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Hermes Franca: Real man of genius (and DUI)
By Zach Arnold | November 6, 2008
A day after getting his face some camera time on the WEC 36 event in Hollywood, Florida (on The Versus Network), Hermes Franca has been arrested on DUI charges. What is it with Franca and drug tests these days?
Reed Wallace, who represents Franca, says his client is innocent.
Topics: MMA, Media, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
If he is convicted of anything related to this, he should be released from his contract. Anything short of that would be sending the message that this kind of behavior is acceptable. It’s bad enough for Zuffa to have Quinton Jackson booked to fight (and in a #1 contender’s match) with all of the charges pending against him, or for Zuffa to have still not released Chris Leben, or for ProElite to have bailed Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett out of jail in an effort to get him to fight that same week. Promoters need to start sending the message that criminal behavior is not going to be tolerated.
Have you watched the TUF show lately?
As if the major sports leagues don’t tolerate criminal behaviour. How many football, baseball, basketball and hockey stars get involved in things like this? I’m sure it’s probably the same for tennis, auto racing or whatever else though I don’t pay much attention to those sports. I won’t even touch on boxing. Why should MMA be held to a higher standard than those sports?
Guys get suspended for full seasons, cut from teams and face all sorts of discipline (monetary and otherwise) from leagues for away from the sport behaviour.
What world are you living in?
I was wondering too … I’m sure there must be a bunch of cases every year where hockey and football and basketball guys get caught drunk driving. What do the leagues / teams do to them?
A quick google search popped up the name Eric Warfield, a starting CB for the Chiefs back in 2005. As a result of his 3rd DUI, the league suspended him for the first 4 games of the season, which is barely a slap on the wrist.
Fact is that drunk driving in this country has never been, is not and probably will never be taken seriously. The reason? So many judges, cops and politicians do it and get caught that they would have to lock up 50% of each of the above groups. (I like the idea!)
If the legal system doesn’t take it seriously, then that gives the sports leagues a reason not to as well.
IceMuncher: There are 16 games in an NFL season IIRC. That means he was suspended for 1/4 the season for a THIRD DUI. The MMA equivalent would be suspending a guy for 1/4 of the year, three months, which would be a slap on the wrist for a THIRD DUI. This is Hermes Franca’s first and yet people are calling for him to be released from his contract? Since when are MMA fighters supposed to be held to some high moral standard? These guys beat up people for a living in a cage and you expect them to behave better than football, baseball, basketball and hockey stars?