UFC president Dana White said last week he believes there are probably several gay fighters among the ranks of the more than 300 the company has under contract and added that he wishes at least one of them came out of the closet and identified himself.
White strongly defended his human rights record against attacks from the Culinary Workers Union, which attempted to paint him as anti-gay. The culinary union has been engaged in a battle with White and the UFC for several years, largely because the casinos in Las Vegas owned by UFC co-owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta are non-union.
Contrary to claims made by a culinary union, UFC president Dana White says he would welcome openly gay fighters in his company.
(AP)
The union, which so far has been successful in lobbying the New York legislature to block the UFC’s attempt to get mixed martial arts legalized in the state, has created websites and written letters to UFC advertisers, painting it as unfit for children and anti-gay.
White said he is not anti-gay and said he regretted using a crude word to describe a homosexual in a 2009 rant against a female reporter who had angered him.
“If you guys look at all of the things I’ve said over the last 10 years, some of it is stupid, some of it is whatever, but that’s the one that bothers me,” White said of the use of the slur in 2009. “It’s the only one that bothers me, the fact that these losers from the culinary union can go out and say I’m a homophobe and things like that. That’s the furthest thing from the truth.
“Enough of you here know me that if I was, I’d tell you I was and I’d tell you why I was. You know what I mean? It’s not true and it’s something that these guys can throw up on a cute little website.”
Geoconda Arguello-Kline, president of Culinary Workers Union, Local 226, is one of five people who signed an Oct. 13 letter to Luiz Fernando Edmond of Anheuser-Busch outlining what it said is anti-gay behavior by White and others in the UFC.
The letter also was signed by Cleve Jones, community and political coordinator of United HERE; Derek Washington, chairman of the Stonewall Democratic Club of Southern Nevada; Howard Watts II, co-chair of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network of Southern Nevada; and Laura Martin, organizer of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada.
In the letter to Edmond, they wrote, “People associated with this professional sports organization have a history of tolerating homophobic conduct that is hostile to millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people all over the world who struggle every day against bigotry and discrimination.”
White said he disagreed with comments that UFC heavyweight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira made, in which Nogueira said he wouldn’t want to train with a gay fighter. White said it is impossible to police 300-plus fighters and every word they say.
“I’ll tell what, if there’s a gay fighter in the UFC, I wish he would come out,” White said. “I could care less if there’s a gay fighter in the UFC. There probably is and there’s probably more than one. It’s 2012. Give me a break.”
White said he agreed that some fighters have made off-the-wall comments. Referencing former light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and current welterweight contender Nick Diaz, White said, “’Rampage’ is a nut, yeah. Dude, Nick Diaz is a nut. We’ve got some guys who are nutty.”
[Related: B.J. Penn backs off his retirement talk ]
But he said the overwhelming majority of UFC fighters are good people who do a lot for the communities they live in.
“We’re all human beings [and] we all make mistakes sometimes,” White said. “It doesn’t mean that the UFC is bad and we’re unfit for children. I’ll tell you what: Out of the 375 guys, we’ve got a few lunatics, you know, some guys that are nutty. Then we got 300-and-some who are incredible, awesome human beings who are inspirational to kids and adults and whoever else is a human being.”
