(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- In a press conference after Tuesday’s fight, UFC president Dana White fought back against a reporter who wanted to know if the UFC would do anything about an Israeli fighter who, while trading barbs with his Afghan-born opponent, called him a terrorist.
The incident began after Monday’s weigh-in. Afghan fighter Javid Basharat refused to shake Israeli fighter Oron Kahlon’s hand. When Basharat told Kahlon he would beat him in the fight, the Israeli called him a “terrorist.” Basharat then responded later on Instagram calling Kahlon a “p*ssy.”
During the Tuesday match, Basharat defeated Kahlon.
In responding to the reporter’s question, White pointed out that they didn’t need to do anything because “it got done tonight.”
White went on to say that the beautiful thing about MMA is that it isn’t a nice sport. “This is a very rough sport,” White added. Fighters say mean things to each other then, in the end, “justice gets served.”
White argued that the best way to solve the conflict is to fight. “And you fight legally,” White said, “and you get paid to do it.”
White was asked if he believes statements like Kahlon’s go too far. He said, no, “not in this business I don’t.”
White argued that mean things get said all the time. But the UFC is not a part of the “insanely political correct world we’re living in.”
Watch the exchange HERE.
White has been criticized in the past for his cavalier attitude toward fighters’ pre-fight verbal sparring. During the 2018 build-up before Khabib Nurmagomedov fought Conor McGregor, the Irish fighter was accused of insulting Nurmagomedov’s Muslim faith. The press was in a fury that the UFC took no action against McGregor’s barbs.
After this week’s incident, some fans on social media questioned whether White would have felt the same if Basharat had insulted Kahlon’s Jewish background.
For his part, after the fight, Basharat told reporters that he respected Kahlon as an athlete, but as a person, “what trash behavior.” He said that anyone that unapologetic deserves a fist in the mouth.
