Brett Rogers
Heavyweight fighter Brett ‘Da Grim’ Rogers (11-4, 1NC) is ready to start a new chapter in his life after a year he’s defined as “hell” following jail time for domestic assault for an incident involving his spouse and his subsequent dismissal from Strikeforce.
‘Da Grim’ will look to begin that chapter tonight in his debut bout with Bellator Fighting Championships in the promotions opener for the 2012 Summer Series. Rogers, who enters the bout on a record of 0-2 and 1NC over his last three matches, faces a tough opponent in 15-1 Kevin Asplund on the main card in Chester, West Virginia.
Fans will get a chance to see Rogers fight on television at MTV2 or on the web at Spike.com.
Rogers spoke to MiddleEasy.com to talk about the events leading up to the assault incident, offering a heart felt explanation of what happened, as well as his ambitions towards Bellator champ Cole Konrad and the heavyweight title, but you’ll have to hit the link to read that.
“That day [long pause], after the fight with Barnett, anytime after a fight we get together with family and friends and we were having a small get-together. We’re still new to the neighborhood out here, new to the suburbs and we were trying to get to know our neighbors. We have one neighbor that’s pretty loud and then another neighbor on the opposite end of us that’s the complete opposite, but real opinionated. She had a problem with my dog because her son came behind my house one day when we weren’t here and out of town, I warned the kid that yeah he’s a nice dog, but he still needs to be trained. He’s a three-year-old so you know it’s in one ear and right out the other but I told the mother and I had signs around my house that said ‘Be careful of the dog.’ He didn’t pay attention to it, so when he opened the gate, my dog did what he was supposed to do and protect the house and check out anybody that’s foreign to him. So the little guy came in my backyard, the dog tackled him I suppose, and nipped him by his nose. I don’t know if he nipped him or scratched him, but somehow the boy was hurt by my dog.
Of course he got to the hospital because my step-mom was around and she called the cops, the cops came out and did what they needed to do…take the dog. The mother [of the kid] had things to say to me, we tried to keep it real and adult-like because there’s no sense in being loud, she knew I was going to take care of it.
My wife approached her, lady to lady, saying ‘is there anything we can do to help?’ It turned out the little boy had stitches, four to six stitches on his face. She was real sensitive about it, and I understand it was a life or death situation, but she was like ‘F*** you’ even though we could have taken care of the medical costs. It could have gone a lot smoother, but she wanted to be stern, and that right there was pretty stressful. It was stressful in our house and we [my wife] were going back and forward, trying to figure things out. Keep in mind, my wife and I have been together…forever. We’ve been married for eight years, we’ve been together for a good eleven or twelve [years], so it was just normal arguing. Losing the Barnett fight, the stress from the dog incident, the aggressiveness of that day and week… [long pause]
So later that day, we had company, some drinks. The company was new to us, and it got to a point where the ladies were arguing back and forth about the dog situation. I got to the point where I needed to say everything I needed to say to the woman, and I couldn’t do or say anything else. It was whatever for me. My wife was still going back and forth with this woman trying to calm her down and figure out the situation and she wasn’t getting into what my wife was saying. She [the mother] was taking her frustrations out on her [Brett’s wife] and I was taking my frustrations out on her [his wife].
The law [police] came out and said that I said that I wanted to kill the woman [the mother of the kid], I know I talk a lot when I get angry…but that was all bullsh**. I told that to them, the entire story and how the woman was being irrational. My wife had my back on that one, and the cops left. Later that night I felt the party was over for me. I was drinking, I actually had a lot since it was after a fight. I’m not a drinker, but I will drink for a special occasion.
I was done with the scene that night, and then I was awakened by my wife and I’m taking all kinds of heat. I’m being yelled at, I’m being screamed at, doors are being slammed, a whole bunch of craziness is just going on. I didn’t understand why my wife was yelling at me and why we are all of a sudden ‘into it.’
I knew a lot of stuff was in the air, but at this point I was just beyond myself and mad. Furious. Pissed off. Whatever word you want to use. She’s cussing me out, I’m cussing her out and it got to the point where property was starting to get damaged. It was really loud, the neighbors were nervous and scared. A lot of that added up to the equation.
Me and my wife, we were just at a point in life…I just lost my [Strikeforce] contract, I didn’t know what I was going to do. My neighbors were getting on my nerves…my head was just all over the place. My wife was throwing plates and glasses at me…
We just miscommunicated…[Long pause]
It was a hellish moment. I feel bad for putting my hands on my wife because I am not that type of person, you can ask anybody that knows me. That’s just not in my character…but we all know that it happened and I’m still apologizing to this day. I feel really bad that my family had to go through this, we’re all going through this together and I could never say enough ‘sorrys’ to my wife and I’m going to continue to say ‘I’m sorry’ to her. This is the mother of my child, [tears up] this is the mother of my kids. I shouldn’t be this upset towards her. It happened, I put my hands on my wife and it’s just been horrible. Very horrible.
I did my time in jail, I’m on probation until the end of 2013 and I accomplished my anger management class. I passed my chemical dependency test. Now we’re getting along great, our communication is greater because of counseling, we’re still in counseling and we’re just living and learning like everyone else.
Sh** happens, but that sh** ain’t happening again.”