A number of UFC fighters have decried Colby Covington’s recent racist statements towards Kamaru Usman, while UFC sponsor Reebok has also distanced themselves from his Black Lives Matter comments.
While others have spoken out, Leon Edwards thinks it’s “f—ked up” that UFC and ESPN themselves have allowed Covington say racist and hateful statements, “letting it flow like it’s a normal thing to f—king say and do and it’s not.”
The welterweight contender was upset that UFC and ESPN “said nothing about it” at the time, but certainly won’t be happy with Dana White’s statements about it now.
Despite many people condemning Covington’s obviously racist statements, the UFC President doubled down on previous comments, saying he didn’t actually see anything racist or wrong enough to take issue with.
“I don’t know what he said that was racist,” White told the media at the UFC 253 pre-fight press conference. “I don’t know if I heard anything racist that he said
“These guys all have their own causes, things, their own beliefs,” he said. “We don’t muzzle anybody here. We let everybody speak their mind.”
When prodded further by the media, White then claimed that “of course” he would denounce any comments he would consider racist. Where that line is for White remains a mystery though, since to him, Covington’s blatantly bigoted statements don’t count.
White and Covington have both gone all in campaigning for Donald Trump, and were recently together at his Nevada rally. Covington has called Black Lives Matter supporters as “terrorists” and “criminals,” while White spoke about “lawless destruction” and the need to take care of the police now more than ever in his speech at the Republican National Convention.
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