Dana White won’t sanction Oron Kahlon, who called his Afghan opponent Javid Basharat a “terrorist”
During their weigh-ins for Tuesday’s Dana White Contender Series matchup, Israeli fighter Oron Kahlon called Afghan opponent Javid Basharat a “terrorist.” That little incident was caught on video and spread around online.
Such exchanges can be deemed too harsh or below the belt. But if you ask UFC president Dana White, it’s all part of the “rough sport” that is mixed martial arts.
“Are we gonna do anything? It got done tonight,” White told the media after the event when asked if Kahlon will be sanctioned. “It’s the beautiful thing about this sport. I say it all the time, this is not a nice sport. This is a very rough sport. We say a lot of mean things to each other and justice gets served at the end of the day.
“Listen, when you have a situation like that, the best way to solve the problem is you fight. You fight legally and you get paid to do it. And that’s what happened tonight.”
White, who once denounced Conor McGregor’s trash talk on Dustin Poirier at UFC 264, now says the UFC knows no boundaries when it comes to fighters expressing themselves.
“No,” White said when asked if there is a line that fighters can’t cross. “Not in this business, I don’t. You can add that to the pile of some pretty nasty things that have been said in this sport. And not just this sport. Boxing, I’m sure Muay Thai, kickboxing, you name it. Mean things are said.
“In this insanely politically correct world we’re living in, this is one place that it’s not.”
Basharat did get even by bloodying up and submitting Kahlon in the third round.
Basharat’s having fun in there tonight
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— UFC (@ufc) October 27, 2021
Gorgeous ground and pound from @JavidBasharat
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— UFC (@ufc) October 27, 2021
Closing out the dominate performance with a 3??rd round submission
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— UFC (@ufc) October 27, 2021