Ariel Helwani of The MMA Hour has made public his disappointment with Conor McGregor's use of a homophobic slur. On Saturday night, McGregor was in attendance at Artem Lobov's fight in Gdansk against Andre Fili. McGregor was extremely agitated by the octagon, and was told by the referee to calm down and restrain himself during the second round. After the fight, a video emerged capturing McGregor referring to Fili as "a faggot" while returning with Lobov to the latter's dressing room.
Conor and Artem backstage, choice words from McGregor.. #UFCGdansk pic.twitter.com/5P17nBETHH
— McDuckMMA (@McDuckMMA) October 21, 2017
Speaking on The MMA Hour, the highly-regarded Helwani admitted that he was disappointed in McGregor's use of the word. Here are the quotes:
I believe you shouldn't use that word, period. There are certain words I feel we should be deleted from our vocabulary. It's disappointing to hear it. As our own Dave Doyle points out, this is a guy who openly advocated for gay marriage in Ireland. It's disappointing to hear that. Do I want to see him get punished? I don't know what the appropriate thing to do is. I don't believe [Fabricio] Werdum was punished [for using the word toward Tony Ferguson last month], I think he agreed to do some kind of outreach programme.
But I don't want to hear that word. It's disappointing when you hear someone in the public eye say that. Donald Sterling got in trouble, right? The owner of the LA Clippers. Did he know he was being recorded? No. But he is still a public person, so there's a price to pay.
The doctor treating Artem could be gay and offended by that. It's just not a word you should use. There are a million insults you could use in that situation, "coward", whatever. there's enough hatred in this world. It's disappointing, but will anything happen? It's the UFC and I doubt it. It's not like the NBA...
...That is an offensive word. I can't say it's not offensive to me because it's not about me. Remember that when you are trying to defend slurs.
The full show is below, with the quotes on McGregor beginning just after the 14-minute mark.
