UFC 103 Notes: White on Mayweather, Escudero's Hospital Trip and More

By Mike Chiappetta - Senior Writer

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DALLAS -- While Floyd Mayweather managed to steal most of the major sports headlines away from UFC 103 on Saturday night, UFC President Dana White was in full belief he put on the better event.

How did he know? Because even though White was in the midst of a 13-fight card, he bought the Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez fight and had it playing on a monitor near him.

"It sucked," he said. "It sucked just like I said it would and knew it would."
UFC's card featured six TKO's, three submissions and four decisions. All seven televised fights (five on pay-per-view and two on Spike) had finishes.

UFC thrilled with Ultimate Fighter Ratings

UFC 103 ended a big week for the company. Week one of The Ultimate Fighter performed ratings-wise beyond Dana White's wildest dreams. The season premiere brought a record viewing audience, with 4.1 million watching the episode, and another 1 million watching the rerun two hours later.

"We had our expectations about what it would do, and that wasn't it," White said with a smile. "Those numbers were crazy. Even UFC Fight Night got 2.6 million viewers. It was a big night for us."

Escudero goes from hospital to winner's circle in 24 hours

Efrain Escudero took a circuitous route to victory on Saturday night. The former Ultimate Fighter champ had a horrible time completing his weight cut on Friday and needed to take a trip to the hospital for IV's to rehydrate. Escudero told FanHouse that he'd been sick all week and his body did not adjust to the weight cut.

He showed no ill effects in the cage from the previous day's ordeal. He floored Cole Miller with a sharp right hand and knocked him unconcious with ground and pound. It was his first career TKO stoppage, and it improved his career record to 12-0.

"I'm working my standup every day and I'm going to continue to do that," said Escudero, who prepared for the reach differential by training with DeMarques Johnson. "I didn't want to go and use my jiu-jitsu. I thought it was time to make a statement, and I sure did that."

Cro Cop forced to make hospital visit after loss

After verbally submitting because of vision problems in his bout, Mirko Cro Cop put a towel on his head and walked out of the octagon. If he'd had it his way, he would've headed straight to the airport, but White wouldn't let that happen.

The UFC president sent the Croatian to the hospital for precautionary reasons after Cro Cop took a severe beating throughout most of the duration of a fight that went into the third round.

"He's got to fly 20 hours to get home," White said. "I've got to know he's OK before he gets on that plane. He took some big shots from a heavy puncher tonight."

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