Gilbert Burns isn’t happy with how UFC bantamweight Tony Kelley has handled the aftermath of his controversial remarks about Brazil.
While he cornered his teammate Andrea Lee at UFC Vegas 54 earlier this month, Kelley could be heard on the broadcast berating Lee’s opponent Viviane Araujo. He referred to Araujo as a ‘dirty fuckin’ Brazilian’ after an eye poke during the fight.
Kelley’s comments quickly drew the attention and criticism of many on social media, including Belal Muhammad. After his comments went viral, Kelley refused to apologize and invoked ‘cancel culture’ as the reason for people being offended by his remarks.
During a recent interview with The Underground, Burns said it’s important for Kelley to own up to his comments and move forward.
“It’s really hard to judge, you know. I hate to judge the guys at all. I don’t want to judge. But I think if you do make a mistake like that, don’t just come up out with these,” Burns said of Kelley. “Just come up and apologize. Be a man, man up. Like, you know what, I messed up, I said, I didn’t mean it. But I just think every time that you act and every time you do something wrong, bro we are humans, we gonna mess up… Be a man and apologize, that’s it.” (h/t SportsKeeda)
Kelley is far from the first UFC fighter to make controversial comments about Brazil. Two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Colby Covington infamously called Brazil a “dump” and referred to Brazilians as “filthy animals” in his post-fight speech after a win over Demian Maia.
Former UFC middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen also berated Brazil during the leadup to his fights with Anderson Silva.
The UFC has yet to publicly comment on Kelley’s remarks and UFC President Dana White hasn’t spoken about the controversy. Kelley will fight Adrian Yanez at UFC Austin next month.
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