Dominick Cruz and Michael Bisping Break Down TUF 17 FINALE Fights, Plus Ronda Rousey, Urijah Faber and Dana White Interviews
LOS ANGELES, CA – The following quotes are from tonight’s UFC POSTFIGHT SHOW ON FUEL TV for THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER 17 FINALE: FABER VS. JORGENSEN. The show was hosted by Jay Glazer, with UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and middleweight Michael Bisping offering analysis. Heidi Androl conducted fighter interviews on-site.
Quote of the show: Kelvin Gastelum: “I don’t know if it’s sunk in yet. But everything that I’ve been through, this is the best night of my life.”
UFC POSTFIGHT SHOW ON FUEL TV Analyst Dominick Cruz on Urijah Faber vs. Scott Jorgensen: “Faber went out there and did a lot of things right, especially in the first round. He came out and kept Jorgensen on his heels. More than anything I was impressed by the takedowns of Faber on the striking timing. He was able to time Jorgensen’s strikes and get the takedown and also land some big shots until he got the finish.”
Faber on whether he’s ready for a break: “Yeah, I’d like to take a break. Actually coming into the fight, I had a hurt hand from my last fight. It wasn’t anything real serious, so I basically wasn’t able to spar except for one time that whole training camp, but I stayed in great shape. I had my coaches get me prepared in other different ways. We’re so lucky to have a great staff.”
Faber on who wants to fight next: “I’m hoping Dominick can make a little miraculous recovery. You need to dig deep there, Dom. You got to tape it up, get in the cage. I want to get Dominick, Barao, and hopefully get the winner of those guys. I’m ready for whoever.”
Cruz on Kelvin Gastelum being the youngest Ultimate Fighter champion: “Being 21 years old and being the youngest guy to ever win the show, that is one huge thing. But then you’ve got to think that’s playing a part while he’s walking down to the Octagon. He’s thinking ‘I’m the youngest one to do this, I’m 21 years old, I’ve been dreaming of seeing this,’ and all those emotions flooded him, and he still came out and performed.”
UFC POSTFIGHT SHOW ON FUEL TV Analyst Michael Bisping on Cat Zingano’s performance: “This was her first time fighting at such a huge event. At the weigh-in she was shaking. When she walked into the Octagon there were tears in her eyes. She’s a mother and this is a huge thing. She’s undefeated, so that also brings a lot of pressure. The start of the first round she was punching very slowly, but as the fight progressed she got hit a little, she got taken down and finally realized that it’s not going to get any worse than this and that gave her confidence and she came back. She came back amazingly.”
Zingano on winning her UFC debut: “It was amazing. I felt like a got woken up by the second round. I was still kind of just really surprised that I’m here. I was still in a daze then I just thought of my son and I thought of my mom and I thought of everything I’ve done to get here throughout my life and this I exactly where I’m supposed to be and none of it’s in vain and I’m doing what I’m supposed to do with my life right here, right now. It got me started, it got me revved up and I wanted to finish this fight, I wanted to figure it out and I did. I came, I saw and I conquered. I’m happy.”
Ronda Rousey’s thoughts on Tate vs. Zingano: “They both looked great. From the open workouts, I thought that Cat looked a lot better, but Miesha’s the type to perform above herself and she came out swinging. I learned a lot of things about [Cat] as a fighter by watching her live for the first time. I’m ready, man. She’s a tough chick for sure, though.”
Dana White on The Ultimate Fighter Finale: “It was an amazing night. I knew this season of The Ultimate Fighter was special. I took the guys out to dinner at the end of the season and I told the guys that night, everyone of you will come back and fight in the UFC. We’ll give you one more opportunity, because they fought so hard in the season. And they killed it.”
White on Gastelum upsetting Hall: “People on Twitter were calling for a fight with him and Anderson Silva already. And he deserved the hype. The question becomes, can you handle the pressure? And what it looked like to me was, when he came out tonight, he folded under the pressure like he didn’t even want to be in there. He didn’t even wake up until the second round. And we saw hints, little pieces of Uriah Hall tonight, but that’s about it. And Kelvin came out ready to take him out.”
White on Hall being over-hyped: “I don’t think if you watched last season of The Ultimate Fighter you would over-hype Uriah Hall. But, the one thing that you never know, you can have a guy who’s incredibly talented, but what’s going to happen to him when he gets into that pressure cooker? That one moment when it all matters. That’s where the guys who become world champions really shine. Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre and the list goes on and on of guys who really don’t fold under pressure.”
White on The Ultimate Fighter moving to FOX Sports 1: “I’m very excited. I want to thank everybody over at FX for all the support they’ve given us since we’ve come to FOX. For all the hard work everybody’s put in over there to get the UFC and The Ultimate Fighter to where it is today on FX, I really appreciate it. And I’m very excited to be moving to FOX Sports 1. I think the crew that works over there and the plans they have for this network, it’s going to be awesome, and we’re very excited to be part of it.”
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