Dana White Talks Israel Adesanya, UFC Noche and Paris At DWCS Press Conference

UFC president Dana White is seen on stage during the UFC 292 press conference at TD Garden on August 17, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

UFC President Fielded Questions From The Media Following Week 5 Of Dana White's Contender Series

By UFC Staff Report • Sep. 6, 2023

Another fruitful episode of Dana White’s Contender Series went into the books on Tuesday as the UFC President signed all five victors – Dione Barbosa, Jean Silva, Dylan Budka, Serhiy Sidey and Brendson Ribeiro - to UFC contracts. After announcing those signings, White went to the media room to speak with reporter on a wide range of topics, including his thoughts on Season 7 of the Contender Series at the midway point.

“I think if you look back at the history of the Contender Series and what we’ve built here, a couple world champions now, tons of top-15 guys and girls, and when we have the boards in the war room - there’s different colors - there’s blue everywhere. Blue is Contender Series (alums),” White said. “This show has been a monster feeder-system for us bringing in high-quality talent. Everybody that comes in off this show has the ability to break into the top-10 or be a world champion. It’s one of the reasons I love watching this every Tuesday.”

Week 5 Results And Scorecards

White also answered questions on the legacy of middleweight champion Israel Adesanya ahead of his upcoming title defense against Sean Strickland at UFC 293 in Sydney, Australia.

Contract Winners And Interviews | Dana White’s Contender Series Season 7 Week 5

“It’s hard to talk about that stuff until a guy is done with his career,” White said. “The one thing about Israel, and I say it all the time, is he always wants to fight. As soon as the fight is over, a lot of these guys take their time, some guys fight twice, once a year — this kid, as soon as the fight is over, he’s already in the back telling Hunter (Campbell) what he wants next, where he wants to go next and who he wants to fight next, and he wants to fight in three months. He’s creating a serious legacy for himself. After Strickland, he’s almost cleaned out the division.”

The UFC President added that he will wait for that fight to play out before determining what is next for Adesanya.

White continued to answer questions on a variety of topics.

On Paris:

“It was incredible. Whehter you there live or on television, you felt it. You could tell it was electric. Who would’ve thought that France would become such a great experience to see live? The energy, the chants during the fights. They were saying, from the first fight of the night, the place was 95 percent full. Awesome. And the gate. We had the record. The NBA came in and beat us, and we came back and beat the NBA. Good s***.”

On Manon Fiorot and Erin Blanchfield:

“It’s tough. Both coming off big wins. We’ll see. It’s a great position for us to be in.”

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On UFC Noche:

“It wasn’t planned. It wasn’t schedule. I ripped the whole schedule around to make this happen, put pressure on the (matchmakers) to build a card for that event. I’m really looking forward to it. That whole (flyweight) division is fun based off what happens that night between (Alexa) Grasso and (Valentina) Shevchenko, and there’s a lot of different things we can do based off the winner of that fight.”

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White also touched on the title picture of women’s flyweight division after Erin Blanchfield and Manon Fiorot took home hard-fought wins as well as the future of Rose Namajunas. He also answered questions about the state of the heavyweight division at present and the futures of Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic. You can watch the entire clip here:

Post-Fight Press Conference | Dana White's Contender Series Season 7 Week 5