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Dana White has absolutely no interest in censoring any members of his roster, including Sean Strickland.

The former middleweight world champion rubbed a lot of fans and members of the media the wrong way ahead of his UFC 297 title defense against Dricus Du Plessis in Toronto. During a pre-fight media scrum, ‘Tarzan’ was asked about his past comments disparaging the LGBTQ community. Strickland, who has never been one to shy away from a confrontation, laid into the reporter who made the query, creating yet another viral moment that dominated much of the weekend’s headlines.

White, who is an outspoken advocate for free speech, accused the journalist of baiting Sean Strickland during a post-fight interview. He has since doubled down on his stance, adding that the UFC aims to provide a platform that allows anyone to express themselves any way they choose.

“We had a guy early on when the COVID thing started, Tyron Woodley. He came out in Black Lives Matter everything. I think he had Black Lives Matter socks on, covered head to toe in Black Lives Matter,” White said on The TRUTH Podcast with Vivek Ramaswamy, referencing a September 2020 situation with Woodley before his fight against Colby Covington. “At the press conference leading up to his fight, they would ask him a question and he would say, ‘Black Lives Matter.’ They’d ask him another one, (he’d answer) ‘Black Lives Matter.’ I didn’t say sh*t to him, knock yourself out.“

“This is America. Everybody can have their own opinion. I’m not telling anybody what to do, what to say, what to think, how to feel. We’re human beings in America, do your thing, knock yourself out, I’ve got the platform. People get pissed off, people get offended, people get this and that. We just had it happen with Sean Strickland.“

“We’re up in Canada. Sean Strickland said a lot of things. I don’t agree with 95 percent of what this guy says, but it’s his right to say it. And if you don’t like it, tune in on Saturday night, he’s gonna get punched in the face. If you don’t like him, you get to see him get punched in the face, so there you go. Don’t get too upset and don’t take it too serious” (h/t MMA Junkie).

Strickland came up short in his first title defense, surrendering the title to Du Plessis via a closely contested split decision. White has already ruled out an immediate rematch despite he himself believing that ‘Tarzan’ did enough to leave The Great White North with his title intact.

LowKickMMA.com

Third-ranked featherweight contender Ilia Topuria will get his shot at UFC gold when he takes on champion Alexander Volkanovski in the UFC 298 main event on Feb. 17.  

Topuria (14-0) earned the title shot with his dominant win over Josh Emmett in his previous outing last June.  Take a look back at the fight that catapulted him into a title bout with Volkanovski (26-3).

Ilia Topuria vs. Josh Emmett Full Fight Video

UFC 298 takes place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. and features a blockbuster middleweight match between former champion Robert Whittaker and former title challenger Paulo Costa.  

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KSI still isn’t happy with Tommy Fury.

KSI and Fury have a long-standing beef that finally came to a head this past October when they two faced off in a six round boxing match in Manchester, England. Fury won a controversial decision that KSI immediately protested as a “robbery,” even submitting a formal appeal. KSI’s appeal was ultimately rejected and the YouTuber has since continued to take shots at Fury, with the latest coming via social media on Tuesday.

Last week, Fury underwent surgery for a hand injury, posting to his Instagram account and saying that he had put this off for “years” and that the injury even prevented him from properly training for his bout with KSI.

“Since 2019 I have been dealing with a hand injury that I’ve never spoken about/shared online. Since my third professional fight I have been trying to manage this injury, training and fighting through extreme pain which led me to often not being able to use my right hand at all. For the last four weeks of my last camp I trained solely with my left hand until fight night. This morning I underwent the surgery I’ve been putting off for years as I know this is the only way my hand will heal and that I can move forward with my boxing career. I’m excited for my recovery journey and so ready to be back feeling and giving 100% in 2024.”

Of course, KSI is not one to let something like that slide, and on Tuesday, he trolled Fury with a post to his Instagram Stories showing KSI wearing a bandage across his face and mocking Fury’s injury statement.

