You may have read our story recently about Meryl Streep aiming her A-list claws at MMA, claiming at the Golden Globes (while expressing her distaste for Donald Trump) that if it weren't for all the "outsiders and foreigners" contributing to Hollywood, there would be "nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts." Just to be clear, the implication was that this was a bad thing.
Well, it was inevitable that some prominent practitioner of MMA would be asked for their view on Streep's comments. UFC President Dana White was that such individual, and he wasn't particularly impressed when quizzed about it by TMZ. We should point out, in the interests of fairness, that Streep is 67.
It's not gonna be everybody's thing, and the last thing in the world I expect is an uppity, 80-year-old lady to be in our demographic and love mixed martial arts.
If you really look at who follows the UFC and follows mixed martial arts, it's everybody. I don't expect an 80-year-old woman to be into MMA. Everybody's got their thing.
You know, I'm not a big fan of golf. Doesn't mean people should stop watching it! If you don't like it, change the channel.
And White took exception with Streep's (slightly pretentious) assertion that MMA is not part of "the arts".
Of course it's an art. I mean, these fighters, the men and women are so talented, they train their whole lives to become the best in the world and the people who train in UFC are the elite of the elite.
Saying something stupid like that is like saying that she's not a talented actress. Which she is, she's a very talented actress.
White goes on the discuss the sheer diversity within the UFC in terms of fighters' backgrounds. Certainly, what Streep was saying regarding Hollywood benefiting from the presence of "foreigners" applies to the UFC as well.
We're with White here. If Meryl spent the day watching Conor McGregor (or any other UFC fighter) train, maybe then she'd appreciate the sheer artistry and skill behind top MMA athletes.
