ESPN analyst Stephen A Smith’s recent comments on Women’s MMA have angered a large portion of the combat sports community over the past week, including former UFC Heavyweight champion Frank Mir who shared his thoughts in a post on Twitter.
Mir is a veteran of the sport who most recently fought back in 2019 to a decision victory against Roy Nelson. Also, Mir doubles as a coach for his daughter Bella who is a highly touted prospect in the USA. The multiple sports athlete, Bella has had two MMA professional fights both in 2020 with the first being won by Unanimous Decision in October and the second a first round Rear Naked Choke victory in December.
Smith’s recent comments aren’t the only time the ESPN analyst has been on the bad side of the MMA community, in January of 2020 Smith shared his thoughts of Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone’s performance against Conor McGregor, his criticism was not taken lightly by the community who called for him to be removed from covering the sport at the time.
This most recent controversy, however, has spawned a variety of different fighters and MMA personalities both male and female alike to share their disapproval of his comments. These different responses have ranged from intense emotional responses to more calm responses aiming to educate Smith. There have also been plenty of memes and parody videos of Smith’s infamous boxing workout that went viral around the time of UFC 246.
Do you think that Stephen A. Smith should continue covering MMA?