UFC News: Dana White Reveals Which Brock Lesnar Fight He Regrets Not Making
Throughout his time running the UFC, Dana White has been known for getting deals done. Whether it's purchasing a rival promotion or acquiring a desired fighter's contract, the UFC boss has rarely been unable to make lucrative deals come to fruition.
Perhaps that's why it stings so bad when he doesn't. During Thursday's UFC 166 pre-fight press conference, White seemed to still be stung by his inability to sign Fedor Emelianenko to the UFC back when he was still a hot commodity.
"We made every big fight with every fighter since we bought this company," White said (props to MMAFighting for the transcription). "You don't think we wanted to do Fedor vs. Brock Lesnar? I f–king wanted to make that fight so bad... Brock wanted that fight. Brock wanted that fight bad.
"I explained this to Fedor," he continued. "'We're catching a moment in time, right here, right now, where this fight between you and Brock Lesnar will be f–king massive. We're talking Dallas, Texas Stadium. This huge fight between these two big heavyweight guys. We're laying this massive f–king offer on the table.' I said, 'You're one punch away from being worth f–king zero.'"
White noted that the demands from Fedor's management prevented a deal from happening.
"We had to build a f–king stadium in Russia, and we had to do all this stupid s–t, stuff that no normal f–king human being would do. And now they lay in bed every night and regret not doing that deal."
Emelianenko and Lesnar have both since retired from MMA.