UFC boss Dana White says that his Octagon is an arena in which scores are settled in a "politically correct world" after Afghan star Javid Basharat gained revenge on Israeli fighter Oron Kahlon, who had called him a 'terrorist'.
Kahlon was the source of a mini media storm this week when, after missing weight by 3lbs for their fight, he openly taunted Basharat by referring to him as a "terrorist" because the Afghan fighter refused a conciliatory handshake at the pre-fight staredown.
The move didn't go down well with most watching, and the clip of the incident did the rounds on social media and elicited outraged responses from several MMA media members and furious social media commenters.
For his part, Basharat opted to de-escalate the situation and refused to be drawn into a public war of words with his opponent, instead saying that his riposte would come in the cage in Las Vegas on Tuesday night – and he was as good as his word, dominating his opponent for the majority of the fight before sinking in the fight-ending choke with less than a minute remaining on the clock, earning a UFC contract in the process.
Oron Kahlon (left) missed weight (3lbs too heavy) for his scheduled fight tomorrow at #DWCS. He will be fined 20% of his purse.
Javid Basharat wasn't happy about it and didn't shake hands with Kahlon. Kahlon called him a terrorist soon after.... pic.twitter.com/N5pflxW2wU
And while White implied that he wasn't keen on Kahlon's comments, he said in his post-fight remarks that the UFC isn't subject to the same type of political correctness that afflicts some other sports leagues, and that Basharat has earned his revenge within the confines of the Octagon.
"You know what my answer is to that," White said when asked for his take on Kahlon's 'terrorist' jibe.
"Are we going to do anything? It got done tonight. That's the beautiful thing about this sport, I say it all the time: it's not a nice sport, this is a very rough sport."
"We say a lot of mean things to each other and justice gets served, at the end of the day.
"When you have a situation like that, the best way to solve the problem is you fight legally and you get paid to do it, and that's what happened tonight.
"No. Not in this business, I don't," added White when pushed if the concept of 'going too far' in pre-fight antagonism exists.
Dana White says Oron Kahlon got his comeuppance for calling Javid Basharat a "terrorist."
"If you look, you can add that to the pile of some pretty nasty things that have been said – and not just in this sport: I'm sure in boxing, Muay Thai, kickboxing, mean things are said.
"In this insanely politically correct world we're living in, this is one place that is not."
Basharat, now armed with an official UFC contract, will look to improve upon his undefeated 11-0 record when he joins the full roster for his official debut in the coming months – while Kahlon might just regret not just the manner of his defeat, but the negative attention he focused on himself in what appears to have been his 15 minutes of fame at MMA's top table.
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