‘Disrespectful’ moment UFC star twerks in opponent’s face after winning has viewers divided

UFC star Ailín Pérez was victorious against Darya Zheleznyakova and didn't hold back from rubbing in the win, and well, her nether regions too.

Yesterday evening (September 28), Ailín Pérez from Argentina and Darya Zheleznyakova from Russia stepped into the ring to go head-to-head in the Women's Bantamweight, which took place at the Accor Arena in Paris, France.

Zheleznyakova tapped out in the first round (Getty Images/ Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

The fight got off to a controversial start before it even begun, with Zheleznyakova's check-in weight on Friday coming in under the 136lbs bantamweight and Pérez also missing the weight by half a pound.

Concerns were raised after footage showed Pérez seemingly shaking while on the UFC scale.

However, Pérez ultimately ended up winning by submission in the very first round and certainly didn't shy away from letting her opponent know just how thrilled she was about it.

The athlete immediately got up and started shaking her bum in Zheleznyakova's face, turning and twisting more towards her as she got to her feet too.

And it hasn't taken long for people to flood to social media to weigh in.

AILIN PEREZ WINS BY SUBMISSION AND TWERKS ON HER OPPONENT AFTERWARDS 😭😭#UFCParis #UFC #MMA

pic.twitter.com/996Wzixnyl

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) September 28, 2024

One Twitter user said: "Ailin Perez with the submission AND the celebration! Tapping out and turning up now that’s how you make a statement!"

However, others weren't a fan, another writing: "Having someone twerk in your face after getting finished is them ultimate disrespect wow."

"This is sooo disrespectful," another added.

A third wrote: "Low class."

Perez said after the fight, as quoted by TalkSport: "I'm super happy to be participating in UFC Paris and like I always say I want to be the protagonist of every show that I'm at for the fans and for the UFC.

"So for me I was happy that they gave me an opponent with this level of experience because since I started in the UFC they've been giving me a lot of UFC veterans that have at least five fights in the UFC. So it was nice to be able to get a fighter that was I guess a little bit less challenging compared to the rest so I could show myself and really get a highlight win instead of winning by decision against harder, more challenging fighters.

The athlete dedicated her win to her coach Javier Oshar Sabo, adding her 'biggest dream' is to 'be the one to bring UFC to Argentina'.

"Mick Maynard is doing a great job of setting my career up in the UFC getting the right fights for me. I'm done asking for specific names," she added. "I'm already in the top 15 so I'm going to stop asking for anyone because everyone who I call out ends up running away anyways."

Pérez resolved: "So what I would want to do is finish the year in UFC Tampa in December or potentially even maybe if they have a card in Miami to do that because I consider myself a Floridian now that I'm living in the United States and that's what I would like to do."

UNILAD has contacted the UFC, Pérez and Zheleznyakova's teams for comment.