Rape is certainly no laughing matter.
Unfortunately, Miguel Torres had to learn the hard way. The former WEC bantamweight champion was released from the UFC on Thursday after “jokingly” posting a comment pertaining to rape on his Twitter.
“If a rape van was called a surprise van, more women wouldn’t mind going for rides in them. Everyone like surprises,” Torres posted.
Torres tried to rectify the situation by changing the word “rape” to “windowless,” but the damage had already been done.
UFC President Dana White made the decision to release the legendary bantamweight from his UFC contract.
“It wasn’t that I thought this was offensive. I thought it was absolutely ridiculous and stupid, and yeah, I’m sure offensive to many people,” White told Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com. “That’s not a funny joke to me. It’s just not something you tweet. If that’s your sense of humor, keep it at home around your buddies and yourself.”
While Torres is the only fighter to be fired after making such comments, former light heavyweight champions Rashad Evans and Forrest Griffin have also come under heat for making light of rape.
At a pre-fight press conference for UFC on Fox 2, Evans went for the juggler in a heated exchange with rising light heavyweight Phil Davis, an alumni of Penn State.
“I guarantee you’re going to be the first one to take a shot because I’m going to put those hands on you worse than that dude did to them other kids at Penn State,” Evans stated.
In November, a controversial comment posted on Twitter left Griffin in hot water as well.
“Rape is the new missionary,” posted Griffin.
With similar instances involving major UFC superstars, why was Torres the only fighter released? Is there some form of meter that determines what comments are more offensive?
“We don’t come out in the UFC with these canned statements that are written by our lawyers. We handle everything on a case by case basis with the idea that people are gonna make mistakes, and it’s how you handle yourself after you make a mistake,” said White.
Griffin’s comment pertained to the media’s obsession with a plethora of rape incidents including the case of Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant coach at Penn State charged with child molestation.
In Evans’ case, his comments were directed at Davis, an upcoming opponent with a connection to Penn State.
Torres’ tweet came out of left field, and so far, his only explanation is that the comment was meant as a joke. It was certainly an outlandish comment that deserved some form of discipline, but did Torres deserve to lose his job?
The MMA community has lit up over the past 24 hours with passionate fans lashing out at the UFC and concocting petitions to bring back Torres. Despite the pleas of fans, White isn’t budging in his stance. The UFC has always done business a certain way, and a few petitions won’t change White’s business philosophy.
“I don’t give a (expletive) what people think. I really don’t. If you haven’t figured that out in the last 10 years, then you’re pretty thick headed,” White said.
“The bottom line is nobody is going to persuade me, and nobody is going to pressure me into attacking my own guys and going after my guys because I feel like it’s what should be done. I’m going to handle this thing the way that I want to. I’m not going to be pressured by the media, by the fans or anybody else to go in and attack my guys when they make a mistake.”
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