A credentialed photographer working in an official capacity for team Jackson-Wink handled Holly Holm’s loss in about the worst way possible.
Over years as a notable figure in the MMA world, Cris Cyborg has handled her fair share of abuse and vitriol from fans online. From attacks regarding her appearance overall, to questions surrounding her gender, the attacks have come from other fighters such as Ronda Rousey, as well as UFC president Dana White (in an infamous, ugly display).
Much of the more high profile examples of this behavior have subsided lately, as the stance of people like White towards Cyborg has had to soften when she joined the UFC’s ranks. But, that doesn’t mean that everyone in a visible position within the sport has stopped taking the low road in attacking the UFC’s featherweight champion.
Early Sunday morning, Mark Aragon – the official video & media director, as well as photographer for Jackson-Winkeljohn – took to Instagram in an attempt to insult Cyborg after her victory over Jackson-Wink team member Holly Holm.
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This dude is tough as hell! That being said at the press conference he said Holly was the first one to make his nose bleed! You are my hero @hollyholm see you back in the gym. #ufc219
The post has immediately been met with some heavy backlash from others in the media and was deleted shortly afterward.
The staff photographer from Jackson-Wink posted this last night. Apparently he was also credentialed to the fights. Would expect a lot more from such a well respected gym. https://t.co/EYXRLE4Vs4 pic.twitter.com/YaAMuEyJOA
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) December 31, 2017
This is shameful conduct. https://t.co/jLJTe9QJD0
— Luke Thomas (@lthomasnews) December 31, 2017
This is unbelievable and unacceptable. A Jackson-Wink staff photographer thought it would be cute and hilarious to call Cris Cyborg a “he” over and over again. Everyone should be better than this. I hope he’s never credentialed again. No place for this. https://t.co/f3vL4fuOQe
— Josh Sánchez (@jnsanchez) December 31, 2017
This is disgraceful and comes not long after the gym’s Twitter account liked a tweet calling Aljamain Sterling the n-word. Sounds like some house cleaning needs to be done in ABQ. https://t.co/Pz1Ot24Nn6
— Marc Raimondi (@marc_raimondi) December 31, 2017
While the gym isn’t responsible for everything that their employees or representatives do or say, having someone credentialed to an event go out of their way to misgender an opponent for the sake of being petty is unquestionably low. Aragon has not made any comment regarding the matter in the replies to the post, nor has Cyborg nor her team as of this writing.