The media has largely covered the subsequent arrest of miss Arianny Celeste (legally named Arianny Lopez) following a domestic violence report. I would bet money that every MMA viewer has already been exposed to this ‘news’, but just in case, here’s a quick recap:
On May 26, 2012, UFC octagon girl Arianny Celeste was arrested early in the morning in Las Vegas, after hotel managers called the police following a fight between Celeste and her boyfriend, Praveen Chandra. While Celeste claims that Chandra was trying to choke her, Chandra claims that the alleged fight occurred vice versa, as common with most domestic violence cases, stating that Celeste kicked him and was throwing objects at him. Celeste made her $3,000 bail the same day, just in time to catch the tail end of UFC 146. Following the news, Dana White stated, “Arianny is our baby. She has been with us for over five years. She is a good girl and an amazing ambassador for UFC. I don’t know all the details of what happened but we have her back and support her 100 percent.” Celeste and Chandra were both due for court yesterday, June 1, 2012.
However, the court date has been pushed back.
Celeste pleaded her case to the justice of the peace, stating that the attack was completely self defense. Prosecutors are looking into her accusations, and she will be expected in court on July 2nd (don’t worry, there are no UFC events scheduled for that day, so fans won’t have to miss their favorite octagon girl in action).
The expected verdict: with most ‘he said-she said’ cases involving domestic violence, without incriminating evidence on either party, juries tend to side with the female. What it boils down to is that they both blame the other, and have subsequent stories and scratch marks to match. So who do you choose to believe? Arianny Celeste, of course. Not only is she gorgeous and famous, but fans absolutely adore her, as well as executives in the UFC. If she cries assault, most people will believe her over her previously unknown boyfriend. Even though she is an avid pursuer of mixed martial arts herself, she is just a tiny girl, who is portrayed as not having a chance against a male attacker. Whether or not this is the case, it doesn’t really matter. No one wants to see Celeste with a guilty verdict. And honestly, no one will care if another domestic violence case gives the male victim another guilty verdict.
The other matter on the minds of fans is whether or not she will see repercussions from the UFC. While White stated that the UFC will fully support her, we will see if this holds true. The way I see it, she simply avoided two submissions and finished with a leg kick to her opponent’s face. Moral of the story: Don’t get into physical altercations with girls. Especially not gorgeous, famous supermodels with extensive fan bases and support systems who also happen to pursue mixed martial arts. Just a tip. Nevertheless, we’ll be hearing a decision from the judges’ scorecards sooner than later. We can only hope that the biased mentality towards women will hold true once again.
By Emily Kapala