UFC president Dana White didn’t find anything racist about Colby Covington’s recent comments.
Following his win over Tyron Woodley at UFC Vegas 11 this past weekend, Covington came under scrutiny for various racist comments that he made.
While speaking with bitter rival and welterweight champion Kamaru Usman during his post-fight interview with ESPN, Covington asked if Usman received a call from his “little tribe” and whether they gave him “smoke signals” in response to Usman mocking him for speaking to President Donald Trump.
In the post-fight press conference, Covington went a step further by calling Woodley a “terrorist” and a hater of America because he supported the Black Lives Matter movement.
UFC sponsors stepped in to state they don’t agree with Covington’s comments while many black athletes such as UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya were not pleased with his comments whatsoever.
White: We Don’t Muzzle Anybody Here
As far as White is concerned, however, he didn’t feel any of those comments were racist.
“That’s the tenth time you’ve asked me this. These guys all have their own causes, things, their own beliefs,” White said at the UFC 253 pre-fight press conference. “We don’t muzzle anybody here. We let everybody speak their mind.
“I don’t know what he said that was racist. I don’t know if I heard anything racist that he said. I don’t know.”
As for whether he would condemn racist comments at all, White was almost offended by the question.
“Yeah, of course. Come on. I’m not going to play these games with you guys,” he added. “Come on. If it’s racist, would I? Yes, of course.”
It will be interesting to see if any more UFC fighters come out and speak against Covington for his offensive comments.