White: You don’t back down to cowards
Dana White: “What you don’t do is you don’t back down from cowards.”
On October 1, 2017, a despicable animal whose name doesn’t deserve mention fired into a crowd from his Las Vegas hotel, killing 58 people. UFC 216 takes place on October 7 in the same city, and there has been scattered criticism of the league for not canceling the show. However, UFC president Dana White spoke recently with ESPN and said the show is going on, and it’s personal, not business.
What you don’t do is you don’t back down from cowards,” said White, as transcribed by Ken Pishna for MMAWeekly. “This coward that went up into a room, hiding, killing women, children, and people there dancing, singing, and having fun… you’re a coward. You can’t bow down to this kind of stuff. You have to take it head on.
Unfortunately, this is the world we live in now. And I don’t want to get all political, but everybody is yelling about gun control. When people want to kill people, they figure out ways to do it, whether it’s guns, bombs, cars, trucks, stabbing, they figure out how to do it.
We have to continue… the way that they get us every time is it’s always about the unthinkable. We need to be aware and just be careful, even when you’re out having fun, unfortunately.
UFC 216 will be something of a VegasStrong celebration. Over 1,500 first responders, including police officers, firefighters, and medical personnel will be in attendance, as will several shooting victims. A number of ticket holder may postpone, and some airlines are offering rebookings for flights this week.
It might just be me and the media here tomorrow and the 1,500 first responders,” said White. “I don’t care. This isn’t an event about the gate, about any of that stuff. This is about the families and the victims and Las Vegas and to not bowing down to cowards.