WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — When the chips were down, Travis Browne and Ronda Rousey felt that all they had were one another.
"We were there for each other when we needed it the most," said Browne, who will meet Cain Velasquez in a heavyweight matchup at UFC 200. "When we felt like everybody was against us, when everybody was trying to knock us down, we were there for each other.”
Of course, while Rousey and Browne both found themselves facing trying times in 2015, they were for very different reasons.
Rousey, Browne’s girlfriend, became as big a star as the sport of mixed martial arts has ever experienced during her pioneering run as UFC women’s bantamweight champion. She then found out about the ugly side of fame in the modern world after her head-kick knockout loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193, when she was made the butt of jokes everywhere from Twitter to late-night television talk shows.
Browne’s plight, though, was potentially far more serious than matters of winning or losing a sporting contest. Last July, Browne was accused by his ex-wife, Jenna Webb, of domestic abuse.
Webb did not press charges, and Browne, who has been steadfast in maintaining his innocence, was suspended by the UFC pending an independent investigation, which proved inconclusive. Browne was reinstated late last summer and returned to competition in January with a win over Matt Mitrione.
"It was hard to listen, to see what people were saying about me," Browne said. "But at the same time, I know what I did and what I didn't do. And I was able to sleep at night — no problem.”
A recent media event ostensibly designed to promote the bout with Velasquez took an intense turn when Browne, a Hawaii native and San Diego resident, decided to open up for the first time with his version of last year’s events.
The towering fighter and father of two became emotional and fought back tears on multiple occasions.
“I’m a 6-foot-7, 250-pound man,” Browne said. “I have two little boys at home, and if I did the things I was accused of, you want those two boys being raised by me? Why wouldn’t you want them out of my home? Why would you want me to have my career if that’s the kind of man that I am?”
Browne believes there was a double standard in the way the allegations were portrayed by the media. The domestic violence accusations were posted by Webb on Instagram and immediately went viral, which then led to widespread headlines in mainstream publications painting Browne as a batterer. Browne feels that in today’s click-bait media culture, little diligence was done by the press in investigating whether his ex-wife’s claims had any validity.
“A gripe of mine that honestly — and all you guys with the media — is that nobody questioned her," Browne said. "Everybody put their eyes on me. Everybody made stories on me. And when I was reinstated, that was the only headline: 'Travis Browne was reinstated.' And I'll be honest. You guys as media kind of let me down. I'll say that in that sense, because we're all being professional. That's what let me down.”
Browne also wasn’t happy with the way the UFC’s investigation, which was conducted by the UFC’s law firm of Campbell and Williams, intruded on his personal space.
"It wasn't a legal investigation," Browne said. "I couldn't be like, 'Oh, talk to my lawyer.' It was like, 'So this is where we're at.' They said this is gonna be tougher than going through the legal process, because there's nothing to cover my butt. There's no laws. You want your job? You have to volunteer, because somebody made up lies about you.”
The truth of the matter will likely never be known. A lack of criminal charges doesn’t automatically make a person accused of domestic violence innocent. But it’s not as if false allegations have never been made, and in that case, people tend to remember the initial headlines about the accused rather than whether or not that person actually turned out to be guilty.
Rousey, for her part, let the world know where she stands with her partner during a memorable February interview on “Ellen,” her first major public appearance since her loss to Holm, in which she declared Browne saved her from thoughts of suicide in the fight’s aftermath.
And ultimately, Rousey’s opinion will always matter more to Browne than what fans or media might think.
"They don't see what goes on behind closed doors," Browne said. "I've been open until last summer when again I felt like I was done wrong, like I wasn't given my shot. I don't know. I've just gotta go out there and live my happy and be happy. Being happy is the best way to deal with those things.”
