UFC 208's Jarred Brooks (sorta) denies using slur toward UFC 208 opponent Ian McCall

Veteran flyweight Ian McCall may be fighting UFC newcomer Jarred Brooks on tonight’s UFC 208 preliminary card, but the heat between the two is main card-worthy.

Brooks (12-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC), from Indiana, stepped in on short notice for Neil Seery, who had to bow out of a now twice-booked fight with McCall (13-5-1 MMA, 2-3-1 UFC) due to a death in the family. And right away, the back-and-forth between the two started on social media.

But earlier this week, McCall told MMAjunkie Radio, as well as MMAjunkie on site in Brooklyn, N.Y., that when Brooks saw him in the UFC’s offices at the host hotel, he called him a gay slur right out of the gate.

“(He) was the first person I saw (when I walked into the production office for UFC 208),” McCall told MMAjunkie Radio on Wednesday. “(He said), ‘What’s up f-g?’ I was like, ‘Excuse me? Watch your (expletive) mouth, dude.’ Then he got scolded by (UFC officials).”

McCall also told MMAjunkie in New York that Brooks had said things about his mother on Twitter.

But on Friday, Brooks told MMAjunkie Radio it didn’t go down that way. Well, not quite, anyway. Brooks’ denial came with a similar social faux pas attached, albeit perhaps a slightly lesser one.

“I listened to Ian McCall’s interview, and that dude is very verbatim,” Brooks said. “I didn’t even call him the f-word, what he said, and I did not say that about his mom. I think he just wanted to put it out there that I’m a bad guy because I was talking about him on Twitter and stuff like that. I wouldn’t say that about anybody’s mom. I put on Twitter something about his mom, but it wasn’t anything like that. … He said something about my mom too, and I ain’t trippin’ about it.

“When I walked past him, I said, ‘Hey, gay boy.’ I never called him the other word. He just took it completely out of context. I have been roasting him on Twitter, and it’s definitely gotten into his head. He’s definitely not in the right mind state, in my opinion.”

UFC 208 takes place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass. Brooks makes his UFC debut against McCall to open up the FS1-televised prelims starting at 8 p.m. ET.

Undefeated Brooks, 23, long has been lobbying for a shot at the UFC. In 2016, he went 5-0 with four stoppages, but it took Seery falling out for him to finally get the call.

Brooks said one of his best friends, and a frequent training partner, is UFC flyweight Justin Scoggins – who once was booked to fight McCall at UFC 201 this past July. But two days before the fight, Scoggins dropped out of the bout when he wasn’t going to make weight. It was the first of three straight fights that fell apart for McCall the week of the bout (the third was due to his own illness).

But McCall’s beef with Scoggins has added to Brooks’ dislike of him from the start, well before they were booked.

“He’s the guy in front of me, and he’s talked a lot of crap about one of my friends, Justin Scoggins,” Brooks said. “So I never really liked ‘Uncle Creepy.’ He’s definitely a really good fighter in the flyweight division, and he’s paved the way for a lot of flyweight fighters to get their name out there. But I see him as another name. I don’t see him as someone that I saw in 2012 fighting for a title.”

Brooks has been a pro for two-and-a-half years and has fought some opponents with solid experience. But McCall clearly will be the first opponent he’s been up against with elite competition on his resume. McCall has been in there against former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, current flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson and top contender Joseph Benavidez.

It’s also been more than nine years since the lone stoppage loss of his career, which was a submission setback to Charlie Valencia at WEC 31. But Brooks said he can put “Uncle Creepy” away.

“I’m going to try to finish him in the first or second round with a knockout, but if not, I’m going to submit him in the third,” Brooks said. “Ian McCall is a good opponent – you never know. But I’m confident in my skill set, and I think by the third round, he should be out.”

For more on UFC 208, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.