UFC 106: Post-Fight Quotes

We all saw what went down last night, but what do the fighters have to say for themselves? Let's take a brief tour of the verbal fall-out, shall we?


Tito Ortiz says he won:

I thought I won the first round and I thought I won the second round. You see the damage on his face? I got him good. In the third round I was gassed, but after taking 18 months off, I want to see another fighter come in here [and undergoing back surgery] and do what I just did. I gave my heart and soul, man. I entertained the fans. And for me not getting "Fight of the Night," I'm taken back by it, but it is what it is. I thought I won. The judge called it 30-27, I mean what the fuck, are you blind or something? But hey, it is what it is, I'll be back. I feel good. I'm sorry I let my fans down. I thought I won.... I'm pissed."

(I gave Tito only the second round. He came close in the first, but didn't do enough damage on the ground and couldn't keep Forrest down.)


Anthony "Rumble" Johnson says Koscheck is a faker:

"I didn't hit him in the head, I hit him in the arm. I don't know why he would act like [that], I guess he was gassing. That's the only thing I can think of, [him] trying to find some kind of excuse to complain. I know I didn't hit him in the head. I thought I timed it perfect but I didn't and that's my fault. After him poking me in the eye it made a big difference. Then he did it twice and got both eyes the second time because when he swings, he jabs with his open hand and the right didn't even hit me, it was just the open palm strike and my eyes, my eyes are burning like hell right now. After I hurt him, he needed that, he needed some kind of excuse to recover, but it's all good."

(I don't understand the controversy here. "Rumble" hit "Kos" with a knee that was all sorts of illegal. He should be thankful that Josh blocked it because, if he'd been finished by it instead, Johnson would have left UFC 106 in disgrace. Each clearly poked the other in the eye, but I don't believe any of it was intentional. By the way, Joe Rogan is wrong. There's no way a fighting mitten that encloses the fingers could ever work.)


Ben Saunders says he's out to smash some fools:

"I'm always down to bang, man. My initial martial arts training came from Jeet Jun Do and striking background. I know what I'm good at and I say almost anybody's going to be vulnerable to my knees, whether it's to the face or the body or the arms -- whatever, it's gonna work either way. [Davis] in particular, when I fight people who are shorter than me it definitely works out even better. People shot me off like, 'Oh, I beat bums, I'm a nobody and this and that.' It kinda hurt a little bit but at the same time I know what I'm capable of and I didn't show what I was able to do in that Swick fight and it actually worked against me. I knew that this fight was going to be very important for me to come out and not just win, but demolish my opponent and get my name back on the contender list."

(I fell into that camp of people who thought Saunders was overrated. Good on him for proving me wrong.)


Here's a video interview with UFC President Dana White offering his reactions to UFC 106: