Toronto – UFC CEO Dana White addressed former middleweight champion Sean Strickland’s comments at media day.
Sort of.
“I don’t tell anybody to do anything. I don’t try to control any other human beings in any way, shape or form,” White told Cageside Press among other reporters are his post-fight scrum.
“I say it all the time. We’re in the fight business. If you get you feelings hurt that bad you probably shouldn’t ask the type of questions when you know the answer you’re going to get from Strickland. Let’s start there.”
Strickland was asked by a member of the press about comments he made on social media a couple of years ago that came off as homophobic. Strickland’s response was rather aggressive, but seemed to single out the reporter.
“You know who he is. If you ask him a certain question…he was baited in that question. It is what it is. It’s the fight business man.
It turns out that no sponsors, ESPN, or anybody contacted the UFC about Strickland’s comments, according to White.
One of the other storylines of the last couple of weeks is the UFC’s decision to move the upcoming Saudi Arabia fight night card to Las Vegas and the Saudi card would be pushed to the summer. Reports surfaced that it was due to the perceived poor quality of the card. White scoffed at those reports.
“Total bullsh*t. That’s a straight out f*cking lie. I don’t know who started it or how it started, but not one fight was announced to Saudi. Not one fight was announced to them. I called and asked to push the card back,” White said.
“We had a couple of guys that we want on the card, and they weren’t ready. Listen, you know how we are. We want to deliver. If we’re going to Saudi Arabia at the level that these guys do things, and it’s a fight night. We want to make it the best fight night we’ve ever done.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Dana White above.
