UFC’s White pulls strings, but can’t get fighter sprung

UFC president Dana White fought the law and the law won.

White did everything in his power to help lightweight Jeremy Stephens get out of police custody in time to fight Yves Edwards on Friday night's Ultimate Fighting Championship card in Minneapolis, but Stephens missed the event and was still behind bars Monday.

The saga began Friday morning when Minneapolis police arrested Stephens on an outstanding Iowa warrant stemming from a 2011 assault.

White said he immediately went to work trying to secure Stephens' release in time to fight that night, adding he believes Stephens' side of the story.

"I'm always going to believe my guy until I'm proven wrong. I'm always going to support the guys or girls who work for us," he said. "You don't have to be Rampage (Jackson), or Jon Jones, or some of the big stars in the UFC. If you're in the UFC and you've helped us and you're a fighter here, I'm going to support you and I'm going to have your back, depending on how serious the situation is."

White said he was willing to do whatever it took to enable Stephens to fight, particularly because fighters invest so much into training for a fight and a missed payday can be devastating.

"I was willing to have two police officers bring him from jail to fight and then bring him back to jail," White told reporters after the event. "Let's do that. Let the kid get paid, because he's going to have to spend money on this thing anyway. He's got a family to take care of. It's crazy.

"Floyd Mayweather got to decide when he went to jail. But this kid, on an assault charge, couldn't come out and fight today when he would have gone back to jail. I would have bailed him out. I would have (flown) him to Des Moines, Iowa, to face the charges there. I was willing to do anything, and they dragged me out and played games with me all day."

White said by the end of negotiations, the amount of bail money potentially on the table "could have gotten (Charles) Manson out," but he said each time he would reach a deal with Iowa authorities, they would change the terms.

Stephens' management released a statement Monday with the fighter still in custody in Minnesota. The statement denies any wrongdoing, but acknowledged Stephens was at the 2011 party where the incident took place, claiming his name came up in the investigation because he was a "featured guest."

"It will take some time for this unfortunate situation to be resolved. We ask that everyone be patient and wait for the truth to come out."

The statement also claims that before Friday, Stephens had never been arrested in connection with the assault, contacted about any possible charge or notified of any outstanding warrant. The fighter's management made the case that Stephens is "not a hard guy to find," because of his very public presence.

■ ANOTHER FIGHT CANCELED - Luke Rockhold suffered a wrist injury in training and has pulled out of his scheduled Strikeforce middleweight title defense on Nov. 3 against Lorenz Larkin.

No alternate plans for the card have been announced.

Daniel Cormier is still awaiting word on a replacement opponent for Frank Mir, who was forced to pull out of their scheduled main event heavyweight bout on the card.

Strikeforce's last scheduled show was canceled entirely when lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez was forced to withdraw from his main event fight just a week before the card.

■ ROLLER RETIRES - UFC lightweight Shane Roller, a three-time all-American wrestler at Oklahoma State and part-time Las Vegas resident, announced his retirement from the UFC after losing to Jacob Volkmann on Friday.

It was the fourth loss in five fights for the 33-year-old, who finished 2-4 in the UFC and 11-7 in his MMA career.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.