Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: On Dana White, Miguel Torres, rape jokes, and hypocrisy
Dec 28, 2011 - 8:00:39 AM HYDEN BLOG: On Dana White, Miguel Torres, rape jokes, and hypocrisy

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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

I've recently written about Miguel Torres being released from the UFC due to some inappropriate tweets and the hypocrisy in Torres being released when Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans received slaps on the wrists for comments just as bad, if not worse.

For a refresher, Miguel Torres' tweet: "If a rape van was called a surprise van more women wouldn't mind going for rides in them"

Forrest Griffin's tweet: "Rape is the new missionary"

Rashad Evans' comments at UFC press conference promoting his fight against Phi Davis: "I bet you won't put your hands on me, I bet you'll be the first one to take a shot...I'm going to put those hands on you worse than that dude (ex-Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky) did them other kids at Penn State."

The Griffin tweet came first, on November 8. The Torres tweet came about a month later, on December 7. The Evans comments came on December 8.

Miguel and Forrest's tweets are pretty similar in my eyes, in terms of how offensive. Rashad's comments crossed the line because he's referring to actual people. There's faces to those names, the people involved in the Penn State scandal. It's not ok to joke about rape, but at least it's nebulous who Forrest and Miguel are referring to. It's a little thing, but it makes a difference.

Forrest and Rashad received slaps on the wrists while Miguel was released from the company. In what universe does that make sense? I don't care if Rashad made his comments in the heat of the moment, the fact remains that he said them. If you're going to release Miguel for his comments, you have to release Rashad. If you don't want to release Rashad, then you can't release Miguel. Forrest made the inappropriate comments first so he gets a bit of a pass, though he should be on zero tolerance for any future infractions.

However, something happened that changed the story. Before I discuss the Dana White tweet, a little perspective. Some guy on Twitter made a comment that "A Dana assisnation would be great." This was in reference to something he wanted for Christmas. A stupid comment, no doubt, one that brings into question your own sanity. This is what Dana tweeted back, on December 14:

"learn how spell dummy!! Assassination!!! The one you spelled must have been what happened to you in prison."

Dana tweeted this a week after releasing Miguel Torres for making his rape joke. The hypocrisy in this is astounding. You release a guy one week earlier for making a rape joke, then make one of your own?

Dana said that Forrest and Rashad had "good explanations" for their comments. I hope Dana gave a "good explanation" of his own when defending these comments. This is inexcusable. Full disclosure - I'm not personally offended by what Dana, Forrest, or Miguel tweeted. I don't like what Rashad said, but more than that I just think it's lame trashtalk.

I'm not offended by any of these comments, but I can certainly understand why others would be. My problem with all of this stems from the blatant hypocrisy involved here. Releasing Miguel while not even punishing Rashad or Forrest is unbelievably bad. Then for Dana to turn around and make a rape joke of his own is inexcusable.

Even if he hadn't released Miguel, which he never should have done anyway, it's bad form for the head of a company to make rape jokes. You don't see Roger Goodell from the NFL or David Stern from the NBA doing stupid stuff like that. How many other heads of companies do you see making dumb decisions like Dana did? If the UFC wants to enter the big leagues, they need to act big league.

You can't have one set of rules for your friends and another set for everyone else. You also can't make comments like Dana did, but if you do, you have to get out in front of it and make things right.

The best thing Dana could do right now would be to re-hire Miguel Torres. Dana just learned himself how easy it is to make a bad comment on Twitter. As the head of the company you have to set a better example, you have to hold yourself to a higher standard. It's not fair that Miguel got released for making a bad joke when the head of the company makes a similar joke with no repercussions.


Comments and suggestions can be e-mailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com