#1 ranked light heavyweight Anthony “Rumble” Johnson was arrested and convicted of domestic abuse and other charges in 2009, and sentenced to serve 3 years probation. In 2014, he was temporarily suspended by the UFC when he was accused of domestic violence once again, however those accusations were deemed false.
Abel Trujillo pleaded guilty to Domestic Abuse Assault Causing Bodily Injury against the mother of his children on two separate occasions. In 2007, he pleaded guilty on charges of Obstruction of an Emergency Communication.
Thiago Silva was arrested for forcing a gun into his wife’s mouth and threatening to kill her, along with similar death threats sent via text message. All charges were dropped when she disappeared, and is believed to have fled the country.
Will Chope was cut from the UFC after it surfaced that he was released from the military for putting hands on his wife.
There are other examples, not to mention all of the times that this abuse potentially goes unreported.
Miller, looking like a war boy from Mad Max, smiles for his mugshot.
During the same HBO special where Christy Mack talked about her attack, they also spent a day with Jason Mayhem Miller and discussed the topic of abuse among fighters. Mayhem spent the day drinking, smoking from a bong, smashing glasses, and generally just being his usual unstable self.
Here are some of the more notable quotables from Miller:
- “Everybody on this crew, all the males, I could subdue all three of you,”
- “There’s no requirement, really. You don’t get vetted. Hey, are you willing to fight? Can you pass a CAT scan? Do you have aids or hepatitis? If you don’t, you’re in,”
- “They already knew I was involved with the law a bunch of times…” (When they signed him to fight.)
Jason Miller is currently defending himself in court on assault charges. Miller said that he was involved with an altercation with a woman, “but if anybody won the fight then it was her”. He denied kicking, punching, or choking the woman but admitted to urinating on her for her pleasure. He then went on to say that he has no reason to strike her, while mimicking a rear naked choke with his arms, as to imply that he wouldn’t hit somebody when he could choke them out instead. The woman is question is Shay McCall, the ex-wife of UFC fighter Ian McCall.
She posted the following images on Instagram:
And here is how Miller responded:
There’s no denying that domestic violence in MMA is a serious problem, no matter how you look at it. Domestic violence in general is a problem. With Reebok as the UFC’s major sponsor, it will be interesting to see how they handle these types of situations since every fighter that steps into the octagon will be representing the apparel brand from now on.
Major MMA promotions have been hypocritical in how they’ve dealt with such issues, but as the sport grows and aims at a more mainstream audience and to be legitimated among other sports, they’re going to have to make some changes.
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