Aoriqileng responds to Cody Durden’s ‘sent him back to China’ comment

UFC Vegas 43 was a flat night of fighting with 11 of 12 fights going to decision. Not that you can’t have exciting fights that go to the judges’ scorecards. But many of these were relatively even affairs with inconclusive endings. Not a whole lot of flash or excitement (Yanez vs. Grant excluded).

Amongst these fights was a prelim between flyweights Cody Durden and “Mongolian Murderer” Aoriqileng. Durden took the close decision 29-28 off some gritty grappling, but it was his comments after that stood out more than the fight.

“I knew he was going to be tough, but I had to send him back to China where he came from,” Durden said to commentator Daniel Cormier in the cage.

Regular MMA fans have witnessed some pretty off color comments over the years, but this is the first time I can remember hearing someone use a variation of the ‘Go back to ____’ slur. The UFC commentary team wasn’t impressed. Fighters and fans on twitter wasn’t impressed. And Aoriqileng certainly wasn’t impressed. The Mongolian took to Instagram to send a message regarding the incident.

“I destroyed this coward in the cage, but the judges gave him a chance to say something disgusting through his disgusting mouth,” he wrote. “He can do nothing in the fight, and I saw fear through his eyes. He is a coward.”

With no peep from the UFC or ESPN regarding this, we assume it’s just another example of ‘fighters saying nasty things’ as UFC president Dana White likes to frame it. Those who found Durden’s words offensive (us included) are just going to have to settle for hoping the guy gets his ass kicked in a future fight. Or reconsider the Saturdays we spend watching a promotion that allows talk like this to go unchecked.