Andrea Lee lost on Saturday night — and her corner may have lost some respect in the MMA community.
In the featured preliminary bout of UFC Vegas 54, Lee went three rounds with Viviane Araujo in an exciting flyweight contest that ended with Araujo winning a unanimous decision. In between rounds, however, Lee’s coach Tony Kelley was caught on camera accusing Araujo of cheating and stating, “That’s what they’re gonna do. They’re dirty f****** Brazilians. They’re going to f***ing cheat like that.”
See a clip of Kelley’s comments below:
“That’s what they’re gonna do. They’re dirty f****** Brazilians. They’re gonna f****** cheat like that. Guess what? We came to f**** somebody up.”
It’s unclear what potential infraction Kelley was accusing Araujo of.
Unsurprisingly, as Kelley’s comments spread on social media, fighters were quick to pick up on them and criticize the UFC bantamweight for his offensive statement. Bellator featherweight champion Cris Cyborg and top UFC welterweight Gilbert Burns were among them, as was Kelley’s upcoming June 18 opponent Adrian Yanez.
Check out what the pros had to say about the incident here.
I don’t like to talk bad abt corners, not an easy job, but Lee corner needs a lot of study to do #UFCVegas54
— GILBERT BURNS DURINHO (@GilbertDurinho) May 15, 2022
I already wanted a finish, but now it’ll be more satisfying.
– Adrian Yanez (@yanezmma) May 15, 2022
Ok that corner work was terrible Lee keeps dating racists
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) May 15, 2022