Dana White Admits He Lied To Urijah Faber
Posted on 26 May 2012
by MMAScoops.com Staff

Dana White has admitted that he not only lied to Urijah Faber (26-5 MMA, 2-1 UFC) about his UFC 148 opponent, but Ivan Menjivar, Michael McDonald and Brad Pickett as well.

Faber was originally scheduled to fight UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz (both are coaches on The Ultimate Fighter: Live), but Cruz was forced out with an injury. He was then scheduled to fight for the interim title at UFC 148. The event takes place July 7 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Renan Barao (28-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) was eventually chosen. White wanted to reveal the news on the May 18th episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Live, but Faber made that difficult when he called before the announcement.

White said: "So I lied to him. This show, even though it's not live, we want to break some [news] on the show. With you [expletives], it's tough to do. You're out looking for the next big (scoop). I knew if I told him, he's going to tell his camp. His camp is going to go tell this guy and that guy, and that's how this thing going to get out. So I said, 'You're fighting Ivan Menjivar.'"

Before White brought in Barao for the announcement, he told Menjivar, McDonald and Pickett they may be selected for the spot.

He added: "We had Menjivar, Barao, McDonald and Pickett all thinking they were flying to Las Vegas. Menjivar actually thought his tickets were being booked and he was coming to Las Vegas. When Barao was announced, [Urijah] had no idea. That's why I said, 'Sorry bro' (during the episode)."

The episode that featured the announcement (#11), was the worst rated show in the series with 821,000 viewers.