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The UFC president shared his thoughts on the George Floyd protests taking place in the United States and across the world.
Last week, UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones took to the streets in Albuquerque, New Mexico to confront vandals taking part in the George Floyd protests. He confronted a pair of masked teenagers carrying spray cans and forced them to hand over the offending items.
“Give me the spray can,” Jones said in a clip that was later posted on the UFC champion’s Instagram account with 5.2 million followers.
In the wake of Jones’ actions, UFC President Dana White has suggested sending out UFC fighters to combat the potential violence and vandalism.
During an interview with former Jackass star Steve-O, White brought up Jones confronting the teenagers in New Mexico, “Did you see him walking down the streets of Albuquerque, taking spray cans out of kids’ hands? Those kids shit their pants,” White said on the podcast.
“I think maybe I should send UFC fighters out on the streets to stop this shit.”
The ongoing wave of anti-racism and Black Lives Matter protests emerged after the killing of George Floyd, who suffocated to death after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck while restraining the African-American man. The officer ordered Mr. Floyd to “relax” while the 46-year-old man gasped, “Please, I can’t breathe.”
George Floyd’s death sparked anger and protests across the world, with demonstrations expanding beyond the borders of the United States. Demonstrations in solidarity with African Americans took place in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, and Canada.
When asked whether the UFC has a role to play in the current social justice movement, especially since it is home to several Black champions, White revealed that “making real change is so much bigger than marching and protesting and all of these other things” before making a bizarre comparison between anti-racism movements and the history of the UFC.
“This might be a stupid example, but it’s the best example I can give you: I believed in the UFC. I believed in the sport of mixed-martial arts,” White told MMAJunkie. “I got together with a couple buddies of mine, and we bought the UFC, and we started to build this thing. We went out, and we hit the bricks. We went to every sports editor. Every network. You name it. We shared our vision and grew our movement…”
White also explained that protests are not focused enough to make real change.
“It’s like when I wanted to come back and have fights in the pandemic. I could have gotten all 350 of my employees, and we could have walked up and down the street and chanted “we wanna fight!” That’s not what we did. We got out and told our story in the media and worked with politicians.”
“That’s how you make real change.”