One-time UFC title challenger Marvin Vettori came under fire after he lobbed a racial slur at reigning middleweight world champion Dricus Du Plessis.
After seeing top 10 contender Brendan Allen come up short in his UFC Paris co-main event clash against Nassourdine Imavov on Saturday, Du Plessis took to X and threw some shade at ‘All In,’ calling the 30-fight veteran a loser.
Vettori seemingly approved of the comment and delivered an ill-advised two-world response to ‘Stillknocks.’
“Maa n***a,” Vettori wrote in response to Du Plessis’ dig.
Needless to say, Vettori’s choice of words did not go over well with the MMA community. After getting lambasted by fight fans and dubbed a racist on social media, ‘The Italian Dream’ attempted to justify his actions.
Marvin Vettori tries to justify his use of the controversial slur amid UFC fan backlash
“Chill out everyone I just meant maa guy kind of He is white how does that even make sense all this racist thing is bs definitely many people I don’t like but it’s never based on race or color lol Also I don’t believe in this word power,” Vettori added.
Luckily for Vettori, his boss doesn’t particularly care about employing fighters with any sense of couth or common sense.
9-5-1 under the UFC banner, Vettori has alternated wins and losses since coming up short in his lone middleweight title opportunity against Isreal Adesanya at UFC 263. Since then, Vettori has defeated Paulo Costa and Roman Dolidze while losing to Jared Cannonier and Robert Whittaker.
Meanwhile, Dricus Du Plessis is coming off a big win over Adesanya at UFC 305 in August. Next up for ‘DDP’ will be a rematch with ex-titleholder Sean Strickland, though no official announcement has been made regarding their sequel scrap.
