Changing his tune, or just clearing things up?
As with everything surrounding the breakup between country music superstar Zach Bryan and Barstool Sports personality Brianna Chickenfry, the story behind UFC fighter David Onama’s shoutout to the country singer over the weekend has gotten messy.
Things got awkward this past weekend when Brianna attended UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden. Onama scored a win over Roberto Romero by unanimous decision in the lightweight class. And during his octagon interview with Joe Rogan after the fight, he appeared to reveal that he was a fan of Zach Bryan:
“I want to come back here next month to watch the – what’s the – Zach Bryan concert, so I’ll be here for that.”
Well obviously the cameraman knew that Brianna was in the audience, and quickly found her looking less than amused at the shoutout to her ex-boyfriend in the midst of their messy breakup.
That cameraman is a legend.
🎥: Keatreed (TikTok) pic.twitter.com/O3ggroNQ8F
— Whiskey Riff (@WhiskeyRiff) November 18, 2024
But today, Onama said he’s not actually a fan of Zach Bryan – and was simply asked by the singer’s team for the shoutout.
During an interview on SiriusXM’s Fight Nation, the fighter laughingly explained his mention of Zach Bryan:
“My manager called…’Hey, Zach Bryan is here, and he wants you to give him a shoutout.’ To be honest I didn’t know who Zach Bryan was.”
The hosts joked that the whole thing was like a “paid advertisement” for Zach, and the fighter confirmed:
“Exactly. That’s literally what it was.”
Naturally that set the internet on fire, including Barstool Sports founder and CEO Dave Portnoy, who quickly took to social media to accuse Zach of paying for a shoutout just to harass Brianna.
@stoolpresidente Zach Bryan begged a UFC fighter for a shoutout to make @Brianna LaPaglia ♬ original sound – Dave Portnoy
But after the clip began going viral, Onama took to social media himself to clarify how the Zach Bryan shoutout came about.
In a post, the fighter says that he was offered comp tickets to Zach’s upcoming tour stop by the promoter in exchange for the shoutout:
“Hey guys, feel like this is getting blown out of proportion.
A promoter offered me comp tickets to one of Zach Bryan’s concerts if I made a shout out for his upcoming stadium shows.
I did it because my teammates love Zach and Zach has always taken care of them when he played in Denver.
Zach did not reach out to me at all about this. Was simply supporting someone who always supported my team.”
— David A. Onama (@DavidOnama145) November 20, 2024
I mean, is that really any different than what he said the first time? I guess you can argue the difference between a promoter and a member of Zach’s team…but he basically admitted that somebody asked him to give Zach a shoutout during his interview?
Either way, with everything going on between Zach and Brianna, it’s no surprise that anything involving the two ends up under a microscope right now. And I’m sure Onama had no idea about everything that was going on – because I’m sure he would have rather not found himself in the middle of it.
