UFC President Dana White confronted a Canadian journalist following UFC 297, emphasizing his stance on free speech within the organization.
The incident occurred during the post-fight press conference when the reporter questioned White on the perceived latitude given to UFC fighters regarding their public statements, implying that it may lead to homophobia and transphobia.
“You obviously give a long leash to your fighters about what they can say… you are getting into territory of homophobia, transphobia,” the journalist stated, prompting a sharp response from the UFC chief.
“I don’t give anybody a leash. A leash? Free speech,”White fired back.
“To control what people say? Gonna tell people what to believe? I don’t f**king tell any other human being what to say, what to think. And there’s no leashes on any of them.”
White went on to defend the principle of free speech within the organization, “Free speech, brother. People can say whatever they want and they can believe whatever they want.”
WATCH:
NEW: UFC’s Dana White shuts down woke Canadian journalist who starts talking about ‘homophobia’ and ‘transphobia’ after a UFC fight.
These clowns are completely unhinged.
Reporter: You obviously give a long leash to your fighters about what they can say… you are getting into… pic.twitter.com/VtWv7WPEYT
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 21, 2024
The confrontation at the UFC 297 press conference comes after middleweight titleholder Sean Strickland launched a verbal tirade against Canadian reporters.
Addressing his past comments about gays and Bud Light, Strickland doubled down.
“Here’s the thing about Bud light. Ten years ago, to be trans was what? A mental f-cking illness. And now, all of a sudden, people like you have f-cking weaseled your way into the world. You are an infection. You are the definition of weakness. Everything that is wrong with the world is because of f-cking YOU,” said Strickland.
“And the best thing is, the world’s not buying it. The world’s not buying your f-cking bullsh-t. You’re f-cking peddling. The world is not saying, ‘You know what? You’re right. F-cking chicks have dicks.’ The world’s not saying that. The world’s saying, ‘No, there are two genders.’ I don’t want my kids being taught about who they could f-ck in school. I don’t want my kids being taught about their sexual preference. Like, dude, this guy is the f-cking enemy. You want to look at the f-cking enemy to our world? It’s that motherf-cker right there asking these stupid f-cking questions.”