“Since 2015 I have been dealing with a toothache that I’ve never spoken about/shared online. Since my first professional fight I have been trying to manage this injury, training and fighting through extreme pain which led me to often not being able to box at all. For the last four weeks of my last camp I was only able to do jumping jacks until fight night. This morning I underwent the surgery I’ve been putting off for years as I know this is the only way my tooth will heal and that I can move forward with my boxing career. I’m excited for my recovery journey and so ready to be back feeling and giving 100 percent in 2024.”

KSI is best known as a YouTuber but he helped create the current influencer boxing scene through his 2018 and 2019 fights with Logan Paul. He’s amassed a 4-1, 1 No-Contest resume as a professional and co-founded Misfits Boxing. KSI has repeatedly stated that his longterm goal is to fight Jake Paul before retiring from the sport.

Fury is the half-brother of WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, and sports a perfect 10-0 record in boxing. Following the KSI victory, Fury said he still wished to pursue other crossover boxing fights but would eventually return to more traditional boxing bouts.

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The fighters competing at UFC 298 received a cautionary note from the promotion about drug testing for marijuana and weight cutting rules surrounding the upcoming event taking place in Anaheim, Calif.

The UFC advised the fighters regarding drug testing related to marijuana as well as possible fines that could be issued if a positive test goes over a certain threshold. In an email obtained by MMA Fighting, fighters were told under rules from the California State Athletic Commission, any positive drug test over 150 ng/mL would be considered over the limit.

Any athlete testing over the threshold would receive a $ 100 fine from the commission. The note warned “that you discontinue use immediately to ensure you don’t exceed” the threshold set by the California commission.

The UFC also advised the fighters that testing would be carried on either weigh-in day or fight day, which is usually standard practice for commissions looking for in competition tests.

The fighters competing in California were also advised about the commission’s “10 point plan to combat dangerous weight cutting practices.”

Under the rule, the California commission can “conduct remote weight checks on fighters participating on this card up to 30 days out from the event and leading up to the event thereafter.” The commission will also conduct a second weigh-in on the night of the event and “any fighter who puts on more than 10 percent of their body weight plus one pound, from weigh-in day to event night, MAY be recommended by CSAC to move up in weight class for their next fight.”

In other words, the weight cutting program can advise a fighter to move up a weight class based on information received by the commission but no requirement would be handed down in those cases.

UFC 298 takes place at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Feb. 17 with featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski defending his title against Ilia Topuria in the main event.

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Sean Strickland often receives backlash online for his controversial views. While he has an army of fans who agree with the majority of what he says, one man who disagrees with most is Dana White.

The UFC CEO is a fan of freedom of speech, recently insisting that every one of his fighters will be allowed to speak their mind no matter how controversial. Alongside several others, Strickland is arguably one of the UFC’s most brash fighters.

During a sit down on ‘The TRUTH Podcast’, Dana White reiterated his belief in freedom of speech. White recalled a bizarre moment with Tyron Woodley and played down Colby Covington’s antics because the promotion doesn’t censor its fighters.

“We had a guy early on when the Covid thing started, Tyron Woodley. He came out and black lives matter everything. I think he had black lives matter socks on. He was covered head to toe in black lives matter.”

“At the press conference leading up to his fight, they would ask him a question, he’d say, ‘Black lives matter.’ They’d ask him another, ‘Black lives matter.’ [They] wouldn’t say sh*t to him. No problem.”

“Then we got Colby Covington who’s the complete opposite of the spectrum,” White said. “Whether they’re good or they’re not good, this is America. Everybody can have their own opinion.”

“I’m not telling anybody what to do, what to say, what to think, how to feel. We’re human beings in America, do your thing. Knock yourselves out.”

Related: Dana White DESTROYS reporter: ‘No leashes… Free speech’

Dana White continued, claiming that freedom of speech even applies to men like Sean Strickland of whom he shares almost none of the same views.

“People get p*ssed off, people get offended, people get this and that. We just had it happen with Sean Strickland.”

“We’re up in Canada. Sean Strickland said a lot of things. I don’t agree with 95% of what this guy says but it’s his right to say it. And if you don’t like it, tune in on Saturday night, he’s going to be getting punched in the face.”

“If you don’t like him, you get to see him get punched in the face. So, there you go. Don’t get too upset and don’t take it too serious.”

Check out Dana White’s interview on The TRUTH Podcast below.

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First-round finish
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