Dana White interacts with his more than two million followers on Twitter during Saturday night's UFC 145 card in Atlanta. (Bryan Armen Graham/SI.com)

ATLANTA — Dana White is a sick man.

It’s 8:51 p.m. on fight night and the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship has just been shot up with two bags of IV fluids in an anonymously marked lounge in the bowels of Philips Arena. Food poisoning, he explains, from a bad turkey burger during last night’s red-eye from Las Vegas.

“I can’t f—ing believe I’m standing here,” White says, nursing a three-quarters-full SmartWater bottle filled with a urine-colored fluid (“Pedialyte,” he says). “I thought I was going to die this morning. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t walk. I was sweating like someone sprayed me with a hose. I was sprawled out on the marble floor of my bathroom.”

Yet White is on his feet, peering at a MacBook screen over the shoulder of Kristin Adams, the UFC’s 28-year-old social media whiz, who is busy engaging with celebrities and fans buzzing about tonight’s UFC 145 card. His attention diverts to the flatscreen TV showing the undercard bout currently happening outside between Mac Danzig and Efrain Escudaro.

As Adams reads aloud tweets from celebrities posting about the fight — Criss Angel, Jerry Rice, Jim Norton, Kelly Slater — White dictates rapid-fire responses as he unboxes a new cell phone. He directs Adams to tweet out the number, offering his more than two million followers an opportunity to trade opinions with one of the most powerful and unorthodox executives in sports.

White spoke on the phone Saturday night with several UFC fans, who called a phone number he posted on Twitter. (Bryan Armen Graham/SI.com)

“There’s no service down here, they’re all going to voice mail,” he says. “Five voice mails, six voice mails, seven voice mails.”

Finally the phone rings; a fan calling from Sweden made it through. “Who’s this?” White asks, before reassuring the voice on the other end, “I swear to God it’s really me.”

Another caller rings from New Zealand. Another from North Carolina. Another calls from inside the arena and asks if he can attend the post-fight press conference. White gets an assistant to take down his seat location and cell phone number and makes it happen. “Thanks so much for the support, bro,” he says before clicking over to the next call.

It’s White’s hands-on approach that’s helped make MMA the world’s fastest growing sport, but it’s his willingness to reach out and connect with the fans that create a brand loyalty that ensures they’ll be long-term customers.

It’s hard to imagine Roger Goodell or David Stern shooting the bull with fans before an important game. “I don’t understand why though,” White says. “It’s so easy to do. It takes two seconds.”

– Bryan Armen Graham

ATLANTA — The well documented animosity between Jon Jones and Rashad Evans had seemed to abate during the week leading up to Saturday’s UFC light heavyweight title fight.

Then came Friday’s weigh-ins at the Fox Theatre, where the two estranged friends and former training partners stepped on the scale — then came together for an intense staredown worthy of one of the biggest grudge matches in the promotion’s 19-year history.

With the 4,678-seat erstwhile movie palace nearly filled to capacity, Evans (204 pounds) and Jones (205) both came in under the division limit. Both fighters drew mixed reactions from a crowd that seemed evenly divided in their support.

“It’s been a bit different because of the media and everything, but at the same time, I enjoyed the process,” Evans told UFC commentator Joe Rogan. “It is a lot of emotion involved, but at the same time, I’m looking forward to stepping in the cage and fighting Jones.”

“It’s a gigantic fight. I’m excited to be here, baby,” Jones said, amid an uncommon chorus of boos. “I’m ready to tear some heart out.”

Every fighter made weight Friday except for John Makdessi, who came in three pounds over the lightweight limit of 155 pounds and will forfeit 20 percent of his purse to opponent Anthony Njokuani.

Yesterday, Evans had observed how a fight actually starts at the weigh-ins. ”It’s really the last time you see your guy before you see him in the cage,” he said. “You get to see his energy, feel his energy.”

If the hostility exuding from both fighters Friday is any indication, their light heavyweight title showdown Saturday at Philips Arena should be a cracker.

(Watch the entire weigh-ins here.)

– Bryan Armen Graham

Chael Sonnen hugs a fan after inviting her on the Fox Theater stage on Friday. (Matt Dollinger/SI)

ATLANTA — Chael Sonnen has never been one to shy away from contact or controversy.

Regarded as one of the top middleweight fighters in the UFC, Sonnen is better known as the pound-for-pound trash-talking champion in a sport riddled with challengers. Not only is Sonnen one of the UFC’s biggest personalities, but he’s also one of its most quotable – challenging topics much like he does opponents.

Promoting his new book, “The Voice of Reason: A VIP Pass to Enlightenment,” Sonnen graced the Fox Theater stage in Atlanta on Friday for a question-and-answer sessions with fans prior to the official UFC 145 weigh-ins.

