Brandon Moreno’s cornerman and UFC fighter Marcelo Rojo recently got involved in a controversy a couple of days before his friend’s title rematch with flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 263 in Glendale, AZ.
Marcelo Rojo makes racist social media posts
He made some racist posts on his social media account which caught attention.Rojo posted a series of pictures on his Instagram page with a filter that gave Figueiredo a monkey face. Nate Diaz ‘Didn’t Lose’ At UFC 263 In Video?
It is needless to say that calling Brazilians “monkeys” are a racist insult which is often seen in the soccer world.
Wallid Ismail, manager for the champion, posted the images on his social media calling for “every racist” to be “banned from the sport.”
Dana White reacts to the incident
Though UFC has not released an official statement regarding the situation, but UFC President Dana White reflected on the situation during an interview with Combate after the UFC 263 ceremonial weigh-ins on Friday.
He said:
“I heard about it this morning. I don’t know enough about it to speak on it. I know that something happened. I know that whoever did it apologized. And there was some horrible stuff being DM’d to Israel Adesanya, too, that I saw today. It’s just, like, you know… I don’t even know what to say. It’s disgusting. You know, I don’t even know what to say, but, listen, at the end of the day, this is the fight business. A lot of mean things happen here, a lot of bad things are said. Racist, disgusting stuff make me sick, but you know, what are you gonna do?”
Rojo had set his Instagram page private after the controversy began but opened it up again hours later with a statement in Portuguese in which he apologized “for offending people which was not intended intention.
He also said in another interview that he was not aware that monkey filter would turn out to be a racist implication in Brazil. We will see if the Argentine fighter receives any punishment regarding this.
