Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland set social media ablaze on Wednesday following his comments about the NFL and the Super Bowl halftime show featuring world-renowned artist Bad Bunny.
Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) headlines UFC Fight Night 267 (Paramount+) against Anthony Hernandez at Toyota Center in Houston. When the fight was announced, Strickland posted a racially insensitive meme depicting himself as an ICE agent, next to the Mexican-American Hernandez (15-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC), wearing a sombrero and a poncho.
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During media day on Wednesday, Strickland’s bigotry took center stage once again in an unprompted tirade about the NFL and Bad Bunny – and that was only one portion of a session filled with unsavory remarks.
“Look at the NFL, dude. I don’t even want to say the f*ggot’s name because it’s just like, what – somebody give me his name,” Strickland said. “Come say his name, I don’t want to say it. You know what I’m talking about, the halftime show guy. The Puerto Rican, right? Puerto Rican?”
A reporter offered Bad Bunny’s name, which set him off.
“Yeah, that f*cking f*ggot,” Strickland said. “It’s so crazy that this is America now. Like, back in the day dude, the NFL was the f*cking standard of being a f*cking man, and now every f*cking year, the NFL, I think they all get together around a table and say, ‘You know what, guys? How do we f*cking ruin this sport? How do we gay it up? How do we f*cking ruin it? Well, I’ll tell you what. Why don’t we bring a gay foreigner who doesn’t speak f*cking English and have him perform it?'”
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A video clip of Strickland’s comments went viral, prompting plenty of reaction and reaching far outside the MMA bubble, which is unfortunately used to these unhinged rants from Strickland due to the UFC’s lack of accountability.
Below are a few reactions on social media:
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Social media reacts to former UFC champ’s bigoted Bad Bunny, NFL rant
