UFC President Dana White has said that a COVID
vaccine mandate in the sport is never going to happen despite widespread fears regarding
the infectious Delta variant in the United States.

In an interview given to Canadian sports
network TSN, White said that it is the fighter’s choice on whether he or she
should get vaccinated.

“I would never tell another human being what
to do with their body. If you want to get vaccinated, that is up to you. That’s
your choice. You are never going to hear me say, I am going to force people to
get vaccinated. Never gonna happen,” White said in the interview.

“They are telling you in New York you
cannot go into a restaurant or a gym unless you are vaccinated and can prove it
and things like that. Some people are getting fired if they do not get
vaccinated. Yeah, that is not gonna happen here. You want to get vaccinated?
Get vaccinated. If you do not, that’s your decision, your body,” he said.

White’s comments come after the NFL sent out a
memo last month to its 32 teams advising them to get vaccinated against the
virus or face penalties, potentially including forfeiting games, over
COVID-19 outbreaks.

White is a longtime friend of former President
Donald Trump. He also spoke at last year’s Republican National Convention and denounced
vaccine mandates openly.

The highly contagious delta variant of the
coronavirus, which is sending case counts and hospitalizations climbing again,
is fueling the debate over who gets to demand vaccination. Mandates from
hospitals and colleges have already begun facing legal challenges.