Sonnen’s next scheduled fight is a rematch against Anderson Silva at UFC 147 in Brazil, but reports are circulating that Sonnen-Silva II will be moved to UFC 148 in Las Vegas due to a logistical conflict with a United Nations conference in Rio slated for the same time of the original event.

That might be a blessing for Sonnen, who saved his harshest words for Brazil and its many fighters, including Silva, on Friday. Rather than rehash everything that came out of Sonnen’s mouth (some of which this blog probably shouldn’t repeat), here are the top 10 PG-13 quotes from Sonnen’s memorable appearance in Atlanta:

10) “The tooth brush was actually created in Brazil. If it’d been created anywhere inAmericaor somewhere else it’d be called the teeth brush.”

9) “I’m not a martial artist, I’m an award-winning author. I don’t even know what the word ‘martial’ means. I’m not 100 percent I could spell it and I don’t think I could define it.”

8) “I’ll never be a closet champion. Come one, come all.”

7) “I haven’t even agreed to (fight Silva). My demand has not been met. Anderson has his list, I have but one request. There will be 80,000 people in attendance and my demand is simple: silence. When I come through the curtain, they will sit down and shut their mouths and show respect to their American guest. Or I will go back in my car, back to the airport, back toAmericaand (they) won’t even see me fight.”

6) “I don’t think you can give yourself a ring name. When I was young they used to call me ‘foreman,’ not because I was in charge, but because I did the work of four men.”

Read More…

Stephen Thompson won six world kickboxing titles and amassed a mark of 63-0 as an amateur and pro before joining the UFC. (Kevin C. Cox/Zuffa LLC)

ATLANTA — Of the six preliminary fights airing on FX before Saturday’s UFC 145 pay-per-view telecast, none is more intriguing than Stephen Thompson’s meeting with veteran Matt Brown.

A six-time world champion kickboxer, Thompson became an overnight sensation in February with a spectacular first-round knockout of Dan Stittgen in his UFC debut, a four-minute stoppage that earned the Simpsonville, S.C., native a $65,000 bonus for the Knockout of the Night.

“There is a little pressure [to follow up] a four-minute knockout in your first UFC fight,” Thompson, 28, said at Thursday’s open workouts at Georgia State University. “But you’re fighting better guys now. Matt Brown has been in the fight game for a very long time. He’s got a lot of experience. So I’m not expecting to go out and knock this guy out. If it happens, it happens.”

The 32-year-old Brown felt his knockout of Chris Cope on the same card as Thompson’s debut was more deserving the bonus, making no secret of it. Ultimately, he asked to face Thompson — a request Dana White, no enemy to drama, was happy to grant.

The media in Thompson’s native South Carolina have done their part to hype the fight. When Thompson appeared on a local radio station — “93.3 The Planet,” he recalled with a smile — Brown called into the station while his opponent was being interviewed on the air. (Brown confessed Thursday the radio station had orchestrated the dust-up by scheduling the call.)

Thompson trained with Rashad Evans for a week in Florida while preparing for Saturday’s sophomore outing. The two first met when Thompson was flown to Albuquerque to help Evans prepare for his May 2009 fight with Lyoto Machida. They’ve kept up a good relationship and Thompson has been training with him ever since.

And though Evans is a 5-to-1 underdog against Jon Jones in Saturday’s main event, Thompson is bullish on the former champion’s upset chances.

“The guy’s a monster man, he’s a beast,” Thompson said. “He’s so ready. Mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, he’s there. So I’m excited to see that one.”

– Bryan Armen Graham

Georges St-Pierre made an unscheduled visit to the UFC 145 open workouts Thursday at Georgia State University in Atlanta. (Kevin C. Cox/Zuffa LLC)

ATLANTA — Georges St-Pierre is the UFC welterweight champion and widely regarded as the biggest draw in mixed martial arts, having attracted more than 750,000 pay-per-view buys to six different events over the past four years.

But he’s also a fan. And no one is looking forward to Saturday’s light heavyweight title showdown between Jon Jones and Rashad Evans more.

“As a fan of the sport, it’s definitely a fight I want to see,” St-Pierre said Thursday at the Georgia State University Sports Arena, where several fighters on Saturday’s card held open workouts for media and fans. “Both of these guys are incredibly talented. I believe that a mistake from one of these two guys will be fatal.”

St-Pierre, who turns 31 next month, hasn’t fought since making his seventh consecutive defense of the UFC’s 170-pound title with a points victory over Jake Shields in April 2011. He pulled out of an October defense against Carlos Condit due to a knee injury suffered in training. Two months later, it was revealed St-Pierre would be sidelined 10 months after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

“I’m in good shape now, but I’m not in fighting shape,” said St-Pierre, who explained the graft in his knee needs more time to fuse before he moves on from light exercise. “In two months it’s going to 100 percent. I don’t want to mess it up. If I try to jump or go too fast, I will have to do it all over again.”

