[Kris P Lettus]

It isn’t often that the booking of an undercard fight can cause controversy, but Bellator recently found itself in hot water when they booked Dan McGuane on the undercard of this week’s Bellator 81. Bellator booked a fight between McGuane and 3-0 Light-Heavyweight Mike Mucitelli, ignoring the fact that Dan McGuane was convicted of manslaughter in 2005. No big deal, it was just self-defense, right? Unfortunately, no. Not even close. Recently, a website BanDanMcGuane.com popped up after the webmaster had learned that Bellator had signed the fighter. According to reports, McGuane and his twin brother beat an eighteen year old, one hundred and fifty-five pound man named Kelly Proctor to death after Dan’s brother thought he heard Kelly say something. I wish I were exaggerating, but I’m not. After the jump, the grisly details, courtesy of the website (they’ve since been removed): At the time of the incident that led to his death, the victim was five feet, eight inches tall and weighed approximately 155 pounds. Each defendant was approximately six feet, four inches tall and weighed nearly 200 pounds. On the evening of Saturday, July 2, 2005, the victim and his girlfriend, Jayme Rotondi, watched part of the town of Ayer’s annual Independence Day fireworks at Pirone Park, but left early to avoid the crowds at the end of the display. As they left the park, the victim and Rotondi passed a group of at least six people walking toward the park. The group consisted of the defendants, Greg Shultz, an exchange student from Denmark, who was approximately the same size as the defendants, Brandi Livingston, Mary Papalucas and Sara Jones. Rotondi noticed one of the defendants staring at her; she smiled, then heard someone laugh. The victim stopped and asked Rotondi, “What are they laughing at?” Peter left the group and walked back toward the victim and asked, “Did you say something? Do you want me to beat your ass in front of your girl?” Papalucas positioned herself between Peter and the victim and said to Peter, “Don’t do this, let’s go.” At that point, Peter reached over Papalucas’s head and, with an open hand, slapped the victim across the face, knocking from his mouth a straw on which he had been chewing. After Peter slapped the victim, Daniel joined in the attack. Both defendants punched the victim several times. The victim began crawling, trying to escape the assault. The fight gradually moved from the street to the curb, then onto the sidewalk, where the defendants forced the victim back up against a sport utility vehicle (SUV). Rotondi, in an attempt to break up the fight, jumped onto Daniel’s back and scratched him, tearing his blue polo shirt. She was pulled off Daniel by Papalucas, who also tried unsuccessfully to break up the fight. One of the defendants shoved Papalucas and Rotondi aside, then Daniel kicked the victim in the chest. The victim fell to the ground and ended up under the SUV. The defendants walked away, leaving the victim under the SUV. As he left the scene, Peter said, “What do you have to say now?” The victim remained under the SUV, lying on his chest, with blood coming from his nose. His breathing was labored. Papalucas told the victim it was okay to come out from under the SUV, but he was not responsive. She and some of the defendants’ friends, who remained at the scene, pulled the victim from under the SUV. The victim was unconscious and his eyes were open but rolled back in his head. Long story short, Dan and his equally deplorable brother beat a younger, smaller Kelly Proctor to death because they heard him ask his girlfriend a question. I’d compare them to the lunkhead pieces of shit who wear Affliction, but I have – and I can’t believe I’m typing this – more respect for those people than I do for the McGuanes. Before we go any further, I understand that everyone has a right to make a living. At the same token, not everyone has a right to make a living as a professional fighter. There are plenty of other ways to make a living besides fighting. It’s bad enough that certain politicians still compare our sport to cock-fighting and dog-fighting; we don’t need to give those comparisons legitimacy by glorifying a despicable human being like Dan McGuane. Beating a younger, smaller person to death with your twin brother isn’t “brave” or “athletic,” it’s something that only a completely sick, deranged individual would do. If someone is unable to separate the person in the cage from the person outside of it, they simply aren’t mentally stable enough to deserve the right to represent out sport. If you disagree, that’s fine, as long as you don’t complain about the mainstream media representing MMA fighters as douchebag high school dropouts who are too stupid to work at Burger King. At least be consistent with your beliefs. For the record, I also wouldn’t want current Bellator fighters Brett Rogers and War Machine representing my brand due to their – ahem – “character issues.” Unlike McGuane, though, not only did those two never kill anybody, but they’re also both names that hardcore fans are familiar with who have demonstrated that they have at least some talent. I’m not saying I agree with either man being on Bellator’s payroll, but at least I understand why they were signed. There were literally never any such advantages to signing Dan McGuane. Within hours of BloodyElbow running with the story yesterday, Bellator tweeted that Dan McGuane had been removed from their card and that they would begin looking for a replacement fight. We applaud Bellator for doing the right thing and cutting their ties with Dan McGuane. @SethFalvo

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