UFC Founder Dana White Backs Colby Covington After Calling BLM ‘Terrorists’

The UFC’s most infamous heel and Trump supporter Colby Covington stirred up controversy last week for his post-fight comments after his bout with Tyron Woodley. Woodley, an open advocate of Black Lives Matter, and Covington got into it about their political beliefs during the lead up to the fight and after Covington’s fourth round to victory, he called BLM supporters “terrorists” and jousted with welterweight champion Kamaru Usman making comments that many felt were blatantly racist.

One of those people was UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya who felt that the media was at fault for not holding Covington accountable. “It just shows you the landscape of the media, what it is right now,” Adesanya said Wednesday. “I made a joke about dropping [Yoel] Romero like the Twin Towers and everyone lost their mind, even if I said it was a joke and it was pretty funny, but people took it as I was being offensive and like, digging — but I was making a joke. This guy [Covington] has directly insulted my culture, my brother and many other cultures, and no one says anything, but it just shows you a mirror. Shows you a mirror to you guys. So, yeah. I don’t really care. Kamaru Usman broke his jaw [when they fought in 2019], so I don’t really care.”

When asked about whether he would step in, UFC President Dana White was adamant that he would not. “These guys all have their own causes, things, their own beliefs. We don’t muzzle anybody here,” White said. “We let everybody speak their mind. I don’t know what he said that was racist. I don’t know if I heard anything racist that he said.”

It is easy to chalk those up as blatant favoritism from White since he is a known Trump supporter, but that is not exactly the case. White and Covington have a checkered past due to personal differences, and it is reportedly still icy between them. You may not agree with anything that White says but, in this case, he is remaining consistent with treating Covington the same as all of his other fighters.