Dana White has responded to the very cool and very confused responses from the fans and media in regards to his odd decision to offer the winner of Shogun vs. Vera a #1 at UFC on FOX 4 this Saturday night in Los Angeles a #1 contender spot and a shot at the light heavyweight title. Now White hasn’t removed that opportunity for Rua and Vera, but he’s now extended to the opportunity to the winner of the Lyoto Machida vs. Ryan Bader fight as well. 

White now says that the person who performs the best out of the four light heavyweights will get the #1 contender status and a shot at the light heavyweight title. 

Speaking to mmajunkie.com White discussed his change of mind.

“Whoever wins the most impressively on Saturday night gets the shot at the title. I put together the fights that fans want to see. The fans didn’t like the Rua and Vera choice, so here it is:  The guy that wins most impressively on Saturday night out of the co-main event and the main event will get the shot at the winner of Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson.”  

“There’s no doubt that Vera is getting the opportunity of a lifetime. He’s getting the opportunity of a lifetime, but we’ll see what happens. We’ll see if he makes the most of it.”

This is indeed better than the original choice but still not a great choice,  one could say that at least Bader and Machida have more claim to the #1 contender spot than Vera and Rua, who seemed so very far down the ladder to begin with, which is what made the original decision so strange. 

Whats stranger is the best choice for #1 contender, and a person who's actually earned a shot more than any of the four fighters above, Alexander Gustafsson, sits and waits to be matched up.

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