Stephen A Smith slammed by fighters for saying “I Don’t Want to See Women Fight Again”

Stephen A Smith once again found himself in hot water after he expressed his disinterest in seeing women compete in mixed martial arts (MMA) and boxing. During an appearance on the “Black on the Air” podcast — which is hosted by comedian Larry Wilmore — Stephen A Smith talked about women like Kim Ng (general manager of Miami Marlin) earning executive roles in sports. The 53-year-old started his answer by showing his support to the change, before going off the track while talking about women in combat sports.

“Where I jump off the bandwagon is when they try to engage physically. For example, I don’t ever want to see a woman boxing a man,” he said. “I don’t want to see women fighting in the octagon and stuff like that, but that’s just me,” he added.

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Stephen A Smith on female fighters: Joanna Jedrzejczyk slams Smith

Within a few hours, Smith’s comments went viral on social media and received a strong reaction from the MMA community all over the world. A number of UFC fighters also slammed the TV personality, including former women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. The Polish fighter stated that though she appreciates Smith’s transparency on the topic, she assured that “we women don’t need your support”.

Jedrzejczyk shared the tweet with the hashtag “#2020WorldMMAAwardsFightOfTheYear,” hinting at her historic clash with current champion Weili Zhang at UFC 248, which won the prestigious Fight of the Year award at “MMA Awards 2020”. Jedrzejczyk vs Zhang is also hailed as one of the greatest fights in UFC women’s division history.

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Stephen A Smith on female fighters: MMA fighters troll Smith

Apart from Jedrzejczyk, fellow strawweight Angela Hill, former UFC & current Bellator featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, UFC welterweight Gilbert Burns and many others also criticised Stephen A Smith for his comments. While Hill asked the 53-year-old to “shut up,” Cyborg shared some laughing face emojis with an old video of Smith's where the TV show host can be seen showing off his underwhelming boxing skills. Julie Kedzie, on the other hand, took a shot at ESPN, calming that if the company intends to “continue giving Stephen A Smith a platform to preach inequality in sports, you are taking an incredible risk in alienating fans and athletes alike”.

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Image Source: Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Gilbert Burns, Stephen a smith Instagram