Dana White's Reaction To Fighter Who Said Hitler Was A 'Good Guy' May Surprise You
UFC boss Dana White called featherweight Bryce Mitchell 'an absolute moron' for complimenting Adolf Hitler but defended the decision not to punish the 30-year-old fighter. (Watch the video below.)
'Even though I don't like what he said and even though what he said makes me sick, free speech is real. We have to protect free speech,' White said Monday on 'Piers Morgan Uncensored.'
Mitchell, who has a 17-3 professional record, lauded Hitler recently after he said he did 'research.' The result was hate and ignorance of the highest order.
'I honestly think that Hitler was a good guy based on my own research, not my public education indoctrination,' Mitchell said on the first episode of his 'ArkanSanity Podcast.' 'I do really think before Hitler got on meth, he was a guy to go fishing with. ... He fought for his country. He wanted to purify it by kicking the greedy Jews out that were destroying his country and turning them all into gays.'
The episode, which was released on Jan. 24, has been removed from YouTube but remains on Rumble, the live-streaming video platform popular among right-wing extremists.
Mitchell later apologized for being 'insensitive' and said he does not 'condone any of the evil things Hitler did.' But the fighter's comments were so extreme that White continued to be asked about them this week.
Host Piers Morgan asked White if there were limits to free speech, and White said no.
'I think probably the most important free speech to protect is hate speech,' he said. 'When a government or a certain person can come out and determine 'this is hate speech,' it's a very slippery slope, and it's dangerous.'
White prefaced his remarks with an odd shoutout to Elon Musk as the 'superhero of this election.' (Musk also earned scorn recently with a gesture that looked like a 'Sieg heil' salute at a Donald Trump inauguration event.)
The UFC leader may have also been speaking from the bottom line as well. He said last week there was an upside for spectators that Mitchell, who's ranked 13th in his division, can keep fighting.
'That's the beautiful thing about this business, for all of you who hate Bryce Mitchell, you get to see him hopefully get his ass whooped on global television,' White said in a statement to ESPN.
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