UFC heavyweight Travis Browne has opened up about for the first time about the domestic violence accusations leveled at him by Jenna Webb last year. During a UFC 200 media lunch, Browne got emotional discussing the situation, and took aim at the media for what he feels was irresponsible reporting by some outlets.
First, he talked about why it all doesn’t add up and shares his opinion on domestic violence (transcribed by Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting):
“Honestly, I feel a little betrayed. If those are your reasons for lying, but then you don’t press charges, you don’t try to do things the right way. If any of you guys were here beating your wife and you have two kids, I swear to God, I will f**k you up. And I would take your kids and take them from you.”
Browne felt that the media didn’t handle the reporting of the story correctly as well, believing he was treated unfairly:
“Why do I have to do all the talking? All these places — TMZ and that stuff — ran stuff and not a single person asked questions. I’m a 6-foot-7, 250-pound man. I have two little boys at home and if I did the things I was accused of, you want those two boys being raised by me? Why wouldn’t you want them in my home? Why would you want me to have my career if that’s the kind of man I am?”
…
“This was the first time I’ve really talked to any media. I took myself out of it, because my way of dealing with this was living my life and being happy. The people that are around me understand what kind of man that I am. That’s what I did.”
…
“A gripe of mine that honestly — and all you guys are with the media — is that nobody questioned her,” Browne said. “Everybody put their eyes on me. Everybody made stories on me. And when I was reinstated, that was the only headline: ‘Travis Browne was reinstated.’ And I’ll be honest. You guys as media kind of let me down. I’ll say that in that sense, because we’re all being professional. That’s what let me down.”
He also discussed the UFC’s investigation into the allegations, done by lawfirm Campbell & Williams:
“It wasn’t a legal investigation. couldn’t be like, ‘Oh, talk to my lawyer.’ It was like, ‘So this is where we’re at.’ They said this is gonna be tougher than going through the legal process, because there’s nothing to cover my butt. There’s no laws. You want your job? You have to volunteer, because somebody made up lies about you.”
Finally, he spoke of his current relationship with UFC women’s bantamweight Ronda Rousey, who he believes came along at exactly the right time while he was dealing with these issues:
“We were there for each other when we needed it the most,” Browne said. “When we felt like everybody was against us, when everybody was trying to knock us down, we were there for each other.”
Browne will return to the cage at UFC 200 on July 9th when he takes on former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. You can watch the whole 25-minute media event in the video above.
About the author
