After his submission victory over Ricardo Ramos Saturday night, UFC fighter Julian Erosa decided, for some unknown reason and completely unprompted, to use his post-fight news conference to spew bigoted rhetoric and challenge trans swimmer Lia Thomas, who hasn't competed in two years, to a fight.
Erosa began his bonkers rant:
“I don’t like cheaters.”
He continued his tirade for more than two minutes, having to "correct" himself after actually using accurate pronouns.
"I wanted to call out Lia Thomas."
"I wanted to encourage her, encourage him, to transition from women’s swimming into women’s MMA, and then I’ll transition into become a woman and beat that dude’s a**.”
Erosa added that trans women competing is "ridiculous" before mentioning former MMA fighter Fallon Fox, also a trans woman.
“The world we’re living in, there’s no common sense any more and it’s becoming a bit ridiculous. …"
"I just don’t agree with men’s in women’s sports."
"The whole Fallon Fox thing, girls .. er, guys that are fighting in women’s MMA and knocking them out, it’s a bad look.”
Erosa finished with a butchered analogy, but it pretty much summed up his entire harangue.
“I’m not the smartest crayon in the box."
You can watch below.
WARNING: NSFW language
While the exception of a few like-minded viewers applauding Erosa for his completely uncalled-for transphobic speech...
...most people on social media called him out for his ridiculous rant.
Others wondered why Erosa felt the need to challenge Thomas, someone who is not involved in the sport and hasn't even competed in her own sport for years.
And there was some low-key hope that Thomas would accept.
Of course, Thomas is no stranger to being attacked by conservative transphobes (looking at you, Riley Gaines and Donald Trump), but it's so wonderful to see people online stand up to a bully 👏👏👏
@jaketapoer/Bluesky
@BillAckman/Twitter