"What a f**ing disgusting joke" - Retired UFC star slam's Mike Malott's 'knee him in nuts' comments post fight

While Mike Malott earned a unanimous decision win over Kevin Holland at UFC Vancouver, the victory didn't come without controversy, and to make matters worse, one of his jokes during the post-fight interview seems to have irked a woman's MMA pioneer.

Soon after the bout, retired UFC fighter Roxanne Modafferi took to X to slam the fighter for joking about the situation instead of apologizing to his opponent.

For context, Malott kneed his opponent in the groin twice during the first round, leaving Holland writhing in pain on the canvas. While 'Trailblazer' resumed fighting after a five-minute break, allowed to recover from low blows, he couldn't get back into the rhythm for the remainder of the bout.

Surprisingly, referee Dan Miragliotta chose to let Malott off the hook with just a warning and no point deductions, something for which the official faced immense backlash in the aftermath of the contest.

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Following the win, 'Proper' took the mic to make light of the incident with a joke, before stating that it was an accident:

"The game plans to knee the nuts a bunch; it was working perfectly. No, dude, I swear I was kneeing the body. That guy's hips are up by my n***les, man. It's hard to get a knee that high." [0:30 seconds into the interview]

The 33-year-old joke, however, did not land with Modafferi, who went on to shade both 'Proper' and Miragliotta in a sharply worded post on X:

"'The game plan to knee him in the nuts was working perfectly.' - Mike Malott, what a f***king disgusting joke. Notice how nobody laughed. You should have apologized and thanked the ref for gifting you that win by unfairly not taking a point." [A series of angry emojis]

Check out Roxanne Modafferi's comments on Mike Malott below:

Modafferi is a true pioneer of women's MMA. 'The Happy Warrior' started her pro career with a submission win over Hikaru Shinohara in 2003. While her professional run has been a mixed bag with a 25-20 record, the 43-year-old holds wins over the likes of Maycee Barber, Andrea Lee, and Antonina Shevchenko, among others.

About the author

Ujwal Jain is a sports journalist who covers MMA at Sportskeeda and holds a bachelor's degree in mass communication and journalism. He has been practicing martial arts from an early age and won several accolades at national-level competitions in karate and Taekwondo. He also holds a back belt in karate. Ujwal loves fact-checking, helping out with related research, and being a fresh set of eyes for fellow writers’ articles.

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