Dana White Closes Door On Tim Sylvia, Blames Gangsters For NY MMA Ban

UFC President Dana White did a lot of press yesterday and as always that means lots of juicy quotes from the king of the MMA mountain. First up, MMA Fighting's Mike Chiappetta asked White to address the campaign by former two-time UFC heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia to return to the Octagon. Sylvia, who left the UFC to accept a very lucrative bout against Fedor Emelianenko with Affliction has gone 6-3 as a roving ronin, and has won 6 of his last 7.

White's response was as succinct as it is pithy: "Hell no," he said. "Hell no."

That closes that matter.

On another front, Dana spoke to ESPN.com about the UFC's difficulties in getting MMA regulated in New York state:

"Why hasn't it happened? It's a lot of political crap. The union out in Las Vegas is the reason it hasn't happened as funny as that sounds. It has nothing to do with MMA or the UFC, it has to do with the union. My partners, the Fertitta brothers, own the fourth largest gaming company in the country and they're non-union and the Las Vegas union has been doing some dirty stuff. They're dirty guys. Gangsters! The culinary union in Las Vegas. The guys who run the culinary union in Las Vegas are dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty guys."

Transcribed by MMA Mania.