Former UFC Champ Claims He Was Victimized By Ohio State Doctor
Former UFC champion Mark Coleman claims that he was the victim of sexual misconduct from a now-deceased Ohio State team doctor.
The doctor is being accused of sexual misconduct against more than 100 former students. On Thursday Coleman released a statement on the matter. He initially implicated Republican congressman Jim Jordan, a former Ohio State assistant coach. Coleman first claimed Jordan had knowledge of the abuse and was doing nothing to stop it.
Here’s what Coleman had to say about Jordan to The Wall Street Journal:
“There’s no way unless he’s got dementia or something that he’s got no recollection of what was going on at Ohio State,” Coleman said. “I have nothing but respect for this man. I love this man. But he knew as far as I’m concerned.”
Coleman subsequently changed his tune on the matter to CNN, backpedaling on his accusations against Jordan:
“Maybe I spoke without thinking,” Coleman said. “This has absorbed my life. Since I’ve said that, it’s consumed me 24 hours a day, and I didn’t like the way it was heading, the direction it was heading.”
“I was angry and said words that I shouldn’t have said,” Coleman said. “He may have known about some locker room banter because we did joke about it in the locker room, but I don’t know of anyone ever reporting it to Jim Jordan directly.”
“I’m clarifying (the earlier statement) because it’s been on my mind for a long time and I feel guilty that this happened, and I wanted to clarify it,” he said. “Not change it. I said what I said.”
Coleman is the first UFC heavyweight champion in mixed martial arts (MMA) history. He’s also a former Olympian and an NCAA Division I Wrestling champion. Coleman announced his retirement from fighting in 2013 after not having fought for three years.
Jordan recently took to Twitter to attack CNN for attempting to slander his name as he seeks to replace Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House:
Now @CNN is contacting all 100+ of our former staff and interns asking for dirt on me. Getting desperate! How can you ever trust such #fakenews?
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 11, 2018
