Kayla Harrison slams sexist UFC fan over 'disrespectful' question

UFC fighter Kayla Harrison has hit back at a sexist fan who asked an inappropriate question during a Q&A, blasting it as 'disheartening' and 'disrespectful'.

The two-time Olympic judo champion is on the undercard for UFC 300 taking place in Las Vegas on April 13 when she will fight Holly Holm.

She took part in a Q&A in Florida on March 8, International Women's Day, with questions coming in from fans.

But one question from a Russian-speaking fan was incredibly inappropriate.

It's reportedly translated that a fan asked Arman Tsarukyan, an Armenian MMA fighter who is on the main card taking on Brazilian Charles Oliveira, 'that girl sitting next to you (referring to Kayla), how many times would you give her your d**k, bro? Be honest."

Arman paused for a second, seemingly unsure of how to respond, before saying 'a couple'.

Ripples of laughter could be heard in the audience of those who understood what was being said.

The fan who asked the question then erupted into laughter before saying: "My boy."

Host Megan Olivi then asked Arman: "I wish we had a translator so we could be in on the joke. Do you want to tell us what he said?"

But he replied: "Stupid question, next one."

It wasn't until the next day Kayla realised what had been said.

Speaking on The MMA Hour, Kayla said: "We've talked about it and we're fine but the guy asked him basically how many times he would... He asked him a really inappropriate question about me and Arman answered it.

"I mean I look like an idiot - I'm up on the stage like laughing.

"Then the next day I'm tagged in all these Russian outlets with the translation of what he asked.

"It's disheartening, it's disrespectful.

"I'm a two-time Olympic champion and a world champion, I'm a mother, I'm an advocate about (tackling) sexual abuse, I have a book and a foundation.

"In that sense it was disrespectful that someone would even ask that question but more than that, I think you would never hear a female get asked 'how many times would you have sex with Alex Pereira?'

"We don't sexualise men like that so it was disheartening and at first I was super embarrassed and shocked by it but then I was just like 'you know what, f**k it I'm just going to keep being me and I'm going to say something about it when the time is right' because I feel like that's wrong.

"I want to help change the landscape of the sport - not just for me but for future female fighters, and it was on International Women's Day to boot, like what are we talking... Ugh."

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.