Filed under: UFC
It’s been a whirlwind 24 hours for Miguel Torres, the former bantamweight champion of the world who suddenly lost his job in the UFC after posting bizarre messages on Twitter that appeared to make light of rape. On Friday Torres posted a message on his personal web site apologizing and saying he hopes to get a second chance.
“I have a lot to be thankful for in my life, I have my beautiful wife and daughter, my family, my health, my gym, and in terms of my career, I succeeded to the biggest stage in the sport of mixed martial arts, the Ultimate Fighting Championship,” Torres wrote. “I am very sorry for upsetting my bosses at the UFC, and also to my fans and everyone else who was upset by the language in my tweets. I understand it was wrong, and I meant no harm or disrespect. Given the chance, I will do whatever it takes to make things right. I am going to learn from this. I think life throws you opportunities that can make you a better person, and so that’s what I’m going to do here. That is how I am going to react. I am going to use this to improve myself, and I hope that my fans will continue to support me.”
The apology from Torres did not include any explanation for what motivated his tweets, although the tweet that garnered the most attention was a reference to the ribald television show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
In that tweet, Torres wrote, “If a rape van was called a surprise van more women wouldn’t mind going for rides in them. Everyone like surprises.” It apparently didn’t dawn on Torres that on Twitter, he wasn’t just having a private conversation with a fellow fan of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. He was broadcasting to the 50,000 or so people who follow him, not to mention the tens of thousands more who saw his tweet elsewhere. Torres offered no context for that “joke” and the majority of the people who read his tweet had no idea why he would tweet such a message.
That included UFC President Dana White, who found out about the tweet during a media interview and reacted swiftly by cutting Torres from the UFC’s roster. That rash decision by White has in turn been criticized by some who said that White overreacted, and by many who have noted that the UFC inconsistently applies its standards about what’s suitable for public discourse and what isn’t.
What’s unclear now is whether Torres’s apology will get him back into the UFC’s good graces, or whether his social media lapse in judgment will require him to find another promotion if he wants to keep making a living as an MMA fighter.