Kiwi mixed martial arts fighter Genah Fabian's upcoming opponent has called out a reporter for taking a "disrespectful" line of questioning during a pre-fight interview.
On Friday (NZ time), City Kickboxing’s Fabian will square off with reigning lightweight champion Kayla Harrison in the semi-final of the Professional Fighting League's women's lightweight tournament in Florida, with a chance to fight for US$1 million (NZ$1.4m) in the final.
But in a departure from the typical pre-fight verbal jousting, the American has lept to Fabian's defence during a media conference call, taking exception to a reporter calling Fabian a "pretty woman".
After Fabian had corrected the reporter’s pronunciation of her name and politely answered his question, Harrison asked why he felt the need to highlight her opponent's appearance.
"Hey, I got a question for you," Harrison queried. "If you were interviewing a guy, would you say to him - after pronouncing his name wrong - ‘hey, by the way, you're a really handsome guy, but oh, you can fight, too?' Would you say that to a guy?
"No. You just base how you talk to them based on their skill and based off of them as a human being, not, 'oh, you’re a beautiful man’.
"I mean, that's pretty disrespectful. She’s a professional."
The reporter was quick to apologise, insisting he hadn't meant to offend Fabian, but Harrison wasn't ready to forgive and forget.
"Why would you say something like that?" she added.
Since transitioning to the sport in 2018, Harrison, 31, a two-time Olympic judo gold medallist, has become one of the most dominant fighters in MMA, and is the overwhelming favourite to win the tournament and retain her lightweight title.
The Auckland-based Fabian will attempt to hand Harrison her first defeat with a potentially career-changing triumph in Friday's main event.
She earned her place in the semi-final of the competition - which uses a points-based regular season/playoffs format - with a decision win over Laura Sanchez in May, followed by a second-round technical knockout of Julija Pajic in June.
