As you may or may not have noticed over the weekend, Bellator 149’s much vaunted matchup of YouTube sensation Kimbo Slice and Dhafir Harris aka Dada 5000 was, novelty aside, a miserable advertisement for MMA, television and the human race, not necessarily in that order. Both competitors were winded early in the proceedings and upon the completion of a bout that pretty much redefined “sluggish”, Harris was hospitalized and reportedly, almost perished from renal failure.
Weighing in via his Fight Experience podcast Sunday evening, UFC mouthpiece Joe Rogan took a rather dim view of said clash, and Harris’ relatives took great exception to the tone of his remarks. From Facebook :
“The Harris Family is appalled at the overtly racist and offensive comments directed at Dada 5000 by Joe Rogan who said in an interview that Dada’s heart was filled with “cheeseburgers, fried chicken, and orange soda”, mocking the family’s statement issued the previous day.
“We don’t recall Mr. Rogan ever challenging anyone with this amount of vitriol and ignorant racial overtones, all directed to a man who is still hospitalized.
“For the record, Dada lost 40lbs over course of 3 1/2 months while in training camp where he had a boxing coach an MMA coach, and a nutritionist hired by his team. As fight week approached Dada was only 2-3 pounds over fight weight. He took this fight very seriously as evidenced by his gutsy performance. Mocking Dada 5000 with hurtful and racist comments is despicable and divisive and has no place in the sport of mixed martial arts or in our society.”