TORONTO (LifeSiteNews) – Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White tore to pieces a member of the Canadian legacy media over the weekend by defending his fighter’s right to “free speech” after the reporter suggested he gave his fighters a “long leash.”
During a news conference after UFC 297 on Saturday in Toronto, John Pollock, who works as the Toronto Post’s wrestling journalist, asked White why he gave a “long leash” to his fighters regarding what they can say publicly. Pollock then suggested that allowing his fighters to say whatever want could lead them to making homophobic or transphobic comments.
The reporter’s attempt to try and bait White with a trick question backfired in a public spectacle.
White replied, “I don’t give anybody a leash. A leash? Free speech. Gonna control what people say?”
“Gonna tell people what to believe? Going to tell people? I don’t f****** tell any other human being what to say, what to think. And there’s no leashes on any of them. What is your question?”
Taken aback, Pollock moved on to another question, to which White said, “Yeah, probably a good idea.”
“That’s ridiculous to say: I give somebody a leash. Free speech, brother. People can say whatever they want, and they can believe whatever they want.”
Pollock made the comments considering UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland, who went viral in Canada last week after he went on a profanity-laced tirade against members of the mainstream media for their support of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and gender ideology before his fight at UFC 297.
Strickland’s unfiltered tirade occurred last Wednesday at a press conference in Toronto and saw him blast gender ideology, Trudeau, and the treatment of truckers during the 2022 Freedom Convoy.
While his clip went viral, so did White’s response to Pollack. As of press time, the Leading Report’s video on X of White’s clip has some 15.5 million views.
The Leading Report had run a story regarding White’s response that drew the attention of high-profile figures, including X CEO and billionaire Elon Musk.
“He’s right,” Musk said in reply to White’s free speech comments.
Canadian free speech advocate and former 700 Club Canada co-host Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson noted how all Canadian legacy media reporters are “woke.”
“LOL! I live in Canada, here you don’t have to say ‘woke Canadian reporter.’ It is understood they are woke,” Thompson posted on X (formerly Twitter).
American media personality Colin Rugg wrote on X, “UFC’s Dana White shuts down woke Canadian journalist who starts talking about ‘homophobia’ and ‘transphobia’ after a UFC fight. These clowns are completely unhinged.”
As for Pollock, in a YouTube video, he said he should have asked White, “Is there absolutely no line that is too far?” adding, “Would a racist tirade be fair game?”
Strickland lost his fight with South African MMA fighter Dricus du Plessis on Saturday at what was a sold-out event that had the crowd chanting “F*** Trudeau” over and over.
In 2021, White made clear he would not mandate his fighters take the COVID shot as a condition to being allowed to compete in the sport.
Strickland is no stranger to controversy and in the past has made multiple remarks that many perceived to be offensive.
As for the Trudeau government, since taking power in 2015, it has been fully on board with the LGBT agenda. Recently, it pledged $100 million in funding for LGBT activist groups, with much of the money focused on youth and on-the-ground initiatives.
In 2017, the Senate passed a transgender rights bill that adds “gender expression” and “gender identity” to Canada’s Human Rights Code and to the Criminal Code’s hate crime section.
Around the same time, federal public servants were forced to take a mandatory feminist “gender equality” course or face unspecified consequences.