UFC champs pictured with Andrew Tate; Sterling defends disgraced misogynist

Several UFC fighters have been pictured with Andrew Tate, the disgraced influencer banned from social media platforms for his misogynistic and other problematic views.…

By: Karim Zidan | 11 months ago
UFC champs pictured with Andrew Tate; Sterling defends disgraced misogynist
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Several UFC fighters have been pictured with Andrew Tate, the disgraced influencer banned from social media platforms for his misogynistic and other problematic views.

UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards, UFC bantamweight titleholder Aljamain Sterling, and rising star Sean O’Malley were among the fighters who met with Tate and his brother, Tristan, in the United Arab Emirates. The aforementioned fighters are currently staying in the Emirates to prepare for their upcoming match-ups at UFC 280 next week.

Edwards was pictured with Tate at a restaurant in Dubai while Sterling posted several pictures of himself hanging out with Tate at a party in Dubai on Saturday. “Top G’s never die. Good chopping it up with you fellas,” Sterling tweeted before referring to criticism of Tate as “fake” in several follow-up tweets.

On Sunday, O’Malley posted an Instagram story of himself and Tate with a Lamborghini in the backdrop. The post was captioned, “Top Fucking Gs.”

Tate was accompanied by his brother Tristan, as well as Tam Khan, the owner of the Dubai-based TK MMA gym and self-proclaimed “pioneer of MMA in the UAE.” Khan has previously met with Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov and invited Irish crime lord Daniel Kinahan to visit his gym in Dubai earlier this year. Both Kinahan and Kadyrov are under US sanctions.

As for Tate, the British-American former kickboxer rose to fame by styling himself as a self-help guru who offered tips and advice for young men looking to attract women and improve their lives. However, he has also been accused of “extreme misogyny” by domestic abuse charities, and is considered dangerous due to his ability to radicalize young men and boys.

An investigation by The Observer showed that some of the widely shared content from Tate include videos of him saying rape victims are to blame for their own assaults and that women are the property of men. He also called an ex-girlfriend who accused him of abuse a “dumb hoe.”

In April 2022, Tate’s mansion was raided by Romanian authorities after the U.S. embassy alerted them that an American woman might be held at the property against her will. The investigation was later expanded to include human trafficking and rape allegations. While the investigation is ongoing, no person has been charged with a crime.

Tate was permanently banned from major social media platforms in August 2022. TikTok claimed his account violated their policies on “content that attacks, threatens, incites violence against, or otherwise dehumanizes an individual or a group” while YouTube cited violations such as hate speech.

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About the author
Karim Zidan
Karim Zidan

Karim Zidan is a investigative reporter and feature writer focusing on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for BloodyElbow since 2014 and has served as an associate editor since 2016. He also writes for The New York Times and The Guardian. Karim has been invited to speak about his work at numerous universities, including Princeton, and was a panelist at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival and the Oslo Freedom Forum. He also participated in the United Nations counter-terrorism conference in 2021. His reporting on Ramzan Kadyrov’s involvement in MMA, much of which was done for Bloody Elbow, has led to numerous award nominations, and was the basis of an award-winning HBO Real Sports documentary.

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