UFC light heavyweight contender Anthony “Rumble” Johnson has had a troubling history of domestic violence accusations, so you’d imagine he’d think twice before doing anything to reinforce the idea that he’s got anger issues with women. Apparently not.
Yesterday, news got out via Rumble’s own Facebook page that he got into an altercation with an “ugly girl in the gym built like a bag of dry dog food,” who dared to set up her yoga mat where he was lifting.
You can read his entire rant here, but he sums it up himself at the end by saying, “Don’t run your mouth, and don’t do yoga stretching where people lift weights, or I’ll snatch the mat from under you AGAIN and throw it AGAIN.”
Not a good look for Johnson or the UFC, who have been fighting against the perception that they turn a blind eye to violence against women by their athletes. This morning, the promotion made an official announcement on the subject via UFC.com:
“UFC is aware of the situation involving Anthony Johnson. We take these matters seriously and have commenced a formal investigation by a third-party law firm. We will act accordingly once we gather more information.”
This is the UFC’s way of handling all situations like this; they send lawyers hired specifically for this kind of thing to look into the situation. Not that this system has generated a whole lot of confidence; this is the same process that cleared Thiago Silva of threatening to kill his ex-wife because charges were dropped after she left the country. The UFC then re-fired him after audio recordings surfaced of Silva… threatening to kill his ex-wife.
For his part, Johnson has apologized, putting this statement on Facebook:
I’m man enough to admit when I’m wrong, and, yesterday, I was absolutely wrong.
I shouldn’t have gotten that upset from the start, but I did. I mean, I’m human. I said some pretty nasty things about a female from my gym while full of emotions (not a good idea), so I do wanna apologize to her for being rude as I was, and not taking a break to relax after our argument.
Sorry to everyone else, too, for having to witness me getting upset about an argument in the gym. I’m not going to sugarcoat it and make it seem like I’m an angel, because I’m not, but I will admit when I’m wrong. Other than that, I hope everybody has an awesome day.
Those of you feeling sour about the whole situation can at least take some solace in the fact that they can watch Rumble get punched in the face a bunch in his next fight; he’s set to take on violent UK up-and-comer Jimi Manuwa at UFC 191 on September 5… if he isn’t suspended.