Former UFC heavyweight and current podcast host Brendan Schaub once again stirred controversy—this time by targeting tennis in a bizarre rant on his show with comedian Bryan Callen. In a segment that was supposed to highlight the health benefits of racket sports, Schaub derailed the conversation into an off-color tirade about masculinity, privilege and children’s athletic choices.
It started innocently enough, with Callen citing a statistic that
playing tennis makes you live longer than anybody else.
Schaub immediately dismissed the claim, saying longevity among tennis players had nothing to do with the sport and everything to do with wealth. According to him,
when you can afford tennis, you got money, good nutrition. It’s a super privileged white rich sport.
But then came the censored outburst. Schaub leaned into the topic with the kind of crude delivery that has made his podcast a magnet for outrage.
If my son was like, ‘Dad, I want to play tennis,’ I’m like, yo, he’s gay.
He doubled down moments later, saying that if his child wanted tennis or golf, his reaction would be,
f—, he s—s d—.
Even Callen—who is no stranger to edgy humor—tried to reel him in, interjecting
please don’t say that
as Schaub continued to hammer home his point. Instead of backpedaling, Schaub added more fuel, mocking the idea of young boys choosing tennis over competing in combat sports. He suggested that kids avoiding combat because they don’t want to
get punched in the face
would rather
hold that shaft and hit balls
before bluntly asking,
how gay is it?
The exchange highlights a stark difference in trajectories between the two co-hosts. Callen is enjoying a late-career revival, performing stand-up at Joe Rogan’s Austin club and finding fresh audiences on stage. Schaub however seems to be flailing. Once buoyed by Rogan’s orbit, his YouTube viewership has cratered with many episodes of his show barely cracking numbers that used to come easy.
This kind of inflammatory soundbite reeks of desperation—the kind of forced moment aimed at clawing back relevance. Yet instead of sparking laughs, it paints Schaub as out of touch, stuck in a tired formula of locker-room humor and manufactured outrage. In a world where tennis champions like Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal are global icons, Schaub’s attempt to brand tennis as a
gay sport for rich white kids
feels not just lazy but dated.
