UFC President Dana White has made no attempt to hide his disappointment with the UFC 119 main event fight between Frank Mir and Mirko Cro Cop; that frustration included declining to reward Mir with a “best knockout” bonus despite the fact that the former heavyweight champion had the only knockout victory on the card.
His ongoing expression of that disappointment included an interview with ESPN in which White said he would consider “cutting” Mir from his organization after the performance Saturday.
“Sure,” said White on the possibility of releasing Mir. “You really, really need to show up and deliver. This is a job.”
No one expects Mir to actually be released; boring fight or not, he won by stoppage in a high-profile main-event and gives UFC name value at a time when its large number of events can result in cards being devoid of true star power. (Dana White later confirmed that he would not be cutting Mir and only meant that he “could”)
Still, White seems intent on burying the Mir-Cro Cop fight, likely due to what insiders confirm is an overall, internal frustration UFC had with Saturday’s card. The feeling was that since UFC 119 lacked title fights or even matches with immediate relevance for the title picture, it needed to make up for its shortcomings with an excess of action and high-quality fighting. Save for Sean Sherk vs. Evan Dunham and Matt Mitrione vs. Joey Beltran, the feeling is that the card greatly underwhelmed in terms of quality.
White also openly criticized the Melvin Guillard vs. Jeremy Stephens fight, which he had hyped as a way to kick off the show with a dose of adrenaline. That fight, too, fell far short of the hype.
