UFC Ultimate Fighter Dakota Cochrane admits gay porn past
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The FX reality show The Ultimate Fighter Live released its list of 32 finalists earlier this week, and it didn’t take people long to notice that one of the contestants, Dakota Cochrane, had a rather interesting former career. At one time the Fairbury, Neb., native was known as Danny, and he did gay pornography. This was really no secret, according to MMA Fighting.com, as Cochrane has mentioned his past before. But now that he’s in the spotlight — the winner of The Ultimate Fighter gets a UFC contract — the news is all over MMA message boards. And it’s causing quite the stir. According to several sources, Cochrane performed in 16 gay pornographic films for Sean Cody Films while he was in college. Cochrane addressed the issue with MMA Fighting.com:
“It’s definitely a decision I regret,” he told MMA Fighting. “If I would have known what would happen I definitely wouldn’t have done it. But I had money issues and I needed help. I went there to do pictures, and they started throwing pretty high numbers in front of me. I didn’t really think. It was a big mistake.”
But no matter the size of the mistake, it was one he made no effort to escape on the eve of his biggest opportunity. On his audition tape for TUF, he included an introduction that mentioned all about his past. Everything.
Leave it to UFC — they do everything bigger. While other sports tremble at the very thought of having an athlete come out as gay, UFC hits you with a guy who did gay porn. Cochrane, by the way, says he isn’t gay. In fact it was his girlfriend who convinced him to quit the industry.
“I think it’s a little bit courageous for both of us,” Cochrane said of the UFC’s decision to include him on the show. “I could just hide in a hole and no one would know except for the people close to me. And to them, I was up front. I let them know right away so it wasn’t anything that could come back and bite them in the butt. I think maybe they respected that a little bit. I think some people judge against it, some people will be OK with it. Some people will want me to get my butt kicked, and hopefully others will respect what I’m trying to do.”
Cochrane, 25, was attending the University of Nebraska-Kearney, where he was on the track team (pole vault and 4×100 meter relay), at the time he did the videos. “Every time I was down there, I hated it,” he said to MMAFighting.com.
Cochrane earned a spot on the FX show after beating World Extreme Cagefighting champion Jamie Varner at Titan Fighting Championship 20 last year. Cochrane has an 11-2 overall MMA record, including 7-2 as a professional. His latest bout was a loss by decision in December to former NCAA wrestler Ramico Blackmon at Resurrection Fighting Alliance 1.
There’s no guarantee that Cochrane will last past the first episode of The Ultimate Fighter, but if he does, he should be good for ratings. The new season debuts March 9.