Adrian Yanez’s bantamweight bout against Tony Kelley came with several layers of animosity. Alongside the expected trash talk between two men pitting their livelihoods and immediate financial security on the ability to beat one another in a fist fight was a now infamously xenophobic incident captured on video during UFC on ESPN: Blachowicz vs. Rakic.
Kelley, cornering his girlfriend—and UFC flyweight—Andrea Lee was seen denigrating her Brazilian opponents between rounds, following complaints from Lee that she had been on the receiving end of an eye poke. “That’s what they’re going to do, they’re dirty f-cking Brazilians, they’re going to f-cking cheat like that,” Kelley told Lee while coaching her in her corner.