Tag: Stephen A. Smith

Frank Mir Fires Shots At Stephen A. Smith Following Comments On Women’s MMA

Frank MirESPN 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. “Yes I saw what he said about women fighting. Don’t tag him. Don’t even say […]

Frank Mir

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.

“Yes I saw what he said about women fighting. Don’t tag him. Don’t even say his name. He is irrelevant so don’t give him a voice in our sport. Send him back to the NBA to make absurd comments about the other sport he couldn’t hack it in as a competitor.”

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?

Joanna Jedrzejczyk Responds To Stephen A. Smith After Comments About Women Fighting

JedrzejczykJoanna Jedrzejczyk fired back at Stephen A. Smith for his latest comments. The controversial ESPN commentator recently made headlines when he stated that he wasn’t a fan of women in combat sports. “When I think about pugilistic sports, I don’t like seeing women involved in that at all,” Smith said. “I just don’t like it. […]

Jedrzejczyk

Joanna Jedrzejczyk fired back at Stephen A. Smith for his latest comments.

The controversial ESPN commentator recently made headlines when he stated that he wasn’t a fan of women in combat sports.

“When I think about pugilistic sports, I don’t like seeing women involved in that at all,” Smith said. “I just don’t like it. I wouldn’t promote legislating laws to prohibit them from doing so, but I don’t want to see women punching each other in the face.

“I don’t want to see women fighting in the octagon and stuff like that, but that’s just me. What I would adamantly be against is them fighting men. I don’t think that’s cool. Plus, you don’t ever want to give men license to believe that it’s all right to be physical with a woman, to be quite honest with you. You don’t want to do that.”

Those comments naturally saw Smith come under fire from many in the combat sports world. And former UFC women’s strawweight champion Jedrzejczyk decided to personally respond to him on Wednesday.

“I appreciate your transparency @stephenasmith . Although I wish everyone at ESPN—and throughout the world—saw women’s sports in a positive light, I assure you that we women don’t need your support.”

Smith hasn’t responded as of yet, but much like the criticism directed at him last year for his comments on Donald Cerrone, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he clarified his comments soon.

What do you make of the whole situation?

Stephen A. Smith Doesn’t Want To See Women Compete In Combat Sports

SmithStephen A. Smith is not a fan of women in combat sports. The polarizing ESPN commentator recently appeared on a podcast and when asked how he felt about the increasing role of women in sports executive roles, Smith was all for it. However, he also proceeded to go on a tangent about women in combat […]

Smith

Stephen A. Smith is not a fan of women in combat sports.

The polarizing ESPN commentator recently appeared on a podcast and when asked how he felt about the increasing role of women in sports executive roles, Smith was all for it.

However, he also proceeded to go on a tangent about women in combat sports — something he would prefer not to see (via MMA Junkie).

“First of all, I love it. I think that there’s an awful lot of women that are incredibly qualified to do the jobs that they’re doing. Where I jump off the bandwagon is when they try to engage physically. For example, I don’t ever want to see a woman boxing a man. I don’t want to see that. I don’t want to see a woman in the UFC fighting a man even though there are some women out there that’ll kick a dude’s butt. We get all that.

“When I think about pugilistic sports, I don’t like seeing women involved in that at all. I just don’t like it. I wouldn’t promote legislating laws to prohibit them from doing so, but I don’t want to see women punching each other in the face. I don’t want to see women fighting in the octagon and stuff like that, but that’s just me. What I would adamantly be against is them fighting men. I don’t think that’s cool. Plus, you don’t ever want to give men license to believe that it’s all right to be physical with a woman, to be quite honest with you. You don’t want to do that.

“And so, outside of that, when you think about them in executive positions, first of all they’re smarter than (men) a lot of times, they’re more composed than us a lot of times, they’re incredibly knowledgeable about these respective sports. They’ve had to go through trials and tribulations one couldn’t even imagine most of the time. For them to get to that point, they deserve the opportunity to showcase their skill sets. Just like we have women in corporate America doing an incredible job leading companies, being executives, pushing businesses forward, etc., etc. There’s no reason on earth why they can’t do the same in the sports world. I support it, I’m a fan of it, and I hope we see more of it.”

These comments naturally drew plenty of criticism from many in the combat sports world.

However, it’s not a surprise either as Smith has regularly come under fire for his opinions, particularly when it comes to mixed martial arts.

Regardless, what do you think of his latest remarks?

Stephen A. Smith Suggests Tony Ferguson, Justin Gaethje Didn’t Grapple Due To COVID-19

SmithSmith Thinks Ferguson, Gaethje Didn’t Grapple Due To COVID-19 Fears ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith continues to make headlines in the world of mixed martial arts. Smith came under fire for his comments about Donald Cerrone’s performance in his defeat to Conor McGregor back in January — though he feels he was validated going by […]

Smith

Smith Thinks Ferguson, Gaethje Didn’t Grapple Due To COVID-19 Fears

ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith continues to make headlines in the world of mixed martial arts.

Smith came under fire for his comments about Donald Cerrone’s performance in his defeat to Conor McGregor back in January — though he feels he was validated going by recent comments.

His latest comments, however, are considerably harder to defend even for his most die-hard fans as he was discussing the UFC 249 headliner between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje this past weekend.

Gaethje came out on top with a fifth-round TKO win after a back-and-forth war that saw no clinching, grappling or wrestling. In fact, there wasn’t even a single takedown attempt.

Smith, however, suggested that this was the case due to fears of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. You can watch the snippet below:

“There was so much striking, I was surprised there wasn’t a little bit more wrestling and what have you,” Smith said. “Then I remember with the coronavirus pandemic coming on and in my mind, my attitude is that guys were a bit reluctant to grapple unless necessary.”

Although both fighters are accomplished on the ground, very few expected them to engage there given their love of brawling.

So good luck to Smith if he comes under fire for these comments as well.

What do you make of Smith’s suggestion?

Stephen A. Smith Thinks Justin Gaethje & Tony Ferguson Were Hesitant To Grapple Due To COVID-19

ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith has a theory as to why Justin Gaethje and Tony Ferguson didn’t engage much in the grappling department. On May 9, Gaethje and Ferguson did battle in the UFC 249 headliner. “The Highlight” served as a …

ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith has a theory as to why Justin Gaethje and Tony Ferguson didn’t engage much in the grappling department. On May 9, Gaethje and Ferguson did battle in the UFC 249 headliner. “The Highlight” served as a replacement opponent. Ferguson was initially set to challenge Khabib Nurmagomedov for the UFC lightweight […]

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Donald Cerrone Isn’t Concerned With Stephen A. Smith’s Comments

Donald Cerrone says he hasn’t been paying attention to the hoopla surrounding Stephen A. Smith’s remarks on his UFC 246 performance. Back in January, Cerrone shared the Octagon with Conor McGregor. Some believed that “Cowboy” wa…

Donald Cerrone says he hasn’t been paying attention to the hoopla surrounding Stephen A. Smith’s remarks on his UFC 246 performance. Back in January, Cerrone shared the Octagon with Conor McGregor. Some believed that “Cowboy” was handpicked for McGregor’s return, while others felt Cerrone had a shot at upsetting the “Notorious” one. Ultimately, Cerrone was […]

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