UFC president Dana White’s expectations were exceeded by the Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. fight.
Tyson and Jones fought to a draw in their exhibition boxing match headliner last night in a contest that certainly didn’t disappoint fans despite both fighters being well past their prime.
White was notably cautious about making comments leading up to the fight — especially as he is friends with Tyson — however, even he was impressed with how “Iron Mike” looked during the eight-round bout as well as the fight as a whole.
“Listen guys, you guys have been asking me questions leading up to this thing and I didn’t want to say anything negative because I love Tyson and he’s a good friend of mine,” White said at the UFC Vegas 15 post-fight press conference. “I was nervous. He’s 56 years old. Time is undefeated, okay? Time takes us all down. And one of the things I was worried for Mike is that he has this incredible aura still. And 56 years old? Fighting is young man’s game.
“All that being said, he looked f*cking awesome tonight. I was blown away by how good he looked. One of the things I was worried about with Roy — Roy’s 51 years old, but Roy’s been way more active than Tyson has been. But Roy actually got more tired tonight than Mike which was shocking. I’m happy for them. I hope they both made a f*cking zillion dollars. And it exceeded my expectations.
“… He looked good, he looked good. Listen, he’s a grown ass man, he’s going to do what he wants anyway. But good for him. It was actually a good fight. It was an entertaining fight to watch. And I thought he looked really good. I’m happy for him.”
White: Fight Business Is For Young Guys
Jones recently stated he wanted to face former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in a long-awaited fight should he come out on top against Tyson.
And although the fight was a draw, it’s certainly more possible now than ever given Silva’s recent release from the company.
But don’t expect White to have any hand in promoting it as he still believes fighting is a young man’s sport.
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m not really interested,” White responded when asked if he’d be interested in promoting that fight. “To my core, I am a f*cking fight fan. What I truly believe is that the fight business is for young guys. It’s not for old guys. Listen, I get there’s still some name value out there and you can go out and you can make some money.
“But when you’re a fight fan, I want to see the best in the world, the best up-and-coming kids, the best in the world — I want to see these guys fight and I want to know who is the baddest motherf*cker in the world in every division. As a fight fan, that’s who I am and that kind of stuff doesn’t interest me.
“Anderson Silva had his day. Roy Jones Jr. had his day. Today is not their day. It’s just not. These young guys that you saw fight tonight are the future. These are the guys that are up and coming, and this is what I’m interested in. This is what I love to do. I could sit here all f*cking night and watch kids that fought tonight fight. It’s what I love to do. It’s just not what I really love to do. There’s plenty of people out there that do that. Plenty of people that do the ‘old guy’ stuff. I don’t do the ‘old guy’ stuff.”
Perhaps it’s something Tyson can organize under his Legends Only League.
