A pre-fight press conference turned into a scathing rant on Wednesday, after UFC middleweight Sean Strickland used his media time to blast not only Super Bowl halftime performer Bad Bunny, but also the NFL itself.
Strickland is preparing to face Anthony Hernandez in the headlining bout of UFC 267 at Toyota Center in Houston on Saturday night.
During media day, Strickland took center stage and launched into a harsh rebuke of the NFL and their choice in halftime performers, accusing the league of intentionally trying to “ruin” itself.
“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 asked. “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 gave him Bad Bunny’s name.
“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?”
Reactions poured in on X, most of them decidedly negative.
Though some agreed with Strickland’s overall criticism of how the NFL is handling its outreach and attempts at globalizing, even if they didn’t agree with the fighter’s language.
“Lol, you completely missed his point…which isn’t surprising. NFL fans agree with him – we HATE the woke GAY NFL. HATE IT!!!” one user wrote in response to Griffin.
“Bro, you already got fired by ESPN, you don’t need to use the word ‘misogynistic,'” another wrote to Griffin.
“Culturally, Bad Bunny is a foreigner,” another wrote. Stop simp’n for an act that was booked who doesn’t perform in English and dislikes the US.”
The fight between Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) and Hernandez (15-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) will air on Paramount+.
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