Jordan Leavitt is definitely one of the more unique fighters on the UFC lightweight roster. He’s built a solid following of fans (and haters) off his tendency to dance and twerk in the cage following his victories. In the macho world of cage fighting, this sticks out. And it’s generated more than it’s fair share of homophobic feedback.
Leavitt – who has been married to his wife Ashlie for three years – revealed that some users on social media have taken to sending him not just gay slurs but penis pictures as well.
“Now when people tell me I’m gay and they send me penis pictures,” Leavitt said on the Wah-Gwaan podcast. “Which I think is ‘pretty gay.’ If you say a guy is gay, how is you sending your penis to me showing me that I’m … I don’t know.”
“If you heart it, they may have proof,” fellow UFC fighter Chris Curtis suggested. “If you send a heart back, it’s like ‘Gotcha!’ That’s the trick.”
This by far is one of the funniest episodes ever recorded on Wah-Gwaan with Ode’ Osbourne. #Wahgwaan#Podcast pic.twitter.com/bHTFAVVVRM
— Ode’ ⭕️sbourne 🇯🇲 (@OdeOsbourne) October 9, 2022
“Maybe a little microscope emoji, like what is that?” Leavitt joked. “I just let it roll off my back, I think it’s funny, you know?”
“I’m not masculine. I’m not macho. I don’t fit the whole fighter persona. But I read the message, I’m sad about it for a second, then I go home and lay down with my wife. That’s how I do it.”
Jordan Leavitt is 3-2 in the UFC (10-2 MMA) but hasn’t fought since a second round submission loss to Paddy Pimblett at the UFC’s big London event in July. Given the size and passion of Pimblett’s fanbase, we imagine the negative attention being cast his way has only increased tenfold since that fight.
Pimblett fans certainly didn’t make ‘The Monkey King’ feel at home in the UK on fight week.
“London was a bit lackluster,” Leavitt said shortly after the fight. “I expected hostility and I got more hostility than I bargained for. Yeah, I was very surprised by the negativity, it was so bad that it was funny. Like, I couldn’t help but think it was completely ridiculous because I was like ‘Yo, he’s just 2-0 in the UFC and you guys don’t even know me. Why are you so die hard over this, man?’”
Jordan Leavitt wins and dances. pic.twitter.com/evAqFZ6u4W
— Cyclone MMA (@CycloneMma) August 5, 2020
It’s too bad that any fighter that shows off a less than hyper-masculine vibe gets attacked so much. You’d hope MMA fans would be more welcoming of different personalities, and we’d like to think most are. It’s hopefully just a small vocal minority that likes to take the discourse into the gutter, and an even smaller group sending dick pics.
With the size of the sport these days, though, even a fraction of a percent acting badly can generate deafening noise in a fighter’s social media mentions and DMs.
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