Li Jingliang won by a KO and wanted to celebrate as they were celebrating several months before – by presenting a national flag.
But Uncle Dana White is not someone to tolerate disrespect of his word. A UFC employee immediately ran up to the fighter and ripped the flag out of his hands.
UFC Fighter Li Jingliang Celebrated His Win By Showing Chinese Flag – Gets Immediately Stopped – Dana White Not Happy
Li Jingliang was happy and excited as this was his return after a submission loss to Khamzat Chimaev in October 2021. After the loss, the Chinese fighter dropped several places and was ranked number 14 in the 170 lbs rankings.
This was a spectacular fight. Li managed to destroy Muslim Salikhov and deliver a brutal KO. The stopping of the fight came in round two as Muslim dropped to the floor unconscious. Happy, as you’d expect someone to be after a win, Li made a full circle inside the octagon with a Chinese flag on his shoulders. He saluted the crowd and they applauded him for the win.
A UFC official ran inside the octagon and shouted to Lingliang while trying to rip the flag from his shoulders. This created a little bit of a tense situation as it was unclear to the Chinese native what is happening and why is he doing it. Li attempted to resist and keep the flag, but he was unsuccessful.
The UFC promotion banned flags and national marks inside the octagon earlier this year. The reason for that is the war in Ukraine and the Russian fighters that the promotion has. To avoid having the Russian flag waving in the octagon, the ban on all flags is introduced. Even though this is not made public by the UFC, with a clear statement that it is due to Russia, Dana White hinted at it at a press conference after the decision.
“You guys know why, don’t make me say it.” – The president hinted at the reason.
However, fans are not getting along with this rule. After the ‘incident’ they are unleashing comments like – “It’s a dumb policy when they are putting the fighter’s flag next to their names during fight walk outs and introductions.”
“UFC is cringe. Trying to get mainstream respect with Disney is just making people hate the company more.” – Another one adds.
What do you think? Is this a wise decision by Dana White?
Some people are stating that there is no reason to ban all national flags. If the reason is Russia, Dana should have been clear and banned the Russian flag. Since the UFC is an international promotion, the fighters coming from different regions of the world are not presenting only themselves, but their country as well. Remember how the people of Czech Republic welcomed Jiri Prochazka? Like a national hero.
Should the UFC reintroduce flags in the octagon?
