'See your assets': Uproar over sexist UFC photoshoot

Trying to use sexuality as a way of “selling” the public on female athletes (or, let’s be real, women in general), isn’t a new concept.

It’s an idea that’s run its course, but not in the UFC, apparently.

Video of a photoshoot with UFC photographer Mike Roach before strawweight fighter Tatiana Suarez’s recent bout had many on Twitter a bit miffed.

‘You can still see your assets’

In a short clip of the shoot posted to Twitter by MMA fan account @FullContactWTWF, Roach is instructing how to pose and tells her to cross her arms in such a way that the UFC logo on her top is showing and “you can still see your assets.”

While Suarez doesn’t seem to have responded on social media, at least one other female fighter has: flyweight Lauren Murphy tweeted, “it just exemplifies what we put up with. I bet women across all sports experience this [to be honest]. I don’t think it’s totally exclusive to the UFC.”

Suarez’s win streak continues

The photoshoot happened before Suarez’s fight at UFC’s event in Santiago, Chile. She quickly defeated Alexa Grasso at 2:44 of the opening round, getting Grasso to submit with a rear naked choke.

It was her third straight win.

A two-time bronze medalist at the freestyle wrestling world championships, Suarez leans on that discipline in the Octagon and is drawing comparisons to men’s lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov because of it.

Suarez embraces that.

“I love that comparison because I’m a huge fan of his,” she said. “I really base a lot of my wrist riding off of him. I do that a lot in practice. Actually, that’s what happened, I went for the wrist ride [against Grasso] and she turned her back to me and I took her back off of it. Thank you Khabib for that because I learned from him.

“I learn from all the fighters. I know a lot of fighters say, ‘I don’t watch fights.’ I think that’s crazy, because you can learn from anybody and kind of grow as a martial artist.”