UFC boss Dana White defends Sean Strickland despite homophobic rant

UFC president Dana White has offered a clear response to Sean Strickland's highly controversial pre-fight LGBTQ comments.

Strickland was beaten by Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297 in Toronto by becoming the first South African champion in UFC history. The 30-year-old beat American star Strickland in the first pay-per-view fight of the year, but he was by no means the clear winner.

Both men landed some serious blows on each other, with Du Plessis suffering a severely swollen eye and Strickland having to repeatedly wipe blood out of his eyes during the final rounds.

In the end Du Plessis did enough to convince two of the judges that he was the victor, meaning he won a narrow split decision of 48-47 to prevent Strickland from defending his middleweight title.

Strickland caused controversy at a pre-fight press conference when he launched an expletive-ridden rant which appeared heavily anti-LGBTQ.

Journalist Alexander Lee asked Strickland about past homophobic comments he had made, prompting the UFC fighter to ask how he would feel if he had a son who was gay. The reporter replied that he 'wouldn’t have a problem' if that was the case.

That led to Strickland embarking upon a complete rant. He said: "Everything that is wrong with the world is because of f**king you.

“Let me ask you something, are you gay?... No, are you gay?... Well no I'm asking you, this is a part of it, are you a gay man?... Ok, if you had a son and he was gay, you'd be like oh, man, you don't want a grandkid?... Oh, man, well, dude you're a weak f*****g man, dude. You’re part of the f*****g problem. You elected Justin Trudeau when he seized the bank accounts. You’re just f*****g pathetic.

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"And the fact that you have no f*****g backbone as he shut down your f*****g country and seized bank accounts, you asked me some stupid s**t like that?! Go f**k yourself! Move the f**k on, man. F*****g coward!”

He added: "The world’s not buying your f*****g bullshit you’re f*****g peddling. The world is not saying, ‘You know what? You’re right. F*****g chicks have d***s. The world’s not saying that.

"The world’s saying, ‘No, there are two genders. I don’t want my kids being taught about who they could f**k in school. I don’t want my kids being taught about their sexual preference'."

After the fight, White was asked about Strickland's highly controversial remarks and, while not agreeing with them, defended the right to free speech and made it clear he would not put 'a leash' on UFC fighters and tell them what they can and cannot say.

He said: "I don't give anybody a leash. Free speech. Control what people say and tell people what to believe, and tell people what to believe?

"I don't f*****g tell any other human being what to say, what to think and there's no leashes on any of them.

"That's ridiculous to say I give somebody a leash. Free speech, brother. People can say whatever they want and they can believe whatever they want."