Dana White confirms Maiquel Falcao's 2011 UFC release due to assaulting woman

UFC President Dana White has seen the gruesome video that shows MMA fighters Kaue Mena (7-0) and Maiquel Falcao (31-6 MMA, 3-1 BFC) savagely beaten, and he’s as disgusted as anyone at the brutal attack. But he admits he’s not completely surprised that Falcao appears to be at least partially responsible for igniting the incident.

“This whole situation is really unfortunate,” White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “All you can do is just hope Kaue Mena’s health continues to improve. But I have to be honest and tell you it really bugs me that it’s being reported that Maiquel Falcao is a UFC fighter. We let him go back in 2011 for the same reason. We found out he had a charge on his record for hitting a woman, and we cut him because of that.”

According to a news report from a Brazilian TV station Band Santa Catarina, Falcao and Mena were at a gas station this past Saturday when Falcao apparently got into an argument with a pair of women, one of whom he pushed away. A group of men then came into the store and began fighting with the two, and the violence spilled outside. Surveillance video shows a man hitting them with a piece of wood, and Mena falls to the ground after being knocked out by a blow. The men then punch and kick him repeatedly as he lies defenseless, and one returns a few moments later to deliver another kick to his head.

Both Falcao and Mena were rescued and taken to a local hospital. Falcao was treated for his injuries and released, while Mena was put in the intensive care unit at Hospital do Coracao in Balneario Camboriu, Santa Catarina, where he remains, according to the report.

Both men have since been kicked off the Renovacao Fight Team in Balneario Camboriu, Santa Catarina, Brazil, by head coach Marcelo Brigadeiro, who said the fighters’ behavior was not compatible with his team’s philosophy.

Falcao fought just once for the UFC, earning a November 2010 decision win over Gerald Harris. Shortly after, he was arrested in his native Brazil for a charges stemming from a 2002 incident that saw a woman injured during a clash between two groups, one of which included Falcao.

Bellator MMA officials have yet to issue an official statement, but White wants to make it crystal clear that he does not support the type of behavior that ultimately led to the brawl, and it’s precisely why Falcao was only given one chance in the UFC.

“We don’t want anything to do with men who punch women,” White said. “When the UFC found out Maiquel had a charge against him that involved women, we immediately cut him from the roster. Bellator/Viacom MMA then picked him up a few months later, and he’s been fighting for them ever since.

“The UFC does not and will not ever tolerate situations like this. Sexual assault, hitting a woman or anything like that, you’re gone from the roster. It doesn’t matter if you’re a winner or a champion or anything like that. You’re gone. Keep your hands off women.”

The California-based Bellator MMA was launched in 2011. Falcao’s signing with the promotion was announced in October 2011, just days before a controlling interest of the promotion was sold to media giant Viacom MMA.

For more on Bellator’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Maiquel Falcao)