UFC: Gay Fighters Should Come Out

Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White says that if his league has any gay fighters, he wishes they would come out. The UFC is under fire for homophobic comments made by its members. The league presently has almost 400 fighters.

"I'll tell you right now, if there was a gay fighter in UFC, I wish he would come out," UFC President Dana White said Thursday. "I could care less if there's a gay fighter in the UFC. There probably is and there's probably more than one." White was responding to criticisms levied by the Las Vegas chapter of the Culinary Union and other groups who accuse UFC of being an anti-gay organization. In a letter to Anheuser-Busch and an online petition to Fox, the union and its allies cited statements by White and fighters such as Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira as proof that UFC has "a history of tolerating homophobic conduct."

White himself has a track record of making anti-gay comments, for which he has apologized.

UFC's Dana White Apologizes For Gay Slur

Responding to GLAAD's request, Ultimate Fighting Championship founder Dana White has issued an apology for using a gay slur in a posting on his video blog.

"As far as the gay and lesbian community, my comments were not directed toward them. I have no problem with the gay or lesbian community. I'm actually a supporter of many of their issues. The last thing that I would ever want anybody to think about me or think is cool is to go out and attack somebody because of their sexual orientation. That was not my intention. That's not the way I said it and I apologize for anybody that I've offended or hurt."

GLAAD Demands Apology From UFC Head Dana White Over Anti-Gay Slurs

When the audience of your "ultimate fighting" circus act surely includes a large number of gay men, you probably shouldn't use the word "faggot" in your video blog. GLAAD wants an apology:

On Wednesday, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White unleashed a torrent of expletives, including an anti-gay slur, on his video blog hosted on YouTube. White was extremely angry over an article written by a journalist regarding the use of credentials at UFC events. UFC, which is considered to be the largest Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) organization in the world, has become extremely popular in recent years, and the organization’s fights and reality shows air regularly on Spike TV and pay-per-view. In the video, White rants, “And here’s a quote from a guy who wanted to remain anonymous because of fear of repercussions. Shut the f**k up. Any f**king guy who won’t put his name on it. First of all, whoever gave you that quote is a pu**y and a f**king f**got and a f**king liar and everything else.” Although White doesn’t state the name of the article, based on the author’s name and the content he most likely was referring to this article on the Sherdog website.