Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Tricky situation: There’s reportedly a gay adult film actor in the cast of TUF 15

It was inevitable that the UFC would be faced with handling the issue of a homosexual fighter. Even Dana White understands that's a reality, but we can't imagine he saw the Dakota Cochrane situation on the horizon.

Cochrane, part of the 32-fighter cast for "The Ultimate Fighter," is a talented mixed martial artist, but he also has another gig on his resume.

According to sites like Middle Easy, Bloody Elbow and MMAMania, Cochrane has performed in 16 gay pornographic films under the name "Danny." Cochrane is quoted in another story about having a girlfriend, but that won't matter to most ardent anti-gay fans and followers of MMA.

The reaction to Cochrane's inclusion on the show will be interesting to follow. White was asked in the past about the issue of promoting a gay fighter.

"Any guy involved in grappling is the furthest thing from homophobic in the world. I honestly think it would have no impact at all whatsoever. Not only with our fighters or our fanbase. It wouldn't be a big deal to me and most of the guys I know in this sport, it wouldn't be a big deal for them either," White said during a conversation with Edge Magazine in 2009. "The guys in the UFC, everybody is so cool. There's great sportsmanship and everybody has respect for each other."

Will Cochrane get booted from the show? That's anyone's guess. If he was supposed to disclose any and all pornographic work in the past and didn't, that could be grounds for dismissal. If he is dismissed, one wonders if there will be any backlash from gay rights groups.

The 25-year-old Cochrane is 10-2 in MMA and posted a win over former WEC lightweight champ Jamie Varner in September.

2 comments:

CowboyDenver said...

I loved this guy as "Danny" on Sean Cody. Nice to see him again.

Ulf Raynor said...

Also the fact he ain't shying away from what he's done, sign of a true fighter.