WNBA Legend Angel McCoughtry Tells UFC President That Pride Nights Would Help Fighters Come Out

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WNBA legend Angel McCoughtry is not having UFC President Dana White’s casual homophobia this Pride Month. The former Minnesota Lynx forward told TMZ that White’s excuse — namely that they just “don’t talk about that” in the UFC — is actively harmful.

In an interview with Tomi Lahren on June 23, when asked about whether or not the UFC would host Pride Nights like other major professional sports leagues, White said that while he doesn’t personally care what people do in their private life, he doesn’t believe it’s the job of the UFC to speak on LGBTQ+ issues.

“I’m staring at my roster of the top 15 fighters. I’m assuming we have some gay fighters,” he said. “I don’t know how many of them are openly [gay]. I know that we have gay female fighters. I don’t give a crap. I don’t care what you are, who you are, what you do. We don’t talk about that, any of that stuff.”

“Why is it a maybe? I’m sure you have gay male fighters,” McCoughtry told TMZ Live in response to White’s comments. “Why is there a difference there? That’s why we still have all of these men on the DL because it’s always this ‘maybe’ and this masculinity thing.”

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When prompted further about White saying it isn’t his job to promote queer visibility, McCoughtry responded, “It is his job.”

“I know he doesn’t care what people do with their love life — which I agree on that — but we have different initiatives in our sports that we use to support people and groups,” she said. “We support the military, we support women in domestic violence; Pride week is [part] of that.”

McCoughtry reasoned that the UFC supporting initiatives like Pride Nights would also likely help closeted gay fighters feel comfortable coming out.

“He will probably see a lot of DL men — fighters — come out because they’re supporting that initiative,” she said. “So yes, they need to have it. That’s why we have these initiatives to support people in these different groups [...] You don’t have to be gay to want to support Pride, to be a part of it, to go to the parties, to go to gay initiatives, and I think that’s the misinterpretation of it. You can just support, just because it’s something you want to support.”

“I don’t see what the big deal is in having Pride week in sports,” she added. “I think it’s pretty awesome.”

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