UFC Bantamweight Tony Kelley has some explaining to do after hurling racist remarks in the corner of Andrea Lee.
Last night (May 14), UFC Vegas 54 took place inside the UFC Apex. In the main event, Jan Blachowicz defeated Aleksandar Rakic after Rakic suffered a knee injury.
In the featured preliminary bout, Lee took on Viviane Araújo. After three rounds, the bout went to the scorecards. Araújo was awarded the unanimous decision victory.
The result wasn’t what got fans talking, however.
In between rounds, Lee’s cornerman Kelley made some racist comments while reacting to what he believed to be foul tactics from Araújo.
https://twitter.com/EraserBy/status/1525654530897199104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1525654530897199104%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mmafighting.com%2F2022%2F5%2F14%2F23073286%2Fnot-a-good-look-pros-react-to-andrea-lee-corners-dirty-f-brazilians-comments
“That’s what they’re gonna do. They’re dirty f******* Brazilians. They’re gonna f****** cheat like that. Guess what? We came to f**** somebody up.”
As one would imagine, this did not make people within the MMA community happy.
Tony do you even fight bro? https://t.co/0YPBdATXWo
— GILBERT BURNS DURINHO (@GilbertDurinho) May 15, 2022
https://twitter.com/GilbertDurinho/status/1525661055740960768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1525661055740960768%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mmafighting.com%2F2022%2F5%2F14%2F23073286%2Fnot-a-good-look-pros-react-to-andrea-lee-corners-dirty-f-brazilians-comments
https://twitter.com/yanezmma/status/1525656463280070656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1525656463280070656%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mmafighting.com%2F2022%2F5%2F14%2F23073286%2Fnot-a-good-look-pros-react-to-andrea-lee-corners-dirty-f-brazilians-comments
Already wanted a finish, but now it'll be more satisfying.
— Adrian Yanez (@yanezmma) May 15, 2022
https://twitter.com/yanezmma/status/1525662241562968064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1525662241562968064%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mmafighting.com%2F2022%2F5%2F14%2F23073286%2Fnot-a-good-look-pros-react-to-andrea-lee-corners-dirty-f-brazilians-comments
https://twitter.com/DuduDantasMMA/status/1525661743665537025?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1525661743665537025%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mmafighting.com%2F2022%2F5%2F14%2F23073286%2Fnot-a-good-look-pros-react-to-andrea-lee-corners-dirty-f-brazilians-comments
Ok that corner work was terrible Lee keeps dating racists
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) May 15, 2022
https://twitter.com/seanbradymma/status/1525667025326157826?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1525667025326157826%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mmafighting.com%2F2022%2F5%2F14%2F23073286%2Fnot-a-good-look-pros-react-to-andrea-lee-corners-dirty-f-brazilians-comments
Tony Kelley took to his Twitter account and unsurprisingly, he defended himself rather than try to atone for his remarks.
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
“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.”
Kelley is scheduled to be in action on June 18. He’ll share the Octagon with Adrian Yanez at a UFC Fight Night event in Austin, Texas.
Yanez is rolling with an eight-fight winning streak. Kelly has won his last two outings. Yanez is trying to earn a spot on the official UFC bantamweight rankings. Whether or not a win over Kelley would be enough remains to be seen but his winning streak is getting tough to deny.