A photographer has been banned by the UFC over offensive comments he made in an Instagram post against a female mixed martial arts fighter.



Mark Aragon, staff photographer for Jackson-Winkeljohn, covered the Women’s Featherweight title fight on December 30, 2017, between Cris Cyborg and Holly Holm (a Jackson-Winkeljohn fighter). After Holm’s loss to Cyborg, Aragon took to Instagram and attempted to insult Cyborg. Posting a photo of Cyborg speaking to the media, Aragon referred to her as a “dude” and “he”.

Here’s what he wrote in the caption:

This dude is tough as hell! That being said at the press conference he said Holly was the first one to make his nose bleed! You are my hero @hollyholm see you back in the gym. #ufc219

The comments were instantly met with sharp rebukes from notable UFC journalists.

This is disgraceful and comes not long after the gym's Twitter account liked a tweet calling Aljamain Sterling the n-word. Sounds like some house cleaning needs to be done in ABQ. https://t.co/Pz1Ot24Nn6 — Marc Raimondi (@marc_raimondi) December 31, 2017



The staff photographer from Jackson-Wink posted this last night. Apparently he was also credentialed to the fights. Would expect a lot more from such a well respected gym. https://t.co/EYXRLE4Vs4 pic.twitter.com/YaAMuEyJOA — Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) December 31, 2017



This is shameful conduct. https://t.co/jLJTe9QJD0 — Luke Thomas (@lthomasnews) December 31, 2017



This is unbelievable and unacceptable. A Jackson-Wink staff photographer thought it would be cute and hilarious to call Cris Cyborg a "he" over and over again. Everyone should be better than this. I hope he's never credentialed again. No place for this. https://t.co/f3vL4fuOQe — Josh Sánchez (@jnsanchez) December 31, 2017



Cyborg also didn’t take kindly to being referred to as a man:

It is not acceptable for an official representative of @hollyholm @jacksonwink_mma to call me transgender following my Fight. Their official photographer was given a backstage credential to attend the @UFC and I expect an apology or their ability to get credentials for future UFC events to be affected by these actions. @ma2_media

Aragon and Team Jackson-Winkeljohn then took to social media in an attempt to explain and apologize.

Cyborg responded on Instagram, saying that she accepted the apology but still hoped Aragon would be banned.

The UFC decided to take action and yesterday stripped Aragon of his press credentials, denying him access to all future UFC events.

“UFC is aware and troubled with the recent statements made by a social media representative from the JacksonWink MMA Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico as it concerns women’s featherweight champion, Cris Cyborg,” the UFC says in a statement to MMA Fighting. “UFC does not condone or tolerate the remarks that were used.

“The organization has reached out to the JacksonWink team to inform them that the individual in question will not be granted access for future events.”

Cyborg then posted a message of thanks to the UFC:

I want to thank the @ufc for showing their support. everyone is entitled to a work environment free from sexual harassment and prejudice pic.twitter.com/u3AwIVIUkL — #CyborgNation (@criscyborg) January 3, 2018



“I want to thank the @ufc for showing their support,” Cyborg writes. “Everyone is entitled to a work environment free from sexual harassment and prejudice.”

Image credits: Portrait of Cris Cyborg by Michael Dunn and used under CC BY 2.0