Miguel Torres Has Been Fired by the UFC for his Inappropriate Joke
by Cory Braiterman on Dec 8, 2011 9:17 PM EST
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When I posted a video a while ago showing Miguel Torres winning a grappling tournament, I closed with the line "Check back in to HKL for more Torres stuff in the coming days." Who knew that this was going to be such a recurring theme?
Miguel's strange/quirky/blunt/abrasive sense of humor has just cost him his job with the UFC. His joke was actually possibly the only one of the trifecta of his/Forrest Griffin's/Rashad Evans' that was actually remotely funny (unlike Forrest's or Rashad's), but the fact that he wasn't a star with the company is the probable reason that the UFC decided to make an example of him. It is also worth nothing that Joe Rogan also just had his own nonsense where he said he was all for statutory rape. It is ALSO worth noting that Dana White has said a bunch of other stupid stuff before, most notably making a youtube video in which he called MMA reporter Loretta Hunt a stupid cunt. Or that other time he called some people faggots.
I'm assuming that Miguel is basically the least known of the group, so Dana took it out on him, rather than himself, Forrest or Evans - the last two he immediately forgave. Personally, as evidenced by the interview conducted just recently, I'm a fan, so I hope he hits the ground running in Bellator and plows through everyone there en route to some nice money and a fancy belt.
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People seem to ignore that Forrest was pissy like this afterward, too. I’m sure Miguel would play nice if Dana called him.
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by mountaineers101 on Dec 8, 2011 10:00 PM EST reply actions
Pretty dissapointed that the UFC chose to make an example out of him, but not the many others you pointed out.
I’m not defending the joke, it was a poor choice in poor taste, but to be fired? From a company like the UFC/Zuffa? And so close in time to many of the other examples? It just seems like they wanted him gone and he gave them reason.
Why do you think his was the only one that was “remotely funny”? Everyone seemed to laugh at Rashads joke at the presser (even Dana was laughing but then told Helwani he could hear it) and Torres deleted this tweet pretty fast.
by DetroitDrew1980 on Dec 8, 2011 11:21 PM EST reply actions
Repeat steroid offender?
cool.
Plead guilty to a felony?
cool.
Start a fight in the hospital after an event?
cool.
Ram someone with your monster truck while you’re on an “energy drink” bender?
cool.
4th person in a month to make a rape joke?
fired.
The artful muppet formerly known as KrmtDfrog.
Please read my sardonic wit and over-blown sense of self over at headkicklegend.com
by Cory Braiterman on Dec 8, 2011 11:33 PM EST up reply actions
Also I thought Rashad's was poor taste
and not funny, but that’s me. I’m also not crucifying any of the 4. They just need to stop making rape jokes, they almost never end up well.
The artful muppet formerly known as KrmtDfrog.
Please read my sardonic wit and over-blown sense of self over at headkicklegend.com
by Cory Braiterman on Dec 8, 2011 11:34 PM EST up reply actions
Can you imagine if Rashads kid wasn't acting up and he had made that joke with him on his lap?
This whole thing just stinks, I just watched the 2nd helwani/dana interview and he talks about Griffin and Evans have reasonable excuses, but he didn’t even talk to Torres and doesn’t plan to, just said someone from his company did and Torres saying “it was a joke” made it worse.
by DetroitDrew1980 on Dec 9, 2011 12:17 AM EST up reply actions
Torres is pretty insufferable as a "comedian" but this is too far
Certainly it’s within the UFC’s right to terminate him, but I think a fine would have been much more appropriate. I can’t help but think that after the Rashad and Forrest stuff, Dana was just at his wits’ end and basically blew up.
I guess, at the same time, though, Torres should have looked back on those situations and realized that that kind of stuff is verboten. He pushed his luck during a time that the UFC was already doing damage control, and this is what he gets. Hopefully he can make his way back.
SquishingMachine
I don’t blame Dana one bit for his decision. I just hope he follows through when the next fighter inevitably says something moronic and shitcans them too.
penis head kick me...
by Earl Montclair on Dec 9, 2011 12:41 AM EST up reply actions
if he'd fired forrest and rashad and rogan
I wouldn’t be nearly as pissed. Also he’s made films of himself calling people faggots and cunts and fired someone over a bad joke.
The artful muppet formerly known as KrmtDfrog.
