Dana White: "They'll need to kill me to keep the UFC out of Japan"

http://mmajunkie.com/news/15500/ufc...d-to-kill-me-to-keep-the-ufc-out-of-japan.mma

Despite what he calls extreme opposition, and despite the recent headaches caused by the country's top fight executives meddling in Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic's relationship with the organization, Dana White said the Ultimate Fighting Championship is heading to Japan.

To date the organization has hosted just four events in the country, the most recent of which was "UFC 29: Defense of the Belts," held in Tokyo eight-and-a-half years ago.

Although "dirty, sneaky, bad guys in Japan" allegedly don't want him there, White said they'll need "to kill me" to keep him out.

Japan has long been a hotbed for mixed martial arts, and despite the UFC's move overseas, the organization hasn't hosted a recent event in the country. White said the current fiasco with Filipovic is proof of just how far some people will go to sabotage the organization.

Last month, Filipovic, a former star of the Japanese-based PRIDE Fighting Championships, returned from a yearlong separation from the UFC to fight at UFC 99. Prior to the victory over Mostapha Al Turk, White and Filipovic hosted a conference call with reporters. "Cro Cop" said he considered his first stint in the UFC, which included back-to-back losses to Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo, a "black mark" on his career and that he wanted to make a title run. White said he was so happy to have Filipovic back in the organization that they were doing a rare one-fight deal with the understanding a longer contract would be signed after the show.

However, on the day of UFC 99, reports out of Japan stated that Filipovic had agreed to a three-fight deal with the rival Japanese-based DREAM organization.

White went on the offensive and blasted Filipovic. Even as Filipovic returned home and assured White the reports were untrue, a DREAM executive told USA Today the promotion had, in fact, signed the fighter to a deal.

It turned out to be untrue, White said, and as MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) reported last week, Filipovic is now slated to fight Junior Dos Santos in September at UFC 103.

"Some sneaky, bad [expletive] goes on with the fight guys in Japan all the time, and I think that's what happened there," White said on Saturday. "The day of the fight – the day 'Cro Cop' is fighting for me. How dirty is that? Tell me that's not dirty. And it wasn't true. They do that [expletive] all the time, man."

White said the opposition from a select few is hurting the country as a whole.

"Here's what's sad," White said. "There's a huge fight market in Japan. There are fans over there who want this, but there's some shady [expletive] people over there that keep it from happening. They know who they are, and they don't want the UFC to come to Japan, and that's a fact."

Will that opposition keep the UFC from venturing to Japan.

"They're going to have to kill me," White said. "That's where they're going to have to do. We're coming there no matter what. We're coming there. We're going to break through this thing. We're going to get past these dirty, sneaky, bad guys in Japan, and we're going to make it happen.

"If I don't get killed over in Japan, I'll be [expletive] amazed when I go ever there. I'll be amazed."

The UFC purchased PRIDE in 2007 during a time when the organization was plagued with financial difficulties and rumors of a potential tie to the Japanese mob. Initially, UFC officials stated they planned to continue running events under the PRIDE banner. However, no show ever took place.

"We brought PRIDE to keep PRIDE running," White said. "But that wasn't their plan over there. That was their plan when they were sitting across a table from us telling us when we were buying it, but they had other plans. They can shut things off and basically do whatever they want over there."

White isn't sure exactly when the UFC will return to Japan, but he said he knows there's a fan base there and he's going to reach it, though he expects plenty of obstacles on the way.

"Remember how huge the Japanese market was five, six, seven years ago?" White said. "It was huge. The people were loving it over there. Boom. It's just gone. It's a handful of people who control it over there. A handful of people that control it, and it's a hard place to navigate through. Even now when we're not in Japan and we go after a guy like Mirko – and on the day of my fight when he's fighting in my show – they come out and start making allegations like that and that he's signed a deal and everyone heard it and everybody knew about it.

"It's just craziness."