Tonight Twitter blew up when Joseph Benavidez and Andre Fili were caught in an awkward moment when the FS1 cameras zoomed in on them along side Urijah Faber and Paige Zant during the prelims for the TUF 25 Finale in Las Vegas. Benavidez had his hand on Fili’s knee and Fili had his arm around the former #1 flyweight contender.
Oh hey guys .. #UFCHoF @UrijahFaber 👍, @PaigeVanzantUFC 👋 😘 , @TouchyFili 👊 & @JoeJitsu 🤘 taking in #TUFFinale pic.twitter.com/X8eMtFNSK2
— UFC (@ufc) July 8, 2017
Even though it looked a little weird he two are training partners at Team Alpha Male and very good friends. Benavidez is happily married to MMA personality Megan Olivi and has been since October 2015.
Benavidez had fun with moment on Twitter after Dan Hardy took a swipe at him after the awkward moment.
Well @TouchyFili actually kissed me when the camera cut and I felt it coming … https://t.co/KN5SOtePoj
— Joseph Benavidez (@JoeJitsu) July 8, 2017
I really don’t think there’s nothing to see here folks. With Benavidez married and Fili has talked about having a girlfriend in interviews. There was even a rumor he dated Paige Van Zant a while back. Fili’s nickname is “Touchy” so maybe we now know where that comes from.
The UFC women’s bantamweight champ, Amanda Nunes is open about her homosexuality and is in a relationship with UFC figther Nina Ansaroff. The couple have been together for several years.
Although we’ve seen several gay women fighters in the UFC males are staying the closet. Benavidez made headlines in 2014 when he said, “It would be cool to see a gay guy beat the shit out of somebody. I think that would be much cooler. Busting a stereotype.” I’m almost certain we’ve seen a homosexual male fight in the UFC but with stereotypes in gyms and in the octagon the fighter or fighters are reluctant to come out.