Jeff Molina receives ‘hateful’ remarks on his Pride Month attire

Announcing that he would wear the promotion’s Pride Month fight kit led to UFC flyweight fighter Jeff Molina being told he was “going to burn in hell.” The Glory MMA star informed his followers he would put on the rainbow shorts prior to his victory over Zhalgas Zhumagulov at UFC Vegas 56 on Saturday, June 4.

After showing his support and solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community, Molina was slammed with a flood of abuse and bigotry. The messages poured in after Molina posted a video of his fight night attire ahead of UFC Vegas 56.

The 24-year-old star, however, did neither back down nor hesitate from addressing the bigots, many of whom sent him direct messages. Despite his victory at UFC Vegas 56, his post-fight remarks captured everyone’s attention.

Following his performance, Molina spoke out on the issue

Molina spoke with UFC commentator Ariel Helwani on “The MMA Hour” on Monday and touched on some of the nasty comments he has been subjected to.

“It was strange because I thought it was something so nonchalant, simple, minuscule. Like, dude, check out my shorts, there’s rainbow coloring on it, it’s just cool that the UFC is doing this for Pride Month,” Molina said during his appearance on The MMA Hour. “I’m telling you there were dozens and dozens of these. People were like ‘You should get cut from the UFC for supporting f--.’ There was a lot of those, man.”

Even after being abused, Molina did not intend to change his fight attire. As part of the promotion, the attire will help promote awareness of the LGBTQIA+ Center of Southern Nevada. Supporting and standing beside the LGBTQIA+ community, however, is not something Molina wishes to be praised for.

“What’s weird is I feel like I’m being appreciated for something I shouldn’t be appreciated for, if that makes sense. And I’m not trying to backtrack on anything I said, I spoke 100 percent from the heart. I meant exactly what I said. But it’s like being applauded for saying, ‘Murder is wrong.’ This should just be common: Rape is wrong. Racism is wrong,” Molina said.

“Being hateful towards someone for who they love is wrong. And who the f*** cares at the end of the day? That’s the only thing that makes me feel weird about this whole situation. I know I have a platform as a fighter, fighting for the UFC, for the biggest organization in the world. But at the same time, I feel weird being appreciated for something that should just be f***ing common decency. Just being a human being.”

It surprised Molina to get so many negative comments, he told Helwani.

“I understand this is Twitter, man. I understand these are random accounts from all over the world. And some of these guys don’t have any followers, some of these guys don’t have a profile picture, they’re just burner accounts,” said Molina. “I felt like it had to be addressed. To those saying this hateful s***, you guys on your own are the problem. You guys are what’s wrong with the world.”

Molina, who currently holds an 11-2-0 record per UFC Stats, defeated Zhumagulov at UFC Vegas 55 at the UFC APEX on Saturday, June 4 via a split decision.