Dana White has been adamant that the UFC won’t stop its athletes from saying whatever they want to. Former interim champion Colby Covington’s comments following his win over Tyron Woodley at UFC Las Vegas 11 have caused quite a stir, however.
White was asked about Covington during a UFC 253 press conference in Abu Dhabi recently.
“These guys all have their own causes, things, they’re own beliefs,” White said. “We don’t muzzle anybody here. We let everybody speak their mind.”
White would continue to say that he does not believe he has heard Covington say anything that could be described as racist.
“I don’t know what he said that was racist. I don’t know if I heard anything racist that he said.”
Colby Covington’s Comments To Kamaru Usman
Following UFC Las Vegas 11, Covington and Kamaru Usman got into a heated exchange.
“Who did you get a call from? Did you get a call from frickin’ your little tribe? They give you some smoke signals for you?” Covington said to Usman during the exchange.
Leon Edwards spoke with MMA Fighting about his comments.
“The UFC has said nothing about it. ESPN has said nothing about it. Letting it flow like it’s a normal thing to f**king say and do and it’s not. Your tribe and smoke signals and blah, blah, blah, and he’s calling Woodley a terrorist because of Black Lives Matter. All these statements he’s making is racist. There’s no other way to go around it,” he said.
