It was a very eventful Pay Per View for the UFC this past Saturday at UFC 293. #5 ranked Middleweight contender Sean Strickland dethroned champion Israel Adesanya in one of the biggest upsets in title fight history.
Strickland scored a knockdown in the 1st round, setting the tone for the fight early on. His defense proved impenetrable, as he was able to check most of Adesanya’s leg kicks at close range while defending against 154 out of 178 (86%) of his head strikes.
The rest of the fight card was entertaining, as 6 ‘7 Alexander Volkov put on a dominant performance against fan favorite Tai Tuivasa, who had no answers for the Russian’s reach and accuracy.
The dangerous Tyson Pedro started the main card off with a bang, returning to the Light Heavyweight win column with a big first round KO.
But in all, the event was overshadowed by the use of homophobic slurs by not one, but two victorious fighters, Manel Kape and Charlie Radtke, in their post-fight interviews.
Both Kape and Radtke were not crowd favorites in Sydney, receiving boos from the crowd. Kape had a squabble with his original
opponent, New Zealand’s Kai Kara-France, days earlier at the press conference, and Radtke’s win came against another native.
Emotions seemed to get the best of them, as they were clearly angered by the crowd and fired up following their fights.
But this kind of behavior is inexcusable, especially on a stage as big as the UFC. Both fighters have since issued apologies for their words. The big boss Dana White took a neutral stance on the situation, admitting that his fighters were wrong but offering no consequences for the future. White commented,“We make mistakes … I am not holier than thou, either.”
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