What point was Brendan Schaub trying to articulate here?
There were a head-scratching few seconds on Brendan Schaub’s Big Brown Breakdown podcast this week. While talking up Daniel Cormier’s abilities as a UFC commentator, he deviated from the topic to take an odd swipe at UFC Tonight.
“Sometimes when you look at UFC Tonight, you’re like is that the best panel possible or are you just trying to check off the boxes? We get it, UFC Tonight Fox, you’re not racist. We get it, you have an all black panel. We get it. We get it, man.”
“I’m going to ask you again, are those the best brains and speakers for the art to the general audience? Depends. Depends on the night, depends on the panel they have.”
After taking that tangent, Schaub went back to talking up Cormier’s commentating skills.
One of the members of UFC Tonight’s ‘all black panel’ was Yves Edwards. The MMA veteran caught wind of Schaub’s comments after he was sent a clip on Twitter. He had just one question for Schaub – what gives?
Yo @BrendanSchaub what’s this bullshit you running your mouth about? https://t.co/FHRppw6Dmk
— The Thugjitsu Master (@thugjitsumaster) February 4, 2018
Schaub immediately apologised over the comments.
He admitted fault and took full responsibility for the strange comments before adding that he was actually a fan of the show.
Meant zero disrespect to you. I spent 30 mins praising Daniel Cormier and said he’s the best in the world besides Rogan. Kevin Lee and I were discussing black fighters & entertainment. Bad job on my part. That’s on me. I love you guys. Watch all of the shows. My bad. I’m sorry.
— Brendan Schaub (@BrendanSchaub) February 4, 2018
Edwards’ response was 100% class. He wasn’t assuming or insinuating anything sinister, he simply wanted to know who on the panel Schab thought was incompetent.
I appreciate your apology. I wasn’t talking about race but when you say someone isn’t good enough to do the job and you don’t say who, I want to know if you’re talking about me. I wasn’t assuming or insinuating you are racist. Don’t sweat that, that’s not a thing.
— Yves Edwards (@thugjitsumaster) February 4, 2018
Schaub has yet to respond to the tweet, at least, publicly.