Fabricio Werdum’s homophobic slurs during a heated verbal exchange with Tony Ferguson at a media lunch earlier this week have landed him in hot water in the UFC.
Werdum repeatedly called Ferguson the Spanish word for “f****t” at the UFC 216 media Q&A, and that’s exactly the kind of language that the UFC’s head honchos have been doing their best to stamp out.
As such, the UFC have quickly released a statement making it clear that what Werdum said was wrong and won’t go unpunished.
“The UFC organization is disappointed with recent comments made by Fabricio Werdum at a promotional event in Los Angeles,” the official statement reads. “The nature and implication of his comments do not reflect UFC’s views and will not be tolerated, no matter the manner in which they are used.
We acknowledge and appreciate that Fabricio has since apologized to the organization and to anyone he may have offended with his words. As high profile athletes, role models, and global ambassadors of the sport of Mixed Martial Arts, athletes under contract with UFC are required to abide by the Athlete Conduct Policy. Given his breach of this policy, Fabricio has agreed to perform community outreach within the LGBTQ community in Las Vegas, taking steps to enact change and make a direct impact within the community.”
