— Sober Costa (@EraserBy)
May 15, 2022
Tony
Kelley has received widespread criticism from the MMA community
for comments he made while cornering Andrea Lee
against Viviane
Araujo at
UFC on ESPN 36 on Saturday.
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Cameras captured Kelley making what were widely perceived to be
derogatory remarks toward Brazilians as he coached Lee between
rounds at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Araujo is from Ceilandia,
Brazil.
“That’s what they’re gonna do,” Kelley said. “They’re dirty f——ing
Brazilians. They’re going to f—-ing cheat like that.”
Among those who called out the UFC fighter on social media were
Cristiane
Justino, Gilbert
Burns and Belal
Muhammad. Upcoming opponent Adrian
Yanez also criticized Kelley. Kelley has since responded to the
backlash his comments received.
“Cancel Culture is real,” Kelley wrote on Twitter. “What I said was
real and in the heat of battle, and in no way had any type of
racist connotations meant…but if that’s the way you take it, [I
dont give a f—-k]. So many people quick to say racist..that
[shit’s] getting so old. My reference was to a dirty eye poke.”
Cancel Culture is real. What I said was real
and in the heat of battle, and in no way had any type of racist
connotations meant…but if that’s the way you take it, idgaf. So
many people quick to say racist..that shits getting so old. My
reference was to a dirty eye poke.— Tony Kelley (@TonyKelleyMMA)
May 15, 2022
Lee ultimately lost a unanimous decision to Araujo in their
flyweight bout at UFC on ESPN 36. The 35-year-old Kelley is coming
off back-to-back victories against Ali AlQaisi
and Randy Costa
in UFC competition. His bout against Yanez is slated for UFC on
ESPN 37 in Austin on June 18.
Aaayyyyyy
But this finish will be on the house https://t.co/0jPcWRxjiQ— Adrian Yanez (@yanezmma)
May 15, 2022