What were the controversial comments by UFC fighter Tony Kelley?

Andrea Lee's partner and coach Tony Kelley found himself in hot water following the recently concluded UFC Fight Night event at the Apex in Las Vegas. Kelley can be heard referring to Brazilians as "dirty" after Lee complained about an eye poke in the first round.

Lee came up short against Brazilian flyweight Viviane Araujo via decision on the night, and Kelley's comments in-between rounds have drawn quite a bit of flak from fans and fighters alike. He can be heard telling 'KGB':

"That's what they're gonna do. They're dirty f***ing Brazilians, they're gonna f***ing cheat like that. But guess what? We came to f*** somebody up and we will oblige. You understand? We have better everything than her."

Andrea Lee's two-fight winning streak was brought to a halt by Viviane Araujo, who managed to wrestle her way to a decision victory.

It comes as no surprise that Tony Kelley’s comments were met with strong backlash. Brazilian fighters Gilbert Burns and Cris Cyborg felt slighted by Kelley's offensive remarks and took to social media to give their take on the matter. Notably, Burns appeared willing to teach Kelley a lesson himself.

Meanwhile, Cyborg took the opportunity to congratulate Araujo while subtly mocking Kelley's comments.

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Tony Kelley justifies his comments, states that "Cancel Culture is real"

Tony Kelley didn't apologize for his remarks, stating that he isn't bothered if people brand him a "racist." He reiterated that everything he said was only in response to the eye poke which went unrecognized by the referee.

He posted on Twitter:

"Cancel Culture is real. What I said was real and in the heat of battle, and in no way had any type of racist connotations meant…but if that’s the way you take it, idgaf. So many people quick to say racist..that sh*ts getting so old. My reference was to a dirty eye poke."

Once again, Cris Cyborg was quick to reply. The former UFC champion and current Bellator titleholder tweeted:

"Or you could just apologize, admit what you said was wrong, and move forward instead of trying to justify yourself."

One fan online pointed out Kelley’s hypocrisy, posting a video showing Lee defending Araujo’s takedown attempt by grabbing the cage and later defending an arm-tringle submission attempt by putting her fingers in her Brazilian counterpart's eye.