Dana White
Dana White, the head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, says that fighters and fans of the sport would embrace an openly gay fighter. This is the same Dana White who apologized recently for using an anti-gay slur. In an interview (video below) following the May 23 UFC card, White was asked about how an openly gay fighter would be accepted. Said White:
“Any guy involved in grappling is the furthest thing from homophobic in the world. I honestly think it would have no impact whatsoever with not only our fighters or our fan base. The guys in the UFC, everybody is so cool, it’s great sportsmanship, everybody has respect for each other. I honestly, it wouldn’t be a big deal to me and most of the guys I know in this sport, it wouldn’t be a big deal for them either.”
Dana White
Dana White, the head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, says that fighters and fans of the sport would embrace an openly gay fighter. This is the same Dana White who apologized recently for using an anti-gay slur. In an interview (video below) following the May 23 UFC card, White was asked about how an openly gay fighter would be accepted. Said White:
“Any guy involved in grappling is the furthest thing from homophobic in the world. I honestly think it would have no impact whatsoever with not only our fighters or our fan base. The guys in the UFC, everybody is so cool, it’s great sportsmanship, everybody has respect for each other. I honestly, it wouldn’t be a big deal to me and most of the guys I know in this sport, it wouldn’t be a big deal for them either.”
Steve Cofield, who writes Yahoo Sports’ Cagewriter blog, was skeptical of White’s claim:
In a rough, violent sport where you have to be a “man” to survive and there is so much contact, MMA [mixed martial arts] may be the single toughest professional sport to live openly as a gay male. As far as the fanbase. Is White serious? A following made up of mostly 18-to-34 year old males is not going to be most understanding.
While I applaud White’s direct and unequivocal stand, I agree with Cofield that it would probably be very tough for anyone to come out openly as a gay fighter, for the same reasons almost no one has ever been out in pro sports (MMA fighter Shad Smith did come out last year). I don’t know if I would also feel more convinced if this wasn’t the same Dana White who apologized recently after calling a journalist a “faggot.”
But maybe White learned his lesson and his answer on gay fighters was sincere; if so, I applaud him. There is no doubt that the sport is homoerotic and anecdotally I know more and more gay men who are big fans. Maybe it would be a great marketing coup for White to convince a gay fighter to come out and he could milk that angle for a lucrative PPV show. To all the MMA fans out there, do you agree with White that an openly gay fighter would be accepted?
Video of White discussing the gay issue appears starting at the 7:55 mark:
