Don't expect UFC fighter Sean Strickland to face discipline for homophobic tirade in Toronto

Wednesday afternoon, Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion Sean Strickland responded to a series of questions from a journalist named Alexander K. Lee with a string of insults.

Among the lowlights:

"You're an infection."

"You're the definition of weakness."

"Everything that is wrong with the world is because of f***ing you."

Strickland, who defends his title Saturday night in the main event of UFC 297 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, said some things we can't print here, and other stuff we'll address later. Vile, bitter, bigoted stuff that, if it had come from an MLB or NFL player, would have generated headlines, and led to some combination of fine and suspension.

But if you're waiting for the UFC to discipline Strickland for the outburst ... don't.

Sometime between 2013, when the company suspended Nate Diaz for a homophobic twitter post, and last September, when a pair of athletes punctuated post-fight interviews with anti-gay slurs without sanction from the company, the UFC seems to have exited the business of policing fighters' speech. 

When it comes to monetizing their time in the spotlight through apparel deals and kit sponsorships, athletes have next to no leeway. The UFC has a strict set of rules regarding what athletes can wear, and fighters fall in line, even if it costs them money. 

But when fighters get near a microphone, they can say what they want and apologize for it later. Or not. I expect minimal official blowback for Strickland here — he's the A-side of the main event of the UFC's first event in Toronto since 2018. He's no Georges St-Pierre in terms of mainstream appeal, but he's the face of Saturday's fight card.

And in his exchange with Lee, he's also the clear loser. 

Lee wins because he