The National Center On Domestic And Sexual Violence Is Against MMA In NY: Letter To NY Assembly

Earlier this week, Eddie Goldman, the man behind "No Holds Barred," posted a letter he received from the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence (NCDSV) organization. The letter was addressed to the New York State Assembly and it advocated that they retain the ban on mixed martial arts in New York.

The letter states:

"the UFC contributes to a culture of violence against women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Children, in particular, should not be exposed to the homophobic, misogynistic and violent language that has been permitted by the UFC."

NCDSV uses various quotes about women, rape and other hot-button topics from Dana White, Joe Rogan and various UFC fighters like Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin, Michael Bisping, Frank Mir, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira as evidence to their position.

While their rhetoric was hateful and uneducated, it seems that the NCDSV is also being hateful and uneducated. It seems that the NCDSV has aligned themselves with all of the other organizations that would like to keep MMA out of New York, like the NYS Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the NYS Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the Culinary Workers Union. The NCDSV has added nothing new to the argument that the Culinary Workers Union had placed months before.

Moreover, it is amateur on their part to quote a handful of fighters as their reason for keeping a sport out of New York. Where are quotes from hundreds of other MMA fighters? What about the MMA fighters that have said that MMA has saved their lives? What about female MMA fighters? What about homosexual MMA fighters? What about, what about, what about…

I can go on all day about how I think these organizations are wrong, what the fighters said was wrong and how legalizing MMA in New York will not cause an increase in hate crimes--has it in any of the other states MMA is legal in? What's your opinion on all this?

The full letter can be read after the jump.

Dear State Assembly Member:

We are writing you to raise concerns about renewed efforts by Zuffa LLC, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), to legalize cage fighting in the State of New York.

You are no doubt aware that the State of New York banned cage fighting in 1997. We urge you to continue to uphold the ban on cage fighting, given that the UFC, the largest promoter of cage fighting events in the U.S., has failed to demonstrate that it is willing to ensure its fighters behave in a socially responsible way, even as the company expressly markets its fights and fighters to children.

We believe that the UFC contributes to a culture of violence against women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Children, in particular, should not be exposed to the homophobic, misogynistic and violent language that has been permitted by the UFC.

Please see the following website, UFC = Unfit For Children (www.UnfitForChildren.org), for more information. Some examples of anti-gay and anti-women statements by people associated with the UFC include the following:

• In videos, UFC light heavyweight Quinton "Rampage" Jackson repeatedly urged Japanese fans to repeat an anti-gay slur.[1] The fans, who do not appear to understand English, repeated the anti-gay slur at Jackson’s urging. In one video, Jackson instructed a Japanese man to say, "Goodbye, I want you to piss on my face."[2]

• Recently, a UFC fighter taunted his opponent by threatening to act like former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who has been charged with 52 counts of molesting boys. UFC fighter Rashad Evans said, "Cause I’m gonna put those hands on you worse than that dude did them other kids at Penn State."[3]

• In November, UFC light heavyweight fighter Forrest Griffin joked about rape on Twitter. "Rape is the new missionary," Griffin tweeted. After a woman objected to the tweet, Griffin tweeted back, "Keep it to yourself nobody cares," according to the Huffington Post.[4]

• In an expletive-filled video rant posted on YouTube.com, UFC president Dana White used an anti-gay slur, saying, "Whoever gave you that quote is a [expletive] and a [expletive] faggot and a [expletive] liar and everything else."[5] He also uttered the "F" word a total of 34 times, the "S" word 4 times, and referred to a female sports journalist as a "[expletive] dumb bitch."[6]

• Joe Rogan, who does commentary for televised UFC events, recently used a homophobic slur while referring to a MMA blogger.[7] Rogan also to referred to an MMA blogger as a part of the female anatomy. According to sportswriter Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports, Rogan then wrote on a blog, "Never did I imagine that so many people would get their panties in a bunch about the use of the word [expletive] to describe a female blogger."[8]

• In a recent UFC promotional video, Michael Bisping, a UFC middleweight fighter and coach on the reality television show "The Ultimate Fighter," screamed an anti-gay slur at his opponent.[9] In addition, Bisping was quoted by ESPN saying of an opponent, "He broke rank for a moment, but other than that he was my bitch and he'll be my bitch on Saturday night."[10]

• In a radio interview last year, UFC heavyweight Frank Mir said of his opponent Brock Lesnar, "I hate who he is as a person. I want to break his neck in the ring. I want him to be the first person that dies due to Octagon-related injuries."[11]

• According to the Los Angeles Times, "Rampage" Jackson shouted "every conceivable gay slur" at a movie crew member of "The A-Team" who had called him a homophobic epithet.[12] He was also quoted in the article saying, "Acting is kind of gay. It makes you soft."