St-Pierre spoke highly of rising welterweight prospect Rory MacDonald, who fights Che Mills in Saturday’s co-feature bout. The 22-year-old MacDonald, who trains alongside St-Pierre at Tristar Gym in Montreal, says he wants to be a world champion within two years — in the division St-Pierre currently rules.

“I’m not interested in fighting him,” St-Pierre said, repeating himself multiple times. “There are a lot of welterweights. I don’t think we have to do it now. In two years, who knows? Maybe I will go to middleweight. Who knows what’s going to happen?”

Ever the diplomat, St-Pierre abstained from predicting Saturday’s winner — but he said it won’t take long to see who’s in the driver’s seat.

“After the first round, we will have a good idea of who will impose his dominance,” he said. “After the first round, we will see who will be the winner, who will be able to impose his game on the other guy.”

– Bryan Armen Graham

Jon Jones (left) and Rashad Evans (right) addressed the media Wednesday at a press event promoting their UFC title fight. (Kevin C. Cox/Zuffa LLC)

ATLANTA — For two fighters that are supposedly friends turned enemies, Jon Jones and Rashad Evans didn’t show much animosity when sharing a stage Wednesday.

Maybe they were just being civil. Or maybe the stifled smiles and occasional bursts of laughter hinted at something else — maybe the two don’t really hate each other after all.

For all intents and purposes, they have to this week. The former training partners’ bitter breakup and ongoing feud is the lifeblood of UFC 145 and one of the most anticipated championship bouts in years. But for all of the hype surrounding the pair’s dislike for one another, Jones and Evans didn’t exude much hatred when faced with the task of an intimate face-to-face meeting at the UFC 145 pre-fight press conference.

At first, the question-and-answer session carried a solemn tone, with the fighters avoiding eye contact and putting on stoic faces while the other spoke. But by the end, much like a five-round title fight, their defenses had weakened and the two were letting smiles and jokes slip.

There’s no denying that there are some hard feelings between Jones and Evans. The fighters have had to rehash the story of their feud countless times the past few weeks (and a few more on Wednesday). But after talking about it so much, the two agreed that the raw feelings that were once there have subsided a little bit.

Jones called the persistent discussion “therapeutic” and said that Saturday’s main event “will be like the last counseling session.”

Evans echoed his former partner’s sentiment, hinting that their relationship might not be in the tatters that it’s made out to be.

“We’ve talked about this to death,” he said. “When you talk about something over and over, you lose a little bit of the emotion behind it … we’ve been going back and forth, saying this, saying that. It’s been a long process. We both are just tired.”

The two even went as far as to acknowledge the possibility of rekindling their friendship after UFC 145. After all, the octagon has seen many fighters put aside their differences to hug it out after a bloody battle.

“Who knows what God wants for us in the future,” Jones said. “I was watching an Ali documentary, When We Were Kings, and it was so cool to see the guys who fought each other and hated each other were able to talk about the fight and laugh and say, ‘Oh, you got me with that one!’ and ‘You hit me hard with that one.’ So who knows what God wants for us.”

At one point, Evans was asked how much Jones has learned from him outside the octagon in conducting himself as a man. Evans downplayed the question initially, but couldn’t resist a friendly jab at the end of his answer — much like the ribbing you’d expect from two former partners.

“I can’t really answer that question — but I do know he wore a suit just like mine,” said Evans with a know-it-all smile.

With the ice broken and Evans laughing, Jones also let his guard down, possibly conveying his true feelings for his former teammate.

“To clear that up,” said Jones, “I think Rashad’s swagger is through the roof. Look at the guy, that’s why I didn’t put a coat jacket on (today), I’m not going to try and compete with Rashad in dressing. He’s a wonderful dresser. He just is.”

The light-hearted affair continued when Jones, 24, compared the 32-year-old Evans to his manager, who is similar in age, but little else.

“I’m very insulted,” Evans said in mock seriousness. “You cannot physically compare me to to Malki Kawa. Don’t ever do nothing like that again. That’s just disrespectful right there.”

“My bad,” laughed Jones. “I was out of line.”

Needless to say, the press conference wasn’t exactly hostile. But that doesn’t mean either fighter will give any less on Saturday. There’s nothing fake about their desire to win. In this rare case, bragging rights might actually mean more to Jones and Evans than the championship belt itself. But just because the two desperately want to beat the other doesn’t mean they hate each other, as we might have been led to believe.

