A UFC star has come under fire after she decided to twerk in her opponents face moments after winning the fight.
The UFC is becoming known for it’s trash talking athletes, with the name Conor McGregor springing to mind.
However, once the fight is over the fighters usually share a hug and show that the pre-match insult hurling was just to sell the fight a bit more.
Well, not in this case it would seem.
Ailín Pérez secured a decisive victory over Russia’s Darya Zheleznyakova in the Women’s Bantamweight division on Saturday, September 28, at the Accor Arena in Paris.
However, it wasn’t just her performance in the octagon that made headlines.
The fight, which had its own controversies even before it began, saw both fighters miss the 136-pound bantamweight limit at their official weigh-in on Friday, per the New York Post.
Concerns were raised when footage appeared to show Pérez visibly shaking on the UFC scale, raising questions about her physical condition.
Nevertheless, once inside the octagon, Pérez quickly proved she was more than ready for the bout. She dominated the match and secured a submission victory in the very first round.
Moments after winning, with her opponent still on the ground and attempting to get to her feet, Pérez decided to twek in her face.
It’s safe to say that the moment has caused quite a bit of controversy.
One person wrote: “She missed weight, she got to fight because of her opponent agreeing to catch weight. now this? low class.”
A second person said: “She is a classless bum. To have the nerve to grandstand with such unprofessionalism after missing weight? Total trash of a human being. Looking forward when she faces tough competition and she gets her comeuppance.”
A third person added: “Nasty. Trashy. Unprofessional. Says everything you need to know about the woman’s character.”
Another person saw a different side however, saying: “Having someone twerk in your face after getting finished is the ultimate disrespect wow.”
Speaking after the match, Pérez expressed her excitement at fighting in Paris and explained why this victory held particular significance for her.
“I’m super happy to be participating in UFC Paris and like I always say, I want to be the protagonist of every show that I’m at—for the fans and for the UFC,” she said via TalkSport.
Pérez also noted that she welcomed the chance to face Zheleznyakova, a less-experienced opponent compared to her previous UFC matchups, which had typically been against more seasoned fighters.
She continued: “Since I started in the UFC, they’ve been giving me a lot of veterans that have at least five fights. So it was nice to be able to get a fighter that was a little bit less challenging compared to the rest so I could show myself and really get a highlight win instead of winning by decision against harder, more challenging fighters.”
Let’s see if karma does its thing in the future…
