UFC 303 has had some twists and turns but Dana White is satisfied where it ended up.
It was confirmed in recent days that the original headliner, Conor McGregor, had been required to postpone his scheduled bout with Michael Chandler after sustaining a broken toe towards the end of his training camp. The development prompted UFC matchmakers to once again hustle to locate a new main event fight for the marquee event in Las Vegas.
And with Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka set to rematch with the promotion’s light heavyweight title at stake in the hastily-arranged main event, White is convinced that fireworks will ensue — even if Czech fighter Prochazka is concerned about what he views as Pereira using some dark arts in preparation.
“When Jiri found out about the fight, apparently he goes into a shed for three days. No water, no food, no nothing and prays or meditates — whatever he does. So apparently his coach went and banged on the door and told him that this fight was available and he said something to the effect of, ‘If this is what the universe wants.’
“So [Jiri] sees [Pereira] using [Shaman] stuff, or whatever it is, and he’s like, “this is unfair, he’s using witchcraft or whatever, black magic.”
“It is just another reason that this fight is so f*cking awesome. This is real. This isn’t fabricated bullshit where somebody wants to come out with a gimmicky f*cking wrestling type thing. This is who these two guys really f*cking are.”
He added: “These guys are both legit killers, man. And numbers don’t lie when you look at the stats of what these guys have done and accomplished in fights.”
