Maybe International Fight Week should have ended yesterday for Donald Cerrone. Instead, Cerrone apologized for a homophobic slur made during a Q&A at the UFC Fan Expo in Las Vegas.
Cerrone criticized Daniel Cormier’s fighting style last night against Anderson Silva.
“How you gonna give up weight and then fight like a f*g, man?”
Cerrone took to Instagram and Twitter to issue his apology. In it he is wearing the “We Are All Fighters” t-shirt. Notably, the t-shirts were introduced this week by the UFC to support the LGBTQ Community.
It’s not clear if Cerrone’s comments will trigger a UFC Code of Conduct violation.
Payout Perspective:
A day after the UFC crowns its first openly gay champion in Amanda Nunes, Donald Cerrone makes this comment. The problem may not be Cerrone being homophobic (that’s not the issue) but the society and culture most of us have grown up in that has allowed these types of slights to be acceptable and common. Some of you may know the pickup game for football players where you give the guy a ball and everyone tackles him. If you don’t pay attention to the meaning and intent of the words, you never understand the gravity of what the words actually mean. The good news, is that Cerrone’s apology seems genuine.
But, Cerrone’s comments remind us that the UFC needs to continue the education of its contracted fighters. It was just a couple years ago that Matt Mitrione made comments about Fallon Fox and Michael Bisping just made a similar comment at the UFC 199 post-fight press conference.
who cares? how is this related to financial news.
mma guru – because the UFC is a marketing company and needs to make sure that it maintains its brand image. Things like this hurt that image, and hence the UFC’s ability to generate revenue.
Did McGregor apologize for his disrespectful comments involving Jesus? Of course he didn’t but if Cerrone uses the other f-word he is immediately bashed for “discriminating” against some snowflakes who think their feelings are the most important thing in the world.
Freedom of speech is for all or for none. If McGregor can insult Christians, Cerrone should be allowed to insult SJWs. Period.
In my opinion, a word can’t ruin a brand image unless the brand is weak or built on false pretense, in which case it deserves to fail.
.