Dana White Blasts Andrei Arlovski and Brendan Schaub Fight: “The Fans Lost in That Fight”
Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski returned to the Octagon he once reigned supreme in for the first time in six years at UFC 174 in Vancouver on Saturday. The 35-year-old ended up on the winning side of a controversial split decision against Brendan Schaub on the event’s pay-per-view main card.
“There has to be some sort of major change with these judges. I have no idea what they’re doing, but clearly they weren’t paying attention to the fight. I know Andrei’s a big star and maybe they were swayed by the fans reaction. Look at the punch stats and statistics then tell me that he won that fight,” said Schaub after the fight before leaving for the hospital to have his jaw checked out. “Maybe you can give Andrei the first round, but that’s it. The most significant strikes he landed on me were the two headbutts. I don’t know what else to say.”
Many felt Schaub did enough to earn the win, but UFC president Dana White doesn’t think there was anything controversial about that heavyweight match-up. He also doesn’t agree with Schaub’s assessment of the decision.
“Was it controversial?” asked White when questioned about the fight during Fox Sport 1’s UFC 174 Post Show. “I think everybody would agree that fight sucked. That fight was horrible. You know who lost that fight? The fans. The fans lost in that fight.
“For anybody to think he got robbed — The first two rounds could have gone either way. The first two rounds could have gone either way. And the third, Schaub won the third round,” the UFC president continued.
“I made a big mistake by putting that on the main card. That should have been on the prelims. For Schaub to walk around thinking he got robbed is hysterical.”
White’s criticisms didn’t stop there.
“Arlovski looked slow. Arlvoski looked soft. Arlovski looked like he couldn’t get off tonight. Neither one of them threw any punches in the first two rounds and Schaub’s face still looked like it got hit with a baseball bat. For him to think he got robbed tonight is absolute comedy. We got robbed tonight,” he said.
For whatever reason, White did not attend the event’s post-fight press conference. Although, Arlovski felt he might know why.
“Honestly, I still feel really horrible. Dana White is not here because he’s probably so pissed at me. He gave me a great opportunity. I didn’t like my fight tonight. For some reason I nervous a lot. I just nervous even more than first time when I first fought more than 14 years ago,” said the dejected fight winner.
“My plan was knock him out and don’t leave it up to the judges. I wasn’t happy about my performance tonight.”
