UFC’s Dana White on Meryl Streep’s ‘Uppity’ MMA Comments
Figures from the MMA world were not too pleased with actress Meryl Streep‘s comments from the Golden Globe Awards regarding their sport.
Most notably, UFC President Dana White, who spoke on Donald Trump’s behalf at the Republican National Convention last year.
“It’s not going to be everybody’s thing, and the last thing I expect is for an uppity 80-year-old lady to be in our demographic and love mixed martial arts,” White told TMZ Sports on Monday.
“Of course it’s an art,” he went on to say. “These fighters, these men and women, are so talented. They train their whole lives to be the best in the world. To say something stupid like that is like saying, ‘She’s not a talented actress,’ which she is. She’s a very talented actress.”
While using her platform at the Golden Globes to discuss Trump’s comments on illegal immigration during his campaign, Streep, who attended the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday to accept the Cecil B. DeMille award for lifetime achievement from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, took a shot at MMA and football during her speech.
“Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. If you kick ’em all out, you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts,” Streep said.
Scott Coker, the president of Bellator MMA, one of UFC’s competitors, took a much more diplomatic approach in his disapproval of Streep comments. He sent an invitation via Twitter to her to attend Bellator’s event in Los Angeles on January 21st.
As a martial artist and an MMA promoter, here is my open letter and #Bellator170 invite to the very talented #MerylStreep #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/zostN22RAK
— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) January 9, 2017