Please read my sardonic wit and over-blown sense of self over at headkicklegend.com
by Cory Braiterman on Dec 9, 2011 12:43 AM EST up reply actions
You have to draw a line at some point
he should have done it earlier, but better late than never.
penis head kick me...
by Earl Montclair on Dec 9, 2011 12:46 AM EST up reply actions
While we're at it
In what other sport has a competitor been fired for an offensive tweet?
The artful muppet formerly known as KrmtDfrog.
Please read my sardonic wit and over-blown sense of self over at headkicklegend.com
by Cory Braiterman on Dec 9, 2011 1:20 AM EST up reply actions
I think "an offensive tweet" is over simplfying it
Miguel got fired for failing to learn from other’s mistakes. He is also being made an example of. Dana gave his fighters chances to straighten up their act and Miguel didn’t do it. We can sit all day and bitch about why this hasn’t been done to the other fighters but the line has been drawn now. Believe me, the next person who blows it and doesn’t get fired will be a total bullshit situation.
penis head kick me...
by Earl Montclair on Dec 9, 2011 2:08 AM EST up reply actions
this is just dumb
I’m sorry, but no. Athletes in other sports have done and said far worse. They get fined, possibly suspended. None get fired. This is so far above and beyond what many consider to be an over-reaction that I can’t adequately describe it.
“I told Miguel I’m fining him 10% of his next fight purse and we’re going to publicly donate it to a rape crisis center.”
You better believe people would get the message and he’d still have his job.
Also RASHAD EVANS’ LINE HAPPENED AFTER THE TWEET. JACK SHIT HAPPENS TO RASHAD AND TORRES LOSES HIS JOB? gtfo
The artful muppet formerly known as KrmtDfrog.
Please read my sardonic wit and over-blown sense of self over at headkicklegend.com
by Cory Braiterman on Dec 9, 2011 8:32 AM EST up reply actions
I think you have a good point
Dana moving to fire Torres for this doesn’t really line up with the way he’s chosen to deal with this in the past.
Yet I don’t mind because I think that this has been a long time coming.
Combat sports are always going to be working at a bit of a disadvantage in terms of garnering mainstream attention because of the level of violence involved. Many people dismiss the UFC and it’s fighters outright simply because of this. As such, I think the UFC and it’s fighters need to maintain a higher standard of conduct than the rest of society. Kind of like Samurai.
Part of this is keeping the locker room type banter off twitter.
All these, uh, dealmakers making deals. Ya know, I don't, all I know is I'm ready to fight so, ya know, I'm sorry I didn't make it to the beauty pageant.
I think it's all about context.
With everything going on in the country, Torres’s timing is pretty awful here. On top of that, the UFC had to come down on two other fighters already. With that in mind, the whole thing comes off as especially insolent. Torres should have seen the writing on the wall, but instead he decided to push things with an already strung-out employer.
SquishingMachine
and how does the same person
who filmed himself etc be the one to draw the line?
The artful muppet formerly known as KrmtDfrog.
Please read my sardonic wit and over-blown sense of self over at headkicklegend.com
by Cory Braiterman on Dec 9, 2011 1:22 AM EST up reply actions
Weird, I've never seen Torres' Twitter account.
Now I’m almost afraid to go look.
Isn’t it about time the UFC had an official document on what fighters can/can’t say on Twitter?
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by McKinley B. Noble on Dec 9, 2011 1:39 AM EST reply actions
They might, actually.
If I recall, the last fighter summit had a whole afternoon devoted to public relations, and there was this big thing about how every fighter would have a twitter account with financial incentives and all that. One might guess that a handout was, uh, handed out. Even if they didn’t though, I think it’s implied that a UFC-affiliated twitter account probably shouldn’t have rape jokes in it.
As for the account itself, it’s pretty awful. Torres tries so hard to be funny, and it’s so off-putting. It’s bizarre.
SquishingMachine
yes i agree
its not a nice or fun account. Some people who like pretty and even more bizarre jokes try to defend Torres saying woooo so why these things not funny and stuff like that.
What is stranger to me, that in one of the articles i have actually read more than 2 days ago, saying sg. like Torres finds rape hilarious or stuff like that which already seemed strange with me. As for Rashad it could me meant as a prefight joke or something blatant and for Griffin, the guy is rude but yes he is a star. I think though he was whining and crying to Dana being so lucky to have the ability to contact him.
Torres is a strange guy. Really strange. The things happenned automatically bring up another question: who is the brick that reports? All fighters then have one brick whose task is to non stop look at the screen right? Is it that talentless reporter guy who i think is the cousin of Dana being pushed so heavily with all tools possible ( i wont say names you guess and its all IMO anyways) ? :D
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