Last week, veteran fighter and broadcaster Frank Trigg was the subject of reports that implicated him in an alleged domestic abuse case with his wife, stemming from an incident that happened last October. According to the report, which originated on celebrity gossip website TheDirty.com, the abuse incident coupled with an affair with an HDNet co-worker led to Trigg’s ouster as a commentator for the cable channel.
The report from TheDirty.com claimed that he had been found guilty of domestic violence as a result of the incident. Trigg appeared on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, and while he declined to answer several questions due to a gag order around the divorce proceedings, he blasted the report and ensuing coverage around it.
“I’ve never been arrested, I’ve never been picked up, I’ve never been convicted of anything ever in my life other than a speeding ticket,” he said. “That’s the only thing I’ve ever been convicted of. That’s it. So I don’t know where this other stuff is coming from. I have no idea what’s going on, but I’ve never been charged with any crime ever in my life, ever, other than speeding and maybe a couple illegal parkings. “
Earlier on Monday, Trigg released a public statement through his media relations representative, which more directly denied the incident, calling it “completely false.”
On The MMA Hour, he said The Dirty report was “one-third of a story,” implying that important details were left out. He said his divorce was finalized just days prior to the report coming out, and that the two sides were waiting on final paperwork and a visitation agreement, among a few other things.
“There is a court order,” he said. “We’re not allowed to talk about each other publicly and she obviously breached it.”
The alleged incident did however cost Trigg his job with HDNet. Trigg said that when HDNet was nearing an agreement with Seacrest Media, AEG and Creative Artists Agency to rebrand the channel, there were internal concerns about how such an incident may be perceived.
“They were very nervous because of the affiliation that someone with a vendetta could make public statements about me that were untrue and inflammatory,” he said. “There’s nothing I could do about it, because once it’s on the internet, it’s on the internet. They couldn’t take the chance with a loose cannon being out there, and that’s exactly what happened. That’s 100 percent what happened. You can’t fault HDNet for trying to save their company and trying to expand their network and what they’re trying to do with their network by letting me go. They were scared of what was going to happen, and it happened.”
Meanwhile, Trigg says his career is effectively shut down for now. His broadcasting slate is empty, and although he doesn’t consider himself a retired fighter, he has nothing planned on that front, either.
While tending to his children, he’ll wait and hope for a break.
“I can say I want to do it all day long, but if you don’t hire me for three years, then I’m going to go be a waiter,” he said “If I sit around and wait a month, and I kind of put things together and then get a couple jobs, then I’m back in the game. So I have no idea. I can’t answer that, it’s out of my control.”