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Fans had mixed reactions to Dana White going off on a reporter following UFC 297.
Over the past week, the UFC traveled to Canada for the UFC 297 pay-per-view event that saw Dricus du Plessis and Raquel Pennington become world champions. Unfortunately, the mainstream media was drawn to the event for reasons outside of the Octagon.
On Wednesday, Sean Strickland went viral after making homophobic comments during media day. Following Saturday’s event, Dana White found himself in a similar situation when a reporter asked him about putting a “leash” on fighters to prevent them from saying things like Strickland.
The UFC CEO maintained his stance on free speech by saying this to the previously mentioned reporter:
"I don't give anybody a leash, a leash? Free speech, you control what people say? Gonna tell people what to believe? I don't f***ing tell any other human being what to say, what to think, and there's no leashes on any of them......Free speech, brother. People can say what they want and they can believe whatever they want."
The video of White’s response blew up on social media, leading to a Reddit post that featured the following comments from fans:
“Contractor v employee, legal department high fiving Dana right now.”
“"We don't tell anyone what they can or can't say. Unless they say that they will drink a Coors light because Bud Light won't pay them nothin, then we might tell them what they can say"
“Incredible response by Dana”
“True. People can say whatever they want and beleive in whatever they want, it's the listerners choice how to comprehend the statement and being able to tell the difference between right and wrong.”
“why is "free speech" only applies to fighters and not journalists?”
“Daddy dana and his hypocrisy at it again lol. Wait until the fighters say something that he doesnt like”
Watch Dana White’s response to “leashing” UFC fighters below:
Dana White teases next opponent for Dricus du Plessis
Dricus du Plessis made history in the UFC 297 main event by becoming the first South African UFC champion. Following his impressive performance, Du Plessis called out Israel Adesanya, who has been a rival of ‘Stillknocks’ since their encounter at UFC 290.
During the UFC 297 post-fight press conference, Dana White had this to say when asked about Du Plessis potentially fighting Adesanya next:
"We'll figure this out [on] Tuesday. We'll probably announce it next week... We'll find out next week"
Israel Adesanya last fought in September 2023, when he was shockingly dethroned of the middleweight title by Sean Strickland. Since then, Adesanya teased an extended layoff from fighting before seemingly changing his mind to return in 2024. Only time will tell when and who ‘The Last Stylebender’ fights next.
Watch Dana White talk about Du Plessis' next fight below:
