The Bellator fight that took place between Kimbo Slice and Dhafir “Dada 5000” Harris last Friday night was awful. Both fighters were clearly out of shape, and after the fight ended, Dada actually had to be taken to a hospital for treatment. His heart stopped beating for a short period of time, and according to reports, he was in some real danger at one point.
On his latest Fight Companion podcast, Joe Rogan talked at length about the Kimbo Slice/Dada 5000 fight and ripped both fighters for their poor performances. But he took things a little too far when he addressed Dada’s heart problems.
“His heart stopped,” he said. “It was filled with cheeseburgers and fried chicken and orange soda. He didn’t train. There was no way he trained. I mean, he might have trained for a couple of days. You should have lost 40 pounds before. It’s not like you didn’t know you were going to do this.”
The “fried chicken and orange soda” comment in particular stood out, and Dada’s family didn’t appreciate it. So they took to Facebook yesterday to call Rogan out in a since-deleted post for saying what he did.
“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,’” the post said. “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 40 pounds over the 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.”
Rogan hasn’t responded to the Harris family yet. Dada 5000 continues to recover from last Friday’s fight.
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[via Uproxx]
