“We don’t muzzle anybody,” was the response given by Dana White in response to comments made by Colby Covington Saturday night that several fighters deemed racist. White gave the comments at a press conference leading up to this Saturday’s UFC event on Fight Island.
Covington made several glaring comments that most would deem racist. In a confrontational trash talk segment with welterweight Kamaru Usman after Covington’s win against Tyron Woodley he bragged about getting a call from the president while Usman would not receive “smoke signals” from his “tribe.” Usman is originally from Nigeria.
Covington also called Black Lives Matter supporter Woodley “a communist, a Marxist, [someone] standing up for lifelong criminals.” Notably, the UFC and Bellator were silent this past June during the initial wave of the Black Lives Matter movement after video of George Floyd being killed by Minneapolis Police surfaced. When asked about it in June, White seemed to not understand what, if anything, the organization had to do about it. In August, White stumped for Trump once again at the Republican National Convention.
During fighter media this week, several African American fighters pointed out Covington’s comments as racist.
Payout Perspective:
White is a Trump supporter and it should not surprise you that this was his response and his inability to understand how Covington’s comments could sound offensive is ignorant. But, then again, White knows this. It’s clear that White decides when and if to silence a fighter. He did this with Leslie Smith who attempted to speak up about a union and made comments about Israel Adesanya’s dancing. While the latter was just a comment, it was a subtle nudge to the champ. Smith’s attempt to stand up to the UFC was met with her being cut by the company. It will never change under White’s rule but its important for the media to call out these obvious disparities in judgment.
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