Cain Velasquez reacts after defeating Antonio Silva during a heavyweight bout at UFC 146 at MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 26, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
UFC president Dana White went to bat for No. 1 heavyweight contender Cain Velasquez on Thursday, defending the controversial “Brown Pride” tattoo the fighter has written across his chest.
At the UFC 155 pre-fight press conference, White expressed his irritation with people who have issues with his fighter’s choice to express his pride through body art, saying it’s not a big deal.
“People who have a problem with the ‘Brown Pride’ tattoo are morons,” White said during the press conference in Las Vegas. “Come on. It says ‘Brown Pride.’ Big deal. The guy’s proud to be Mexican.”
White went on to add that in the town that he grew up in, people from various backgrounds routinely had tattoos on their bodies that were representative of their culture and background. It’s because of examples like this that White finds people judging Velasquez for his tattoo to be absurd.
“It’s ridiculous. This kind of stuff pisses me off,” he said. “I lived in Boston. Every Italian was running around with something Italian on their body. Every guy who was Irish had some Irish tattoo on him. The list goes on and on.”
In a more conservative approach, Velasquez addressed the issue by saying that the way he performs in the octagon speaks higher volumes than any tattoo he has. He’s answered the same question about the tattoo 100 times, he said.
“It’s definitely a big question that everybody brings up,” the heavyweight challenger said during the press conference. “I think my fighting style just speaks for itself.”
Regardless of tattoos, Velasquez will fight champion Junior dos Santos in a rematch for the heavyweight title this Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The two originally met at the inaugural UFC on FOX event in November 2011, where dos Santos knocked Velasquez out to take the title from him.
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