired” and no longer wanted to fight for the belt. MMAFighting.com reported Wednesday that the legend has changed his mind already – he wants Weidman again before the end of the year.
“Anderson Silva is a competitor – hardcore, to the bone competitor,” White said. “This guy has been on top of the world for eight years. … He wants it back.”