UFC fighter Jeff Molina really wanted to show some support during UFC Vegas 56, but it quickly turned vicious and ugly for the rising flyweight contender.
Molina earned a split decision win over Zhalgas Zhumagulov over the weekend, but the conversation was less about the fight and more about the negative comments that Molina received over his decision to wear shorts celebrating Pride Month.
“It’s not even about being an ally,” Molina said in his post-fight press conference. “I’m not saying I’m not, but just be a decent [expletive] person. Just be a decent human being.”
“And judging someone and trying to justify it with religion and saying all sorts of spiteful, hateful [expletive] …” he continued. “It’s crazy to me. It’s mind-boggling. Who cares who someone wants to be with? Or their sexual preference?”
The bulk of the hate came after he shared a video of his fight night bottoms leading up to the event.
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“The other parts were, ‘Man, you support gay people, you’re gonna burn in hell. Allah will make sure you burn in hell or God will make sure you burn in hell,’” he continued. “I’m telling you there were dozens and dozens of these. People were like ‘You should get cut from the UFC for supporting [expletive].’ There was a lot of those, man.”
On Monday, Molina joined UFC commentator Ariel Helwani on “The MMA Hour” podcast and said he didn’t expect the amount of negative comments he received.
“I understand this is Twitter, man,” Molina said Monday. “I understand these are random accounts from all over the world. And some of these guys don’t have any followers, some of these guys don’t have a profile picture, they’re just burner accounts.
“I felt like it had to be addressed. To those saying this hateful s—, you guys on your own are the problem. You guys are what’s wrong with the world.”
Molina has an 11-2-0 record, according to UFC Stats.
