UFC flyweight Jeff Molina received a death threat after he announced that he would be wearing the Pride Month fighter kit.
Glory MMA's standout announced to his fans that he would wear the kit in his UFC Vegas 56 win over Zhalgas Zhumagulov on Saturday.
Molina tweeted his intention to wear Pride Month gear ahead of fight night
Molina was subject to a torrential stream of hateful abuse and bigotry because she stood in solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community.
The 24-year-old did not hesitate to address the bigots, many who had emailed him.
Molina stated that he thought the MMA Hour was simple and nonchalant.
"Like, Dude, look at my shorts. There's rainbow colouring all over it. It's cool that the UFC does this for Pride Month.
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"Then, I stopped looking at my phone for a few hours -- I try to not be on my phone too often for fight week -- I glance at my smartphone and the comments are split.
"Actually, no, they weren't, as the comments were all very hateful.
"There were some narratives in the comments such as, "The UFC just doing this to exploit it's business tactic, it's a money-making strategy, they don’t care. Blah blah blah.'
"The other parts were: 'Man! You support gay people. You're going to burn in Hell.
SUN BINGO GET PS50 BONUS & 50 FREE SPINS TODAY"Allah will make you burn in Hell or God will make you burn in Hell," I tell you.
"I glanced over at the DMs and my DMs on Twitter were about divided with the love-hate.
"From the love perspective, it was a lot men like, "Hey man! I didn't know that you rolled this way!" You're adorable, I think.
"And then, on the other hand, it was more of these same hateful and spiteful things, so I felt like it was something I had to address."
Molina did not intend to change his fight kit, which was introduced as a promotion to raise awareness for the LGBTQIA+ Centre of Southern Nevada.
He stated that he wanted to buy a larger vinyl record. This thought never crossed my mind."
Molina doesn't want to be praised for showing solidarity and support to the LGBTQIA+ community.
He stated, "It's strange that I feel like I'm being valued for something I shouldn’t be appreciated for."
"I don't want to rephrase anything I said. I spoke 100% from my heart. I meant exactly what my words said.
"But it's almost like being applauded because you said, 'Murder' is wrong. This should be common: Rape IS wrong. Racism is wrong.
"Hateful towards someone because they love them is wrong. Who the f*** cares?
"That's all that makes me feel strange about this entire situation.
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"I know that I have a platform to fight for the UFC. It is the largest organization in the world.
"But at the exact same time, it feels strange to be appreciated for something that should only be f common decency. Simply being human."
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