An MMA fighter has come under fire for taking a selfie video with his opponent just moments after knocking him out.
American Kam Arnold faced off against Seth Basler in the co-main event at regional promotion ‘NEF 60: OPEN SEASON’ in Bangor, Maine over the weekend.
Arnold, a batamweight with a 5-1 MMA record, moved to 3-0 in 2024 with a perfectly timed left hook that found a home on the chin of Basler.
The looping left hand sent Basler crashing to the canvas, ending the contest with just over three and a half minutes to go in the third round.
Arnold immediately started celebrating and asked for a mobile phone to be thrown to him from someone standing cageside.
The bantamweight caught the phone and immediately recorded a selfie video with his dazed opponent stumbling around in the background.
Arnold carried on gloating and gestured as if tears were streaming down his face.
“Don’t f*** with me baby,” he yelled into the camera.
Fight fans caught wind of Arnold’s antics and blasted it as ‘classless’ and ‘disrespectful’.
“That’s pretty classless,” one fan posted on X.
‘That’s next-level disrespect. Taking a selfie after the KO? Wild!’ replied another.
“Deserves to be KO’d in his next one,” added a third.
“That’s crazy,” a fourth replied.
Arnold followed up by posting a photo of himself with Basler, who appeared to be on crutches, to social media.
He thanked his opponent for taking the bout and ‘pushing him to be his best’.
“Thank you for pushing me, to be the best me this camp and to top it all off you’re not just tough as nails but you didn’t lie when you said you have no quit or that your heart is infinite,” he wrote on Instagram.
“Every time we had an exchange you’d tap yourself on the chin and say yup and smile.
“We had a war tonight and I’m glad I Could share that moment with you, you’re a great man and I can see that, have a safe flight brother.”
Arnold addressed many of the critics condemning him for taunting his downed opponent.
“Imagine what one video will do, you have guys in the ufc crying, then you have folks who were there and understood what had happened last night,” he posted on IG.
“Be marketable, create content. Don’t be a b****.”
It comes after a similar incident occurred in the UFC last year.
Ailin Perez celebrated her victory over Darya Zheleznyakova in the women’s bantamweight division by twerking in her face.
The Argentine fighter won by submission in the first round of their bout at UFC Paris.
After Zheleznyakova tapped out, Perez rubbed salt in the wound by twerking in the direction of her adversary, and continued to do so after Zheleznyakova got back to her feet.
OnlyFans star Perez also did her signature move for the fans after her win against Joselyne Edwards at UFC 302 earlier this year.
She has twerked during weigh-ins for previous bouts, while men’s bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili was filmed slapping her bottom while she twerked ahead of the Paris event.
