WEC lightweight Donald Cerrone made headlines earlier this week for all the wrong reasons. In an interview with TapouT Radio, Cerrone referred to his WEC 51 opponent and arch rival Jamie Varner as a "fag" and insisted that hoped their fight later this month would lead to the first death in MMA.
All of his comments can be read here.
People reacted, shared their opinion, and much in the way that fans and industry members condemned Frank Mir when he issued an almost identical death wish upon Brock Lesnar last year, everyone appears to be in agreement that in this case, "Cowboy" just went too far.
The WEC released an official statement regarding the matter.
"Donald Cerrone went too far in talking about his upcoming fight with Jamie Varner, and we believe he crossed a line of decency in doing so. We will not tolerate a fighter who makes comments that are not consistent with our company values, nor will we tolerate the use of slurs that may offend any segment of the public. We are aware Donald issued his own immediate apology on Twitter, but we still needed to speak with him about it and to issue our own statement making our position known."
As the above statement indicates, Donald has since issued an apology on his Twitter account, which can be read here.
There's no debating that the Cerrone vs. Varner rivalry is very real with true friction between the two lightweight top contenders.
But even in mixed martial arts, a sport that can often get away with a lot of miss-steps outside of the cage on the part of their athletes due to the nature of the sport inside of the cage, there is a line, and it very well my have been crossed here. Again.
What are some of your thoughts on this issue?