Manager: Travis Browne Is An Innocent Man

Some disturbing reports emerged in the news yesterday, as UFC heavyweight contender Travis Browne was indicated in allegations of abuse to his now former girlfriend. The hard-hitting Hawaiian ‘Hapa’ got called out on Instagram by ex Jenna Renee Webb, after posting pictures of some rather nasty bruises on social media, the fitness and swimwear model later confirmed that the physical injuries were caused by Browne. The UFC released a statement later in the day.

With the wheels put in motion for an investigation, Browne’s manager John Fosco speaks up for his client, saying that a few things just don’t add up, as per MMAMania:

“Just going off what we’ve seen, apparently the allegation is that something happened in February. I had a conversation with Jenna and her father this morning and I wanted to get their perspective because If there is something I didn’t know about, I want to know about it. What I did hear is she never filed a police report, she never went to the police. If there was abuse, I think everybody would encourage everybody to go to the police. If Travis Browne, 6’7,” 250 pounds, is going to abuse you, you are probably going to have to go to the hospital, but apparently there were no hospital visits.”

The fact she didn’t go to authorities or the hospital would not be an uncommon trend among battered spouses, often driven by fear many victims of abuse choose to suffer silently. That’s not to give fuel to either side of the argument in this particular case. Fosco continues:

“At the end of the day and this is just me speaking, with the ease of social media and the ease of accessibility, men in the public eye are targets and if you are a large man like a UFC fighter is — like Travis is — this is a very easy way to try and take him down. But, Travis has two children, he fights for them and he is going to fight everything for them. This is just something that is another speed bump in his life that’s had a lot of them.”

“UFC has been communicating with me and they’ve made it very clear that they take domestic abuse very seriously, as they should,” Fosco said. “From our end we are ready and almost excited to comply with the independent investigation that they have.”

‘Hapa’ was reportedly removed from UFC Fight Week in the lead up to UFC 189, a fact that Browne’s manager addresses also:

“Travis was not dismissed or anything from fight week. There was a conversation that was had and with fans being here in Vegas and with all this stuff being unclear and what is the take, we are all in agreement that Travis should go home. And because domestic violence — Travis feels is such a serious issue and so do I – -it’s like, okay, this has to be handled the right way. Travis doesn’t want to take any attention from this week. This is a great week for UFC. Travis doesn’t want to take any attention from that.”

“Out of nowhere, Travis’ ex-wife reached out,” said Fosco. “I spoke with her and her exact words were, ‘I know the father of my two children. He’s never laid a hand on me. That is not the kind of man he is.’ And he didn’t reach out to her and I didn’t reach out to her. There is some context here. I would encourage people to think about on the eve of international fight week, if this is such a serious issue, why do you go on Instagram and do it like that? If this is serious, you have to go to the authorities and why are the authorities not involved?

“I would pose this question, too: A man of his size, do you think those marks in those photos are what Travis would do to you if he was going to beat you?” he continued. “And let’s remember her job. She is a spokeswoman. She has been in the fitness world for a long time. She is a spokeswoman for a supplement company and she exercises very aggressively on a daily basis and I can’t say for sure what the pictures were. I want to say one was maybe on her biceps. One was on her leg. There are a lot of cross-fit activities that are involved with those body parts. Listen, I know Travis and Travis didn’t do it, but don’t mistake that for not complying with UFC’s investigation. We will fully comply. We will answer to everything.”

Let’s hope more light is shed on this situation in the coming days, as it would be sad to see such a character as Browne go down in flames. At this stager the allegations are all speculation, the injuries were clearly significant, but there is no actual indicator as to where they came from apart from Webb’s word.

We’ll keep you updated as this story continues to unfold.