Last week, Belal Muhammad defeated Leon Edwards by unanimous decision to become the new UFC Welterweight Champion at UFC 304. Muhammad made his entrance carrying the Palestine flag. He handed the flag to a cornerman before entering the cage.
A reporter alleged during the UFC 304 post-fight press conference that two people told Muhammad’s corner to take down the flag from octagon fence. The reporter questioned UFC President and CEO Dana White about it, but he didn’t give a clear answer.
In an interview with Kevin Iole, Dana White was asked about the incident. White said the following:
“Remember the days when the camps would walk in and then they drop a sign that had all the sponsors on it or they drape the flag over the octagon? You can’t do that anymore. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Palestinian flag, an American flag, [or] a British flag. You can come in, wrap it around, get in afterward, and put it up. When you weigh in, you could put your flag up behind, you can do whatever you want with your flag, [but] you can’t drape it over the octagon [because of sponsors].
First of all, nobody that night draped a flag over the octagon, but you always have that one reporter that wants to bait and try to stir sh-t up and do it, and he was that a–hole that night. I didn’t know the answer to the story. When I went backstage after the press conference with my team, they told me what it was.
We’re probably one of the only companies in sports who you are and where you’re from that’s what I’m selling. If you look through COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, MAGA, etc… We don’t silence anybody. At a time when people were trying to stop Russians from competing and doing all this stuff, Russians competed in the UFC. That’s a blanket policy all over the world. I don’t tell grownups what to say [and] what not to say. I don’t tell anybody not to be proud of where you’re from or who you are.”