'Absolute Scum' – Out Former NFL Player Carl Nassib Claps Back After UFC Fighter's Anti-Gay Tweets

Carl Nassib speaks on stage at a "Night Of Pride With GLAAD and NFL" at Caesars Palace on February 07, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada Source: Greg Doherty/Getty Images

It was a scrimmage between openly gay NFL veteran Carl Nassib and MMA fighter Sean Strickland of the Ultimate Fighting Championship after Strickland sent out anti-gay tweets and Nassib clapped back, calling Strickland "absolute scum" and wondering why "the UFC continues to give this guy a platform and a paycheck..."

Nassib emerged the hands-down winner.

"We have been cataloging Strickland's anti-gay rants and the UFC's silence and seeming defense of them for months, but what he wrote Monday was really disgusting," LGBTQ+ athletics site OutSports reported.

Strickland launched a flurry of anti-gay tweets starting with a pair of posts claiming that straight men with transgender girlfriends are "cock bandits" and are not actually heterosexual.

"My man you're gay as fuck, you're a cock bandit, butthole pirate, poop shoot loving gay..." Strickland wrote, reposting a YouTube video titled "My Girlfriend is Trans - But I'm Not Gay."

"That ain't a woman my man..." Strickland added. "Your dad gone raised a gay."

"Your pops aint getting no butthole babies.."

In another post made at about he same time, Strickland declared, "Yall if you're fucking or dating a trans girl you're definitely fucking gay...."

"But you're the worst kinda gay because you're pretending not to be a cock bandit."

As his thread continued, the MMA fighter went on to claim that he "fully accept[s]" gay people, though his comments ranged from ignorant ("Could you imagine if we seen any species on this planet wake up one day and all chose to be gay," he posted, along with saying he views being gay as "a form of retardation") to inherently accusatory ("why are humans exempt" from judgement for being gay?).

"While I don't enjoy giving Strickland's views a wider audience," OutSports contributor Jim Buzinski reported, "his platform is large (542,000 followers on X, and 1.9 million on Instagram) and they need to be seen to put what Nassib wrote in context."

Even out of context, Nassib's comeback slapped the MMA fighter down hard.

"This guy is the absolute scum of humanity," the 6'7" 30-year-old posted to his Instagram Stories, posting a screenshot of Strickland's clueless and hateful tweets.

"Insane the @ufc continues to give this guy a platform and a paycheck."

In a previous Instagram Stories post, Nassib detailed how he had reached out to Strickland about the anti-gay rhetoric the UFC fighter was spewing, OutSports recalled.

"I really don't appreciate all the hate and negativity you have towards the gay community," Nassib told Strickland in that earlier message. "You're constantly talking about killing influencers and how much hate you have for people like me."

"I've never watched UFC or seen you compete," Nassib added in his message to Strickland, "but I've been hearing about you lately and it's [f––] up."

"I'm asking you as a man and fellow competitor to please lay off my community moving forward," the retired pro football player went on to say to the UFC fighter. "You'll inspire people who are influenced by you to hurt people like me and nobody wants that."

Strickland's response was telling.

"I would tag him but he blocked me on Insta after I sent him this message weeks ago," Nassib posted, OutSports recounted. "Realllllly tough guy."

Nassib shot to international fame when he came out on Instagram and then became the first openly gay NFL player to play in the regular season. Two years later, in another Instagram post, he announced his retirement from the NFL.

Calling it a "bittersweet moment," Nassib shared his decision to step back from the sport "after seven seasons and just over 100 NFL games" in order "to focus on my company Rayze," which, according to Boardroom, helps "participating non-profits and volunteers connect by displaying them all on detailed, geolocated maps and by putting local events together across the US within a social media-style platform."