This was a year of social upheaval as in June many people from all walks of life stood up for the Black Lives Matter movement as a result of the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. While many sports organizations took to social media to promote equality, the UFC did not. Later in the year, Dana White made his second appearance at the Republican National Convention.
White and Trump are longtime friends and this year more than ever, the outgoing President leaned on White and the UFC to help him stump for re-election. Notably, the UFC allowed a video vignette from Trump during the UFC’s first PPV back from the stay-at-home orders in May. The inference was that Trump had helped the company get back to ‘normalcy.’
In June, when worldwide protests broke out for equality after Floyd’s death, the UFC did not take part in expressing support for equality. Also of note, Bellator did not make a statement as well. PFL and ONE made statements through its social media that it was in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and equality.
With that being said, UFC and Bellator fighters made their own statements in support of the movement.
Yet, when questioned about the Black Lives Matter movement and the protests going on nationwide, White proclaimed not knowing what the question was about.
From our post this past June:
This past Tuesday, a movement called BlackOutTuesday was honored by many sports leagues and people. In symbolism, many posted blackout photos on their social media channels to highlight the injustices of the African American Community. Originating within the music industry, it was to represent the pause in “the long-standing racism and inequality that exists from the boardroom to the boulevard.”
The Professional Fighters League, which has called off its 2020 season, One Championship Fighting (which also included a lengthy post on Facebook by Chatri), Golden Boy Boxing (which retweeted a post from its sponsor Hennessy in support of BLM), Top Rank Boxing, Premier Boxing Champions, WWE and AEW all posted support of the movement to continue to fight for equality with most outright expressing that Black Lives Matter. Although the movement might sound controversial, especially to those that lobby for “all” lives matter, the sentiment at this juncture would render that person uninformed.
Also, of note, Amanda Nunes, arguably the best women’s MMA star to compete in the UFC returns to the Octagon in the main event as she faces Felicia Spencer. Nunes, whose wife is pregnant with their first baby, exemplifies the diversity that the UFC can claim. The first gay MMA Champion in the UFC is by-far one of the best overall fighters in its history. Yet, even during LGBTQ Pride Month, the UFC has not really promoted Nunes as such.
Could it be an oversight? A lack of interest and/or marketability on the part of Nunes? Both?
The answer is that the UFC understands its audience. It knows that even though the company made attempts to reach out to expand its demographic reach, its bread and butter is white, young males. Of this group, more likely than not, they lean conservative. Thus, Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ community may not be of interest to them. This is not to say that the main demo hates the African American community or the LGBTQ community. It’s just that they’d probably be uncomfortable with these images. Hence, little to no mention about the Black Lives Matter movement or Nunes during LGBTQ Pride month. So you say that shouldn’t these movements be “human movements” and humanity, not diversity, should be the overarching theme and the treatment of all to be equal should be the overarching theme. Well, perhaps that should be expressed.
At a time, when there must be a side to be on, the UFC and Bellator have remained on the sidelines. This is unacceptable. Even the WWE, a company that is known to be backers of the Trump Administration with Vince McMahon’s wife a former member of the cabinet and now leads a SuperPac that looks to re-elect the 45th president of the United States.
After Colby Covington defeated Tyron Woodley this summer, Covington, whose gimmick is to be a raging Trump supporter, stated that the Black Lives Matter movement was “a complete sham” and that they were terrorists. Those words drew the ire of the UFC’s official apparel sponsor who clarified that it does not sponsor Covington and that it stood with the BLM movement.
Yet, White remained unapologetic about Covington’s comments in not admonishing him stating he wouldn’t ‘muzzle’ anyone in the UFC. Of course, this is an arguable point considering he has commented on not liking Israel Adesanya dancing as part of his ring walk.
Also, this past fall, White and several UFC fighters attended a Trump fundraiser in Nevada leading up to November’s election. Nevada was considered a battleground state and one that Trump needed to hang on to his narrow path to win re-election. Trump lost Nevada.
Also, Henry Cejudo appeared at a Latinos for Trump rally and Jorge Masvidal has been an ardent supporter of Trump. He appeared at rally’s with Trump’s son in Florida.
The UFC was also part of a social media campaign in which White and Masvidal appeared in Trump and/or Republican-supported ads. Trump took over the YouTube masthead for 24 hours during the final presidential debate. The UFC ads appeared on YouTube during this time.
Although the UFC has noted it is non-partisan, it does not “limit fighters from expressing their political views” according to a Politico article this past fall.
No one really knows what it will mean that White no longer has a friend in the White House the next four years. Certainly, the antitrust lawsuit, which White feigned knowledge of during a press conference, will be on the horizon. So will more challenges like the one Leslie Smith had with the NLRB.
But one thing will be for sure, the policy on speech in the UFC will be based on whatever the heads of the company can stomach.
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