UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland unleashed an over-the-top anti-LGBTQ tirade on Wednesday after a reporter asked him about his previous claims that having a gay son means a father has “failed as a man.”
During a press conference ahead of UFC’s upcoming event in Toronto, Strickland—who has said he previously went through a “neo-Nazi, white supremacist phase”—took exception to MMA reporter Alexander Lee even before a question was asked.
Wondering aloud whether Lee was “part of the opposition” after the journalist informed him he was Canadian, Strickland pressed Lee on whether he voted for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. After Lee refused to answer, Strickland took that as confirmation that the reporter was a Trudeau supporter and added that Lee was the “enemy of Canada.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Amid Strickland’s performative MAGA rambling, Lee managed get in a question about the fighter’s past homophobic remarks, noting that Toronto has a large gay and lesbian population. Strickland demanded to know if Lee himself was gay, prompting the journalist to say he wasn’t but that he was an ally of the LGBTQ community.
Things really flew off the rails when Lee said he “wouldn’t have a problem” if he had a son who was gay.
“You’re a weak fucking man, dude,” the fighter shouted. “You’re part of the fucking problem. You elected Justin Trudeau when he seized the bank accounts. You’re just fucking pathetic. And the fact that you have no fucking backbone as he shut down your fucking country and seized bank accounts, you asked me some stupid shit like that?! Go fuck yourself! Move the fuck on, man. Fucking coward!”
Undeterred by Strickland’s shouts, Lee followed up with a question about the middleweight champ’s past attacks on transgender people, pointing out that Strickland criticized UFC for partnering with Bud Light after the anti-trans boycott of the beer manufacturer. Strickland responded with a profane tirade against the trans community and more insults against the reporter.
“Here’s the thing about Bud Light, 10 years ago, to be trans was a mental fucking illness,” he growled. “And now, all of a sudden, people like you have fucking weaseled your way in the world. You are an infection. You are the definition of weakness. Everything that is wrong with the world is because of fucking you.”
Strickland added: “And the best thing is the world’s not buying it. The world’s not buying your fucking bullshit you’re fucking peddling. The world is not saying, ‘You know what? You’re right. Fucking chicks have dicks.’ The world’s not saying that. The world’s saying, ‘No, there are two genders. I don’t want my kids being taught about who they could fuck in school. I don’t want my kids being taught about their sexual preference.’”
Following Strickland’s rant and unhinged attacks on Lee, a number of MMA reporters and observers stood up for the Canadian reporter, defending Lee as a “great journalist” and calling Strickland “idiocy personified.” Additionally, with ESPN scheduled to air UFC 297 this weekend, some sports talk personalities have called on the Worldwide Leader to issue a public statement denouncing Strickland’s comments.
Meanwhile, Strickland’s unglued press conference was widely celebrated by many on the right. The Daily Caller, for instance, praised the fighter for ripping “the mask off the corporate news media” and “inhal[ing] the soul” of Lee during Strickland’s “most brutal rant to-date.”
