Dana White gives blunt response when asked if UFC would ever host LGBTQIA+ Pride card

Following the recent success of the White House card, Dana White was asked whether he'd consider putting on an event to celebrate Pride Month, and his response was certainly interesting.

White and his team masterminded the historic UFC Freedom 250 event, which took place on the South Lawn of the White House on June 14. The event marked the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, while also coinciding with President Donald Trump's 80th birthday.

The event was lauded by many, with fights such as Justin Gaethje's victory over Ilia Topuria and Ciryl Gane's win against Alex Pereira adding to the occasion.

Given the rarity of such an event and the prestige of the venue, fans and journalists have since asked whether similar events marking other notable occasions could take place.

On June 24, the prospect of holding a UFC 'Pride Night' to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community was put to White during an interview with Fox News.

"I'm staring at my roster of top 15 fighters. I'm assuming we have some gay fighters," White said. "I don't know how many of them are openly gay. I know that we have gay female fighters.

"I don't give a shit. I don't care what you are or who you are or what you do. We don't talk about that or any of that stuff. We have a T-shirt that says 'We Are All Fighters', and it's got the gay flag colours on it, but I don't know. Everybody do your own thing. I'm just not into it."

Dana White speaks out on Josh Hokit Michelle Obama comments

The UFC president then once again voiced his annoyance at Josh Hokit's recent comments about former First Lady Michelle Obama.

After his second-round knockout victory over Derrick Lewis on the White House card, Hokit said: "Michelle Obama is a man.

"Am I right, America?"

His comments were largely criticised by the MMA community, including White, who said: "Listen, do you think I'm happy about what Josh Hokit said on the night I'm trying to unify the country?

"And then he goes out and says something absolutely stupid like he did that night? But I'm a believer in free speech, too. I let everybody be themselves and do their thing. There are a lot of things that some of my guys say that I don't love.

"Sean Strickland, we're sitting up on the dais at a press conference and he starts going off that nobody wants to see Raquel Pennington – who I love and who's one of my favourite people on Earth. She's one of the sweetest people ever – and he starts talking shit about her. But they don't care. They're powerful, strong women. They do their thing. They're like, 'We don't give a shit what Sean Strickland says.' We have to deal with some of it. I'm in the fight business, so it's a little different from baseball, which is America's game. I stay in my lane. Whatever all these other guys are doing, good luck to you. I do my own thing."

When further pressed on whether other organisations' involvement with Pride Nights was performative, White was quick to emphasise the UFC's charitable work.

"First of all, we donate lots of money to lots of different charities and I do personally, too," White continued. "You know what you'll never see me doing? Standing out in the middle of somewhere with a big cheque with a bunch of little kids standing around. We do it because we should, we do it because we can. We don't do it for attention and we don't do it for any other reason other than we should.

"When it comes to certain groups of people, whether it's the gay and lesbian community, whether it's the African American community, whether it's this community, we do what we should do. We do the right thing, and as long as you're doing the right thing, you don't have to run around and prove to everybody that you're doing the right thing."