talked a big homophobic game a couple of weeks ago, attacking a reporter who asked him whether he still thinks having a gay son would mean he’s failed as a man.
But when it came time to face an actual out gay MMA fighter, Strickland turtled. UFC champion Raquel Pennington, who won the Bantamweight title when she defeated fellow out LGBTQ+ fighter Mayra Bueno Silva in the co-main event of UFC 297, was sharing the card with Strickland that weekend.
That means she ran into him backstage…multiple times. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.Each time, she says Strickland turned away.
It looks like the big, tough fighter can’t back up his words.“Every time he came around, we both turned the other direction,” she said in an interview with the MMA Hour. “I stared at him a couple times, and he would just turn the other direction.”In the lead-up to UFC 297, Strickland went on the most anti-LGBTQ+ rant we’ve ever heard from a pro athlete.