• In August, UFC heavyweight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was quoted saying that he would not train with gay students. He was quoted in USA Today saying, "What if the gay person has that malice of having physical contact with me, of staying there grappling? I would have no problems having a gay student in my academy, but I would rather not train with him."[13]

This kind of hateful rhetoric is not acceptable in America, where we are teaching our children to respect those who are different and where we are working to stop bullying in our schools and communities.

Remarkably, we have yet to find evidence that any of the UFC athletes identified in this letter have been disciplined by the UFC or its owner, Zuffa LLC. By contrast, other professional sports organizations have taken a hard stance against anti-gay conduct and have held athletes accountable through suspensions and/or fines when athletes have used homophobic epithets.[14]

In fact, UFC president Dana White recently dismissed concerns regarding homophobic speech by people associated with the organization. In an interview, White said, "I don’t deal with the holier-than-thou, uh, bullshit. I don’t. We do the best we can do."[15] He also said, "How do you really think that we can possibly police 375 fighters and try to control everything they say?"[16]

This month, a group of mothers and survivors of sexual assault in UFC’s home state of Nevada called on the UFC to stop tolerating offensive language and adopt an ethical code of conduct.[17] The UFC has not responded to their demand.

The UFC has yet to demonstrate to the public that they are capable of promoting socially responsible behavior by its fighters. As a result, we strongly encourage you to reject any legislation that would enable this company to hold cage fighting events in the State of New York.

Respectfully,

Deborah D. Tucker

Executive Director

cc: NCDSV Board of Directors

Michele McKeon, New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Joanne Zannoni, New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Stacey Sarver, WomensLaw.org

Chris Serres, Culinary Workers Union, Local 226

__________________________________

[1] http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshh2zhS44X4iE40BITU

2 Ibid.

3 Gross, Josh, "Evans’ Sandusky comment hits low note," Dec. 7, 2011, ESPN.com, http://espn.go.com/blog/mma/post/_/id/6893/evans-hits-low-note-with-sandusky-comment; YouTube video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84xtd-MeUPQ&feature=youtu.be

4 The Huffington Post, "Forrest Griffin Rape Jokes: MMA Fighter Sparks Controversy on Twitter," Nov. 9, 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/09/forrest-griffin-rape-jokes-twitter_n_1084471.html

5 YouTube video, http://www.youtube.com/embed/-Pq-1Rl-ggU

6 Ibid.

7 Clarke, Norm, "UFC, don’t tolerate vile Rogan remarks," June 6, 2011, Las Vegas-Review Journal, http://www.lvrj.com/news/ufc-don-t-tolerate-vile-rogan-remarks-123212728.html

8 Iole, Kevin, "UFC cannot condone sexual harassment," June 3, 2011, Yahoo! Sports, http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=ki-iole_ufc_sexual_harrassment_060311

9 YouTube video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbvKTpvsh3k&feature=player_embedded

10 ESPN staff, "Miller’s my bitch & he’ll be my bitch Saturday – Bisping," Nov. 29, 2011, http://www.espn.co.uk/ufc/sport/story/123774.html?wrappertype=print

11 Hill, Adam, "Tough talk: Mir wants rematch with Lesnar to `break his neck in the ring,’" Feb. 23, 2010, Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com/sports/tough-talk_-mir-wants-rematch-with-lesnar-to-_break-his-neck-in-the-ring_-85026177.html

12 Lee, Chris, "Rampage Jackson brings a bad attitude to `A-Team’: `Acting is kind of gay’", May 29, 2010, Los Angeles Times, http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2010/05/29/rampage-jackson-brings-a-bad-attitude-to-ateam-acting-is-kind-of-gay/

13 Non, Sergio, "Nogueira: I won’t train with a gay fighter," Aug. 19, 2011, USA Today, http://www.usatoday.com/sports/mma/post/2011/08/nogueira-i-wont-train-with-a-gay-fighter/416035/1

14 Bresnahan, Mike, "Lakers’ Kobe Bryant is fined $100,000 by NBA for anti-gay slur to referee," April 13, 2011, Los Angeles Times, http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/13/sports/la-sp-kobe-bryant-lakers-20110414; Abrams, Jonathan, "Noah Fined $50,000 for Antigay Slur," May 23, 2011, New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/sports/basketball/bulls-noah-apologizes-for-using-antigay-slur.html; Odum, Charles, Associated Press, "MLB hits Braves’ McDowell with fine, 2-week ban, " May 1, 2011, Yahoo! News, http://news.yahoo.com/mlb-hits-braves-mcdowell-fine-2-week-ban-171045396.html

15 YouTube video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtc6RpfUGUc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

16 Ibid.

17 Griffith, Martin, Associated Press, "Group criticizes UFC after fighter’s rape tweet," Nov. 12, 2011, San Jose Mercury News, http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_19324085?source=rss_viewed