Could Dana White also let Wand and Nog Loose?

Published on: 23rd April, 2009

Could Dana White also let Wand and Nog Loose?  | read this item

Now we all know that UFC president Dana White wants his friend and former Light Heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell to hang up the gloves and call it a career and although it could happen when “The Iceman” makes that decision next week there are also other fighters who could also be seeing their way out of the sport as well with the fighters being Wanderlei Silva and Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira.

In a recent interview with InsideFighting.com White is pretty much asked if it is time for the former PRIDE veterans to hang up their gloves as well where the UFC president says that they to could also be let go.

“They are right there too and yes, I will pull the trigger on them too. The problem with guys like that is that I don’t have the relationship that I have with a guy like Liddell. Me and Liddell are close so when I say “dude, you are done, here’s what we are going to do, blah, blah, blah,” but I don’t have that relationship with them. So I can’t guarantee you that these guys are going to f_cking stop. I want them to stop and I’ll try to figure it out and get them to stop because one of the things I always say is that I’ve built this business using the blueprint of boxing, what not to do. We know that you shouldn’t be fighting past your prime, you know?”

However; White does not want to let Nogueira and Wanderlei in fact he wants to help them out, so they can be set for the rest of their lives with the merchandising agreements that were being distributed to the fighters sometime late last year.

“I don’t want to cut them and that wouldn’t stop them from fighting. Someone else will dig up the money and pay them. Its better off that I keep them close to me and I can, you know, Wanderlei and I do have a good relationship but its not like me and Chuck. Its not where I feel like I can tell this guy something and he’s going to really listen to me, you know? But if I can work something else out so that this guy can make a living, and that’s what we are trying to do. That’s what we are trying to do with these merchandise agreements. We sat back and thought, once these guys live inside the UFC brand we can set up some merchandising where these guys can collect royalty checks for the rest o their lives? Let me give you an example. Rowdy Roddy Piper. When is the last time you saw him wrestle? Long time ago, right? Rowdy Roddy Piper is sitting on a couch somewhere collecting checks because you can still get the Rowdy Roddy Piper doll and other things that they sell through the WWE. Now when is the last time you saw the Leon Spinks f_cking doll? Yeah, you didn’t f_cking see it and you are never going to see it and he’s not getting any checks.”

White makes a good point in keeping both Wanderlei and Nogueira, but I am pretty sure that at some point he would talk to them about calling it a career as both fighters have been taking serious beatings over the years with Wanderlei being knocked out in 3 of his last 5 fights and Nogueira looking helpless in his last fight with Frank Mir, but hopefully the pair can turn it around in their next fights at UFC 99 and UFC 102 respectively.

 Nelson Rodriguez AKA: Nelo2.0 is the Co - Owner of URDirt.com who is also an Editor and Author on the site. Read more from this author

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