Travis Browne stayed quiet all summer. Through the allegations of domestic abuse, the venom of fans on Twitter and even acquaintances of his children bringing up the situation, Browne never made any public comments.
The UFC heavyweight stands by his decision to not address the accusations made by his estranged wife Jenna Webb, he told Ariel Helwani on Monday's edition of The MMA Hour. Browne, who has been cleared to fight by the UFC, is glad he did.
"If I threw rocks at every dog that barked, I would not get to where I'm going," Browne said in his first interview. "That's part of being in the public eye. Unfortunately, not everybody understands that."
Webb posted photos on Instagram in July of bruises all over her body, implying that Browne was the perpetrator. Later, she confirmed the accusation on social media. Browne denies all of it. He said the two had been having issues for a long time and she left him in June, two weeks after his fight at UFC 187 on Memorial Day Weekend.
"Have I ever gotten physical towards her?" Browne said. "No, absolutely not. Like I said, there's circumstances surrounding all this. That's up to her and her family to deal with. I'm back to fighting. The results speak for themselves."
Immediately after Webb's accusations, the UFC benched Browne for International Fight Week appearances in July. After that, he was suspended pending an investigation done by a third-party law firm, Campbell & Williams. In late August, Browne was cleared to fight again with the investigation not turning up any conclusive evidence, the UFC said in a statement.
The UFC said the seven-week probe was done by a 25-year FBI veteran. It has come under scrutiny because Campbell & Williams is a law firm that represents the UFC and its interests. Browne defended the investigation Monday and said he cooperated more than he was even legally bound to do.
"I think people have the wrong idea about the investigation that the UFC put on," Browne said. "A lot of people feel like it was an investigation to clear me, which that is the farthest thing from the truth. The whole point of that investigation was to find the truth."
Browne, 33, said he spent the summer taking care of his children (from his first marriage) and clearing his mind. He went on a hunting trip and ended up getting into a relationship with UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, his Glendale Fighting Club teammate. The whole time, Browne said he leaned on the truth.
"I'm a lot of things," Browne said. "I can be an asshole. I can be mean. But putting my hands on a woman is absolutely not in me. That goes against everything in my DNA as a human being. The general public may not have an understanding about me and what I do, how I feel about my children, how I feel about my family, how protective I am over my family and children. They just see a big guy in a cage that fights, that knocks people out or this and that."
Browne has now been booked for a fight, against Matt Mitrione at UFC Fight Night: Dillashaw vs. Cruz on Jan. 17 in Boston. That's his focus now and he hopes to put everything else behind him.
"I've moving onward and upward," Browne said. "It was a bump in the road and it was a very unfortunate situation. The truth has come to light. In a sense, the truth will set you free. Even though it's in the court of public opinion, people are just headline hunting instead of educating themselves."
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