Brendan Schaub discusses importance of real journalism in MMA, questions "freedom of speech" in UFC

Brendan Schaub recently discussed the importance of real journalism in MMA and questioned Dana White's claims regarding freedom of speech in the UFC. He noted that there are some exceptions to that motto as it pertains to the promotion and believes that it isn't exactly true.

The UFC CEO has been open about the promotion not censoring fighters from expressing their opinions on issues or in the buildup to their respective bouts. However, there has been criticism in terms of questions pertaining to fighter pay or the ongoing antitrust lawsuit are scoffed at.

During a recent episode of The Schaub Show, the former TUF competitor shared his thoughts on MMA journalist Ariel Helwani's new deal and noted that it was a shame that he, along with other respected journalists aren't covering UFC events in-person anymore. Schaub mentioned that the promotion appears to select who gets freedom of speech and that they like to control the narrative. He said:

"[White says], 'freedom of speech', but it's not freedom of speech if you're only letting in people that agree with your speech. That's not freedom...That's Dana's whole thing...you can't say, 'freedom of speech', if you're only allowing the people in that are gonna ask questions you want. That's not real freedom of speech. You can't be a legit organization if your best journalists...not involved." [35:26 - 36:08]

Check out the full episode featuring Brendan Schaub's comments below:

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Brendan Schaub sounds off on influencers covering combat sports events

In addition to stressing the importance of having true journalism in the sport, Brendan Schaub sounded off on influencers that cover combat sports events for the wrong reasons.

During the aforementioned episode, Schaub mentioned that there have been some influencers that have covered events for the sole purpose of taking jibes at fighters for attention on social media. He said:

"You look at the current climate whether it's the scrums before big UFCs, major pay-per-views. And you have these influencers who have no fu**ing clue about the sport, man, no clue. They're there to get views and say the most outrageous thing or threaten Nate Diaz or threaten somebody else...it's wild, man. No other sport does that...Every other major sport has both. We for the most part only have this sh*t show going on." [36:36 - 37:18]

Check out the tweet of Nate Diaz's interaction with an influencer below: