Professional athletes may be rich, famous, and often privileged, but that still doesn’t mean that they have the right to say whatever they want. In separate instances, the UFC has come down with force on two stars of mixed martial arts for letting things slip from their mouths, or fingers, as it were. Former champions Rashad Evans and Miguel Torres have both felt the stinging glare of UFC President Dana White, with Torres receiving the worse punishment.
Let’s start with Evans first. In a report from MMA Fighting’s Ben Fowlkes, it was revealed that White did not find any humor in the trash talking comments that Evans directed at his next opponent Phil Davis. Davis is an alum of Penn State, which is mired in the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal. During the press conference it was this statement from Evans that has placed the former TUF season two winner in hot water:
“I guarantee you’ll be the first one to take a shot cause I’m going to put my hands on you worse than that dude did them kids at Penn State.”
For those of you who may not know, former assistant coach Sandusky has been accused of multiple acts of child sexual abuse. The toxic nature of the situation even forced the legend and nearly untouchable Joe Paterno out of his job. The serious nature of the situation is beyond the joking point, and Evans’ comments were neither funny nor smart.
White hasn’t stated whether or not a fine will follow, but I expect Evans to release a statement of apology and make a donation towards an organization that supports abused children. This is the path to redemption for any athlete who inserts his or her foot into his or her mouth.
Torres, on the other hand, will not have to worry about a fine, because he will have to look for employment instead. Known for his over the top comments on Twitter, it was just a matter of time before Torres said something that went too far. The statement that walked up to the line and then jumped over it is as follows:
“If a rape van was called a surprise van, more women wouldn’t mind going for rides in them. Everyone likes surprises.”
With that Torres found himself on the wrong end of a pink slip. While I believe he will not have any problem finding work in another promotion, it is still shocking to see him jettisoned in such a way.
You can expect that both of these situations will be compared to Forrest Griffin’s comments about rape a few months back. Tweeting that “rape is the new missionary” placed Griffin in the same position, as many individuals did not appreciate his comments. White came to his defense, saying that “Forrest is a mess now about this whole thing” and further defended his former champion. Being an individual who has faced the same type of scrutiny for letting words fly, he must have been sympathetic towards Griffin at the time. However, he will have to face questions as to why Griffin was not handled in the same way as Evans and Torres being that his comments were just as negative and disrepectful.
I’m not going to question why he didn’t treat all three fighters the same way, but one thing is for sure. Even though today’s social media and fast talking age supports saying what you want, whenever you want, the line between what is acceptable and unacceptable still exists. Joking about child abuse, rape or racism in any way is going to cost you. We have seen it across all forms of entertainment, from sports to television. Now the UFC, which once tended towards the “liberal” end of self expression, is now coming down on its employees for stepping across that line.
