In the sports world, homophobic fans are losing their minds athletes are throwing their support behind LGBTQ+ people during Pride Month. But one Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter isn't having any more of it.
Jeff Molina, a flyweight Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter, was excited to show his support for the LGBTQ+ community by wearing a pair of rainbow-colored shorts in a recent fight.
But when Molina, who is straight, posted a video of his colorful shorts to Twitter, there was an immediate backlash. Asked about it in a press conference Molina... well, he went off on homophobes in a perfect response.
See it below.
Jeff Molina goes *off* about the negative comments he received for wearing UFC's pride month shorts.
"I just thought in 2022 people would be a little more open-minded and not pieces of sh*t. But I guess I was wrong."#UFCVegas56 | Full video: https://t.co/mOxnqIFGCb pic.twitter.com/aKeVUUeXyg
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) June 5, 2022
The backlash all began because of this video Molina posted about his new shorts.
Pretty sick the @ufc is letting us rep for pride month!! Get your pride gear @ufcstore 🏳️🌈👊 pic.twitter.com/nEbJZSuLWr
— Jeff Molina (@jmolina_125) June 1, 2022
In his response to the uproar, Molina underlined the absurdity of the anger about his shorts, while putting homophobes and transphobes firmly in place.
Asked about the controversy, Molina said:
"Man, who’d have thunk it, in 2022 … Who the fu*k cares, bro?"
"It’s not even about being an ally—I’m not saying I’m not—but it’s just like, just be a decent fu*king person."
"Just be a decent human being."
Molina then went on to specifically call-out bigoted Christians against LGBTQ+ rights for their hypocrisy.
"Judging someone, and then trying to justify it with religion, and saying all sorts of spiteful, hateful sh*t is crazy to me. It’s mind-boggling."
"Who cares who someone wants to be with, their sexual preference?"
"And then the irony of trying to justify it with religion of something that’s supposed to be so accepting … I was honestly shocked."
Molina also explained the reasons why he chose to wear the shorts in the first place.
"I’ll support anything of a community that’s been oppressed and ostracized for some time for something they can’t help."
“I’ll get behind any of that."
"It wasn’t that long ago that there was school segregation, and that was like less than a person ago, man, and the same thing with something like Stonewall, that was like 50 years ago. That’s not even a whole person ago, man – this is recent sh*t."
"I just thought in 2022 people would be a little more open-minded and not pieces of sh*t, but I guess I was wrong. It’s just crazy to me."
But it was Molina's big finish that really drove the point home.
"People were saying some crazy sh*t and like, dude, what would you do if your kid’s gay? Mind your own business, it doesn’t concern you. Get fu*ked."
On Twitter, people gave Molina's clapback praise.
\u201cJeff Molina going viral today for all the right reasons. Well done, sir.\u201d— Mike Bohn (@Mike Bohn) 1654445982
\u201cI like this Jeff Molina. He might be too self aware for MMA fans, because this man can think and fight.\u201d— Chris Rini (@Chris Rini) 1654416215
\u201c@MMAJunkie The impact on the viewer is zero. The impact on anyone not wearing shorts is zero. Get over yourselves and just watch. Or don\u2019t watch. Leave people alone.\u201d— MMA Junkie (@MMA Junkie) 1654390671
\u201cChad energy.\n\nFuck homophobia, all my homies hate homophobia.\u201d— \ud835\ude51\ud835\ude64\ud835\ude61\ud835\ude60\ud835\ude64\ud835\ude57\ud835\ude67\ud835\ude5a\ud835\ude56\ud835\ude59 \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa (@\ud835\ude51\ud835\ude64\ud835\ude61\ud835\ude60\ud835\ude64\ud835\ude57\ud835\ude67\ud835\ude5a\ud835\ude56\ud835\ude59 \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa) 1654412502
\u201cYou rule @jmolina_125\u201d— Shakiel Mahjouri (@Shakiel Mahjouri) 1654443869
\u201cIn a world full of bigots be a Jeff Molina\u201d— Henry Djoutsa \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddf2\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 Supports\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Henry Djoutsa \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddf2\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 Supports\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1654404932
\u201cI rewatched this & what he says is so right on \ud83c\udfaf\nIt is truly unbelievable how fucked up people are in the name of their religion.\nStop trying to control people, stop judging people. \nMind your business.\nYou assholes have enough problems of your own. \nFix you, leave me alone!\u201d— EvelDick (@EvelDick) 1654450542
\u201cOMG I LOVE THIS PERSON!\u201d— Acid Betty (@Acid Betty) 1654532185
\u201cJeff is a gem and we should treasure him.\u201d— The Filthy Casual (@The Filthy Casual) 1654393552
\u201c*ALL* of this.\n\nIt could be recapped in "who cares?". Why would one would be bothered by someone else's preferences. Sexual, religion, dietary, hairc color, literally anything.\n\nJust be yourself and don't give a FLYING F*CK about what other people like.\u201d— Al Zullino (@Al Zullino) 1654454940
Any bigoted UFC fans can hate Molina's shorts all they want.
He won his fight against Zhalgas Zhumagulov while wearing the shorts on Saturday.