This may come as a surprise to some, but UFC President Dana White actually praised Floyd Mayweather's 4th round knockout victory over Victor Ortiz this past Saturday. "Floyd Mayweather actually showed up to fight. He was coming forward, he was hitting Ortiz and trying to stop him and everything else," White commented as he shared his thoughts on the fight. On the contrary, White was very critical of the effort put forth by both Victor Oritz and referee Joe Cortez. "Who ruined that fight was Cortez, the referee; never had control of the fight from the first round on. And just so you know, I bet on Ortiz. I said this kid's got a puncher's chance; I threw some money on Ortiz. Ortiz was headbutting from the first round. He was rubbing his head in Floyd's face. I think Floyd handled himself like a professional," White explained during an interview with mmafighting.com.
"Again, it's not like I'm Floyd's fucking publicist, okay. Me and Floyd have had our moments, and I continue to call Floyd out for not fighting Pacquiao, but Floyd conducted himself like a professional that night," he continued, reminding everyone that he's been very critical of Mayweather in the past, consistently calling his fights boring and accusing him of avoiding a mega-fight with Manny Pacquiao. This time, however, White appears to be in support of the undefeated champion. "Floyd literally got billgoat headbutted. I mean, like a fucking billgoat, he hit him in the face with his head," White stated, again focusing the blame on Ortiz's intentional headbutts and Cortez's inability to take control of the fight. "Ortiz is making $2.5 million that night; Floyd's probably going to make $40 [million], right? And Floyd is also set up that if he wins this fight, he could possibly do this mega-fight, which could be the biggest fight in boxing history, with Manny Pacquiao, and you have this guy headbutting you in the face like that? Joe Cortez's job is to be in there and control that fight and make sure stuff like that doesn't happen. From the minute the bell rang, from the first round, to the minute that fight ended, Joe Cortez absolutely, 100% fucking destroyed that fight and ruined it...It's easy to hate Floyd, but Floyd didn't do anything wrong in that fight."
White also went on to blast HBO analyst Larry Merchant, who had a verbal argument with Mayweather during the post-fight interview after the fight. "After the fight, you know, Merchant gets up in there, this babbling, you know, senile, insane idiot. This guy has been around for way too long. He gets on there again and just embarrasses HBO," White commented. "Floyd just got headbutted in the face. How about you go in and talk to Floyd about the headbutt...he just starts attacking Floyd. And then, he turns around and says, 'If I was 50 years younger, I'd kick your ass.' Hey Larry, if you were 70 years younger, you're not kicking Floyd's ass, okay? You babbling, senile, moron. Please, HBO, I'm a boxing fan, put Max Kellerman in there and let Max Kellerman do the interviews; somebody who can actually lay out a coherent sentence and makes sense and knows about the sport of boxing, and doesn't just go in there and try to smash these guys who just got done fighting."
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