White Addresses UFC Featherweight Title Picture

“I told Cub and Frankie, ‘Don’t worry about anything you hear with all the Conor McGregor talk and all the other stuff. You worry about Cub Swanson and you worry about Frankie Edgar. Believe me, the fact that people are arguing over who should get a title shot in the 145-pound division isn’t a bad thing. It’s a good thing.”

During his weekly, ‘Download’ on UFC.COM, UFC President Dana White discussed the complications of having such a stacked featherweight division.

He spoke more:

White on Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes at UFC 179:

“I called Mendes and I called Aldo three days after the fight to tell them how honored I was to be able to sit in the seat I was sitting in and seeing that fight,” said White said. “It was two guys who don’t want to move backwards and who won’t break, and they just kept going at each other. Aldo won the war of attrition. He won that fight. A lot of people were talking about Mendes getting robbed. Mendes fought an awesome fight, but Aldo absolutely won that fight and I think it raised his stock.”

White on Mendes and coach Duane “Bang” Ludwig:

“All the props in the world to Bang Ludwig, who might be the best striking coach in the business. Yes, he jumped into a camp full of studs, guys who were extremely talented, but they were wrestlers,” White said about Ludwig, who also coaches UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw. “What you saw at UFC 179 was a Chad Mendes who was checking Aldo’s kicks, and I think landed more leg kicks than Aldo did in that fight. Mendes wanted that belt so goddamn bad, and they went toe to toe.”

White on the featherweight division generally:

“Especially with all the excitement in that division with Conor McGregor, Cub Swanson and Frankie Edgar – that division is so exciting that people are talking about freaking Nik Lentz and Dennis Bermudez.”