Bellator heavyweight Brett Rogers likes to hit people. In the right circumstances, we cheer him for his ability to do others bodily harm, coming out of our chairs en masse to prod him into further displays of excess.
The violence in the cage has a cartoon tint to it, a surreal quality that makes it easy to dismiss. Rogers, when he’s fighting on television, is Tom. Opponents like former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski are Jerry. When he pounds Jerry with a wild right hand, it’s our cue to smile.
Multiple punches to the face? A missing tooth? A stranglehold? A golf-ball-sized lump over the left eyebrow? Just another day at the office for a heavyweight MMA fighter like Brett Rogers.
Unfortunately, sometimes Rogers likes to take his work home with him.
It’s easy to forget that MMA fighters are scary, scary people. Most of them harness their energies and pose no threat to anyone outside the cage. Most will never strike another person in anger. They live peaceful home lives with spouses and children, kids who aren’t afraid to come home at night.
That hasn’t always been the case for the Rogers family, who unfortunately saw violence seep out of the realm of entertainment, from our living room into Rogers’ own. There weren’t thousands watching when Rogers pounded the crap out of his wife, T.R., on June 29, 2011. But his two young children, 9- and 10-year-old girls, had front-row seats.
They were forced to watch Rogers punch their mother in the face multiple times. To hear her desperate pleas as he strangled her. The 6’4″, 260-pound fighter knocked his wife out cold. When she was found wandering the streets after midnight, there were giant lumps on her face and a missing tooth that told the tale.
Like many victims of domestic abuse, T.R. pled with police not to arrest her husband. It would, she feared, cause him “trouble with his job.“
It did. Dana White announced immediately that Rogers had been cut from his Strikeforce contract. The despicable nature of the crime seemed certain to guarantee Rogers would never set foot on mainstream television again. His days in the spotlight appeared to be over.
Enter Bellator and President Bjorn Rebney.
Rebney, seemingly, is untroubled by reports that Rogers struck and choked his own children. That he beat his wife into a stupor. That he is as repugnant as human beings come.
Bjorn Rebney needs fighters for his promotion, men and women who might strike a chord with fight fans. Brett Rogers has a name, of sorts. So, on Friday night, Brett Rogers will enter the cage for Bellator on MTV 2.
Viacom, Rebney and any fan who tunes in ought to be ashamed of themselves.
There is a long history of sports fans embracing athletes who have done remarkably awful things. Mike Tyson and Mike Vick come immediately to mind. But those were athletes at the top of their respective sports. Winning solves many problems, for better or worse, and those men had the kind of athletic prowess that commands attention.
What makes the Rogers situation so grim is that he isn’t even a top fighter. He’s only won two of his last seven bouts. If he’s sold a single ticket to Bellator‘s event this week, it will be his first.
There was no reason for Rebney to force Rogers on the public. He doesn’t deserve it, morally or athletically.
I won’t be watching. I hope you send Bellator a message, too. Together, with the power of our remote controls, we can force Brett Rogers back to the margins—where he belongs.
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