By Susan Payne
UFC bantamweight Jeff Molina, known as “El Jefe,” in the octagon, was outed on social media and not given his own time and place to announce his coming out.
“Welp.. this (expletive) sucks,” he wrote. “TLDR: im bi. Not the way I wanted to do this but the chance to do it when I was ready was taken from me.”
In the post on Twitter, Molina explained he dated girls his entire life and suppressed feelings he had throughout high school being on the wrestling team, throughout college and pursuing MMA, the Los Angeles Blade reported.
Last month, Molina was on the receiving end of anti-gay backlash for wearing rainbow shorts during a fight, but post-match, the fighter had a lot to say refuting the backlash.
“I just thought in 2022 people would be a little more open-minded and not pieces of shit. But I guess I was wrong,” Molina wrote.
On the day of his coming out, Molina wrote:
“At the end of the day I know my character, morals, and who I am as a person. As much as I’m getting hated/shitted on I’m getting an equal amount of support & it means a (expletive) ton.”
In fact, Molina received immediate support from fellow MMA fighters Chris Curtis and from fans with huge numbers of followers, the Blade reported.
“The thought of my buddies, teammates, and ppl I look up to looking at me different let alone treating me different for something I can’t control was something I couldn’t fathom. In a sport like this where a majority of the fans being the homophobic (expletive) they are I didn’t see myself doing this during this part of my career,” Molina wrote, adding that he wanted to be known for skills and his dedication, not for his sexual orientation.