“Let’s be honest here, it’s a fight,” Evans said. “When people fight, they don’t like each other. It makes it easier for people to root for somebody. You can never divorce the entertainment side of it and you’ve got to understand this is a sport and this is entertainment.

“People are not buying this because they want to see two guys who like each other and only have nice things to say about each other. They want to see two guys who don’t like each other.”

Which is why Jones and Evans will enter the octagon as enemies Saturday. There’s no other way to bill the event.

While the tale of the Jones-Evans split has been told endlessly, the truth has always been a little too murky for anyone to decipher. Jones blames Evans, Evans blames Jones, and we’re left wondering what’s really true.

What we do know is that the pair had a falling out, leading to a feud — temporary or not — that will be resolved this weekend.

“Somewhere in the middle lies the truth,” Evans said, “And the truth doesn’t really matter.”

– Matt Dollinger

Jon Jones went from prospect to contender to champion to the pound-for-pound short list within a 12-month span. (Hector Acevedo/ZUMAPRESS.com)

This time last year, Jon Jones was a 23-year-old prospect with fewer than four years training in mixed martial arts. Over the past 12 months, the Rochester, N.Y., native captured the UFC light heavyweight title — becoming the youngest champion in the organization’s history — while soaring up most outlets’ pound-for-pound ratings. (He’s No. 2 on SI.com’s list.) SI.com caught up with Jones, who makes his third defense of the 205-pound title Saturday against Rashad Evans at UFC 145 in Atlanta.

Who is your all-time favorite fighter in boxing or MMA?

Anderson Silva and Muhammad Ali. Both of them.

When was your first fight?

I was around nine years old. I lived in Rochester, N.Y., and I was at my elementary school outside hanging out. I think we were drawing on the ground with chalk. And this kid, he said something about my mom. And at the time when you’re a kid — especially in the neighborhood where I grew up — when someone says something about your mama, it’s on. I said, “Come over and say that to my face!” The kid came across the street, said it to my face, and then he lifted me up in the air, slammed me on the ground, hit my head on the concrete and I just kind of blacked out from there. I don’t think I won that one.

Did you have fear in that moment?

I don’t remember being afraid, I just remember feeling out of control. It was a terrible feeling, and it’s a feeling I’ll probably never feel again — and don’t want to feel again.

When did you realize MMA was something you could make a living with?

After my second pro fight [against Carlos Eduardo in 2008]. I got paid $1,200. At the time, that was life-changing for me.

Who is the toughest opponent you’ve ever fought?

It depends on what mood I’m in. It varies. A lot of times it’s Stephan Bonner.

What was your favorite subject in school?

Lunch.

What’s on your iPod?

Actually I don’t have an iPod right now. I don’t listen to music while training.

What is your favorite movie?

300.

What’s one misconception about MMA fighters?

That we are aggressive and violent and not civil. In reality it’s the complete opposite. We’re men of great integrity. I think we’re some of the most disciplined athletes there are.

What would you be doing if you weren’t fighting?

I’d be law enforcement in upstate New York.

What is your biggest guilty pleasure?

Eating unhealthy. I love greasy fast food. It’s not good for me, but I love it.

Favorite meal when you’re out of training?

Probably a Wendy’s triple stack hamburger with cheese.

What would you change in MMA?

Nothing. I love the sport as it is.

When is the last time you cried?

Recently. Doing the Primetime show for this fight. They asked me about my sister [who died of brain cancer when Jones was 12], and it brought tears to my eyes to think about how beautiful she was and how much I missed her.

What’s the biggest thing that’s changed for you since becoming champion?

More Twitter followers.

Name three people you’d like to have dinner with (living or dead).

I would invite Muhammad Ali, Bruce Lee and Michael Jackson.

What advice would you give to young fighters coming up?

Remain extremely passionate and have patience — but mainly to be extremely passionate. A lot of people want to be successful, but a lot of people don’t really want to put in that work and really be obsessive over success and obsessive over what they need to do to better themselves. We all know exactly what we need to do. You know where you [stink]. Work on it.

Favorite place to vacation?

Brazil. Rio de Janeiro.

What is your dream venue for a fight?

Madison Square Garden.

What sports do you watch outside of MMA?

Football.

Tell us something no one knows about you?

[Thinks for nearly a minute.] I’m not saying.

When’s it’s all over, how do you want to be remembered?

I want to be remembered as a great champion. I want to be remembered as someone who inspired the people around me to better themselves. I want to make people reach for their goals and to look at themselves in the highest regard possible. I want people to be cocky in a good way. I want people to be extremely confident, because you only have yourself.

What’s your prediction for Saturday night?

Mark my words, I’ll finish the fight before the third round.

– As told to Bryan Armen Graham