In a move almost unheard of in modern sports leagues, Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White took a firm stand in favor of free speech and against the noxious trend of midwit, agenda-driven reporters attempting to bully someone into denouncing someone else. The scene was the post-fight press conference for an event in Toronto, Canada, where middleweight Sean Strickland headlined defending his title against Dricus du Plessis.
One might have expected the main topic to be controversial scoring by judges giving Du Plessis a 2-1 victory. But this was Canada, and the last thing the press were interested in was the fight because there was urgent virtue that needed signalling. The topic of interest was a robust exchange of views between Strickland and a fan on “X,” the social media platform formerly called…
