We've posted on Marcus Davis unfortunate tweet that he "hopes Dan Hardy dies of AIDS", but Beth of Gal's Guide to MMA has a bit more to add:

Does Davis really think that "gay photos" are worse than wishing AIDS on someone?  I worked as a therapist at AIDS Project Los Angeles, where I provided counseling to people with AIDS and their families.  Let me tell you, there isn't much else that's worse in this world than dying of AIDS.  It is an extremely undignified death that involves pain, anger, depression, and social stigma.  The medication that people with AIDS have to take becomes a full time job.  And that's just for those lucky enough to have medication work on them.  People who contract a drug resistant form of the disease don't even have the option of taking the medication.  They get to deal with wasting away very quickly with no hope of help unless new drugs happen to be developed that can help them.   

How can he say that photos are worse?  Because they last for life?  Give me a friggin' break.  The photos are obviously photoshopped and only a mental midget wouldn't realize that.  But oh no!  They are gay photos on top of that.  Well sweet Jesus, that should give him the right to fire bomb Hardy's house.  I mean of all of the horrific things you could do to someone, photoshopping (badly) them at a gay pride parade must certainly be the worst. 

Zach Arnold puts it in a little broader context:

Yes, Mixed Martial Arts is a sport. It's also a sport with ungodly amounts of testosterone levels that blow away any T/E ratio you've ever seen in your life. If the average human has a T/E ratio of 1:1, then that level is blown off its hinges in Mixed Martial Arts. In the most macho of all macho sports, testosterone is the fuel that breeds world champions and also breeds unbelievable stupidity. In a business that has macho heels like Phil Baroni and behemoths like Bob Sapp, it's impossible to avoid some of the taboos that come with a sport so fueled by testosterone.

One of those taboos is homophobia.

There's an element of truth to the claims that Mixed Martial Arts is a sport that a gay audience might like. Search Google for MMA and gay and you'll see what kind of results you turn up with. It's an uncomfortable truth for many in the MMA industry because for a lot of the fighters involved, homosexuality and the appeal of some fans for watching fighters because of that reason is an inconvenient truth that they want no part of. Some fighters of a particular religious faith want no part of discussing the gay taboo, but for a lot of the fighters the issue is one of macho-ness and questioning how tough a fighter is. It's no different than say the NFL or other male-dominated pro-sports where you rarely see any mega-athletes come out of the closet for fear of how their peers might react.

For UFC mid-card fighter Marcus Davis, the issue of being portrayed in a negative light as gay proved to be too much.

It will be interesting to see what the career repercussions are for Davis. He's not a big star, but he's a veteran in good standing with the UFC. Coming on the heels of Frank Mir's no-good-very-bad-awful PR week, I'd have to think this isn't news Dana White wanted to hear.

Personally, I'm from the old "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me" camp, but everyone knows those rules don't apply in 2010. Got to tread lightly fellas and as a rule of thumb I recommend not wishing death on anyone for a while.