Penick's Take
PENICK: Following latest backlash for NFL's Ray Rice, UFC must examine re-signing Thiago Silva
Sep 8, 2014 - 2:00:56 PM PENICK: Following latest backlash for NFL's Ray Rice, UFC must examine re-signing Thiago Silva

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The UFC's decision to bring back Thiago Silva, especially Dana White's reasoning behind it, should be coming into question even further today, following what the NFL is facing with their initial handling of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice.

Earlier this year, video surfaced of Rice dragging his unconscious then-fiancee out of a hotel elevator, with word that there was video from inside of the elevator showing exactly what happened.

At the very least, the NFL and the Ravens had a description of what said video could show, and yet Rice was suspended just two games by Commissioner Roger Goodell. Further, the Ravens organization came out in support of Rice despite having the details of the video, if not the video itself. That led to a massive uproar that eventually caused Goodell to admit his initial punishment was wrong, and to change the NFL's policy on domestic assault cases moving forward.

On Monday, the other shoe dropped, as the video from inside the elevator was posted, showing Rice throwing a punch, then another as his fiancee reacted. That second punch sent her into the railing in the elevator and knocked her unconscious, at which point he callously tried to drag her out of the elevator, which is the scene witnessed earlier in the year.

In response, the Ravens have now released Rice from his contract, and the NFL may bring further punishment than the current two-game suspension. Plenty of questions remain as to why more wasn't done beforehand, but they're now making amends after the fact.

Contrast that to the Thiago Silva situation. The UFC made the right call after the SWAT Team standoff Silva had, especially given the disturbing details given in the police report. They released him, and said he'd never be brought back in.

Whereas Rice was not pursued by law enforcement for the incident at first, Silva had charges dropped because the victim fled the country. Rice's fiancee became his wife, and in a sad display made a public statement expressing "regret" at "her part" in the situation, when it was clear that Rice's actions were far from warranted. So in both situations, the lack of charges or prosecution was not an absolution from guilt.

Now that the UFC has brought Silva back, he's claimed in an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour that his estranged wife lied about everything, and that people will "forget" because "they always do."

Dana White's decision to give him a clean slate as if nothing whatsoever happened is essentially Goodell giving Rice just two games out, then letting him come back into the fold. The only difference here is that there isn't video evidence to damn Silva.

The UFC made the wrong call bringing Silva back, and when juxtaposed with what's going on with Rice, it's going to reflect even more poorly against them.

Violent men expressing that violence against the women in their lives do not deserve to make a living in a violent competition. Being a professional athlete is not a right. Fighting for a living is not a right. It is a privilege that can and should be taken away when circumstances warrant. It was warranted when the UFC cut ties with him, but they've brought him back again in a move that is extremely backwards, and continues their hypocritical and inconsistent stance on domestic violence.

When news surfaced earlier this year of a past incident for undercard fighter Will Chope, just a day before he was scheduled to fight, the UFC cut him and didn't let him fight on that card. Meanwhile, Abel Trujillo, a lightweight who has plead guilty on multiple occasions to charges of assault against his wife. Those haven't been the only examples, either.

Regardless of that past hypocrisy, the UFC bringing Thiago Silva back in as if nothing at all happened this year is a mark against them and their judgment. With the biggest sport in the U.S. experiencing a similar situation, and facing the backlash of initially handling it wrong, the UFC can't expect to be immune to the same.

Silva says "People will forget. They always do." That shouldn't be the case here, and the UFC shouldn't be the ones to facilitate sweeping it under the rug.