Dana White won’t draw a line in the sand when it comes to anything UFC fighters say publicly, because he believes free speech must be protected even if he vehemently disagrees with what’s being said.

That’s the message the UFC CEO and president passed along following the controversy involving veteran featherweight Bryce Mitchell after he went on his podcast recently and claimed Adolf Hitler was a “good guy” based on his research while stating that “there’s no possible way” the Holocaust actually happened. Just hours after the podcast went live, White slammed Mitchell’s comments as “beyond disgusting”, but he didn’t release the former Ultimate Fighter competitor from his contract.

As much as he despises what was said, White explained why those comments didn’t lead to Mitchell’s termination from the UFC.

“What I said was what he said was disgusting,” White told Piers Morgan Uncensored. “You have to be an absolute moron to think that Adolf Hitler was a good guy. You look at World War II and how many people were killed, how many civilians were killed because of Adolf Hitler. The fact that he tried to annihilate an entire group of people is disgusting for anybody to speak remotely good about Hitler.

“But I do believe in free speech and even though I don’t like what he said and even though what he said makes me sick, free speech is real. It lives and exists and we have to protect free speech.”

White has constantly touted free speech as a guiding principle when it comes to the UFC and the hundreds of fighters under contract with the promotion.

The way he sees it, White says you can’t just pick and choose what you agree with when it comes to policing speech and that includes Mitchell defending Hitler and denying the Holocaust.

“I think probably the most important free speech to protect is hate speech,” White said. “Because when a government or a certain person can come out and determine saying ‘this is hate speech,’ it’s a very slippery slope and it’s dangerous, in my opinion.

“Listen, I’m American. I was born and grew up in America. I believe in the American dream, I believe in free speech, I believe in all these things. You can’t just say it and not live it.”

Mitchell now serves as an example where White issued a statement vehemently disagreeing with what was said but he stopped short from actually dishing out any punishment.

White says that goes for everybody in the UFC because not liking what somebody said just isn’t grounds for termination, fines or whatever else he could do with his power as the president of the promotion.

“You’ve got guys that pop up like Bryce Mitchell that say ignorant stupid things and I will exercise my right for free speech and say I don’t agree with what he said,” White said. “But he can say what he wants to say. We don’t have to agree with it or believe in what he says but he has the right to say it.

“It’s the disgusting, despicable things like what he said that truly defines what free speech is.”