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Cape Town - South African fighter Danie ‘Pitbull’ van Heerden has apologised to the Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) and his opponent for his alleged racist comments ahead of their EFC 54 Sun City clash.
Van Heerden posted an image comparing his Zimbabwean opponent, Elvis Moyo, to an ape and joked about their similarities.
Moyo took offence and posted a screen grab of Van Heerden’s Facebook post with a lengthy comment mentioning that he doesn't know if this is “even smack talk or blatant racism?”
Moyo said that Van Heerden did exactly what Penny Sparrow did when she went on a Facebook rant and labelled black people ‘monkeys’.
In June, she was ordered to pay R150 000 to the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation for her discriminating comments.
“This is exactly #pennysparow did to us black people. This is not a champion; this is a racist Afrikaans man from Meyerton and sees all blacks as monkeys.”
Moyo continued saying that he doesn't want to fight the 28-year-old from Vereeniging and wanted the EFC to relinquish 'Pitbull' of his title and donate all his winnings to a zoo or an orphanage.
South African comedian and TV host Siv Ngesi was also taken aback and said that the EFC should ban the heavyweight champion and that he should be fined or suspended.
After all the backlash received, Van Heerden posted an apology on his Facebook page saying he got caught up in the hype of the fight and apologised to Moyo and anyone who was offended by his comments.
Moyo's coach Gert Strydom accepted van Heerden's apology and said there will be "no hard feelings (when) we see you in the cage."
The EFC 54 clash is scheduled for Saturday, October 15 at Sun City.
@iamSivN What do you think of this? pic.twitter.com/Hi6GrWYIyY
— Demarte Pena (@thewolfpena) September 15, 2016
Wow! I say he should be fined and suspended! This beautiful sport has no time for such kak! https://t.co/pNz99Lh8nT
— Siv Ngesi (@iamSivN) September 15, 2016
