The testosterone-soaked world of MMA is not exactly at the vanguard when it comes to accepting alternative lifestyles. At least, if a few outspoken fighters are any indication.
The latest to chime in is Josh Thomson, the former Strikeforce lightweight champion and recent addition to the UFC roster. On Wednesday, Thomson (20-5-1, 3-1 UFC) used his Twitter account to share his opinions on gay marriage, comparing the practice—apparently unfavorably—with polygamy.
Should you be allowed to marry whoever you want? Before you answer that, should u be allowed to have more than 1 wife?
— Josh Thomson (@THEREALPUNK) June 11, 2013
@dhank2525 why only one wife? Your stopping those people from being happy but not stopping others who wanna marry whoever?
— Josh Thomson (@THEREALPUNK) June 11, 2013
Also, on Monday, Thomson on his Facebook page compared gay marriage to incest and pedophilia, among other things (h/t Bloody Elbow):
Should siblings be allowed to marry siblings? My point is, where do you draw the line? I personally don’t care who you marry but I also am smart enough to know that it opens a gateway to men/women trying to marry young kids, siblings marrying eachother and people having multiple husbands an wives…Equality doesn’t stop with gay marriage, it just starts with it. Blacks an whites getting married is nothing like this. So your okay with R. Kelly trying To marry lil girls? People trying to marry their brother or sister? Animals? Etc? Those people want the same exact thing, to be happy. Are you gonna tell them no?
The Thomson tweets come not long after popular lightweight Nathan Diaz—who, interestingly, Thomson knocked out with a head kick in April in his return to the UFC Octagon—was suspended indefinitely by the UFC after he tweeted a gay slur. Diaz’s manager defended the fighter, saying Diaz didn’t use the term in an anti-gay context.
Earlier this spring, UFC heavyweight Matt Mitrione was suspended for two weeks after his rant on The MMA Hour broadcast about transgendered fighter Fallon Fox.
Thomson, 34, returned to the UFC April 20 after a six-year stint with Strikeforce, which folded earlier this year. His knockout of Diaz at UFC on Fox 7 earned him Knockout of the Night honors and status as a lightweight to watch in the stacked division.
On the heels of the Mitrione incident, the UFC released a fighter code of conduct, which states that “discipline may be imposed” if it is determined that a fighter engaged in “derogatory or offensive conduct…about a person’s ethnic background, heritage, color, race, national origin, age, religion, disability, gender or sexual orientation.”
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com