MMA star Fabricio Werdum recently found himself in the midst of an online uproar due to a translation blunder in a post featuring his daughter.
Attending the UFC Sao Paulo event with his family, the former UFC heavyweight champion took to Instagram to share a photo from the event, wishing his daughter a happy birthday in the caption:
“Feliz aniversario Neguinha! @juliawerdum”
However, the seemingly harmless caption triggered a storm online because of the automatic translation of the word “Neguinha.” While the automatic translation equates it to a racial slur, the actual meaning of the Portuguese word is “sweet girl.
Reacting to this translation mishap on Instagram, fans flooded the comment section with a mix of humor and bewilderment. Some of their reactions included:
“Mike Perry gave him the pass. It’s all good.”
“Instagram bout to pay for this sh*t”
“Translation did him dirty lmao”
“Nah Fabricio outta pocket for this one”
Werdum’s journey in the UFC came to an end in 2020. Following a victory against Alexander Gustafsson, he chose not to renew his contract and instead signed with the PFL. His debut with the new promotion took place in May 2021 when he faced Renan Ferreira.
Although he lost via TKO in the first round, the decision was later overturned to a no-contest due to a controversy involving the referee missing Ferreira’s tap prior to the stoppage.
After the bout with Ferreira, Werdum took a two-year hiatus from MMA before returning to compete against former opponent Junior dos Santos in a bare-knuckle event under the GamebredFC promotion in September of the current year.
Their previous encounter dates back to 2008 when Werdum suffered a TKO loss. Eager to redeem himself, he faced dos Santos again but fell short in a split decision, with scores of 28-29, 30-27, and 30-27.