The pre-fight press conference for UFC 167, this afternoon in Las Vegas, went almost eventless.
All fighters were very polite to each other and were in a very good mood.
Chael Sonnen, who is facing his friend Rashad Evans, had some catch phrases for the crowd, as usual.
“The only thing bigger than this 20th anniversary event is Wanderlei Silva’s forehead,”he said to talk about the importance of this Saturday night, when the UFC will celebrate 20 years of life.
Johnny Hendricks, the welterweight title contender, also displayed a sharp tongue: “I”m his friend, I’ll be a gentleman to him, but when we fight I want to demolish him, I want to kill him, well not in that sense, but I want to beat him in a way he does not want to fight me again,” said Hendricks about how he sees champion Georges St. Pierre and the main event for Saturday.
The champion was much more cautious with his words: “I know he’s a big treat to me. You don’t get to be the number 1 contender for nothing, but I am also in the best shape of my life an I know I’m gonna win this fight.”
Dana White was all smiles with the celebration of the 20th anniversary and spoke about choosing GSP to headline the show: “He’s the PPV king! He represents all we want to put out as a message to the people. He’s a great athlete and a great man!”
Back to Sonnen, for more laughs, he told reporters how he was invited to fight Evans: “Dana sent me a text saying he had a fight for me. I replied saying I would do it as long it was not against Rashad at 205lb. He answered saying it was against Rashad at 205lb. And Rashad was sitting next to me, as we were doing a promo. I just showed him my phone. For the rest of the shooting, I knew he was measuring me.”
UFC 167 takes place this Saturday, November 16, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Here’s the fight card:
UFC 167
MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
November 16, 2013
Georges St-Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks
Rashad Evans vs. Chael Sonnen
Rory MacDonald vs. Robbie Lawler
Josh Koscheck vs. Tyron Woodley
Tim Elliott vs. Ali Bagautinov
Undercard
Donald Cerrone vs. Evan Dunham
Thales Leites vs. Ed Herman
Brian Ebersole vs. Rick Story
Erik Perez vs. Edwin Figueroa
Jason High vs. Anthony Lapsley
Vaughan Lee vs. Sergio Pettis
Gian Villante vs. Cody Donovan
