Johnny Manziel, Josh Gordon attend #UFC196 together. https://t.co/LF7KClwpDx pic.twitter.com/zjijioVyTC
— theScore (@theScore) March 6, 2016
Yep. ✌🏾️🌊 https://t.co/ns9ykoseSR
— Flash Gordon (@JOSH_GORDONXII) March 6, 2016
Suspended Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon confirmed on Twitter early Sunday morning he attended UFC 196 with troubled quarterback Johnny Manziel on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
A photograph of the two surfaced online with the captain, "Johnny Manziel, Josh Gordon attend #UFC196 together," to which Gordon replied, "Yep."
Gordon has applied for reinstatement into the NFL after being banished for the entire 2015 season because of recurring violations of the league’s substance-abuse policy. He's awaiting a ruling NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is expected to make by mid-March.
Meanwhile, Manziel will be out of the league when the Browns cut him Wednesday at the start of the NFL's new calendar year. His ex-girlfriend, Colleen Crowley, accused him of beating her and threatening to kill them both Jan. 30 in Dallas. Dallas police investigated the incident and referred the case to a grand jury, which will consider whether to charge Manziel.
Manziel's rampant partying has been chronicled online since Dallas police announced Feb. 25 they were turning the case over to the Dallas County District Attorney's Office to present to a grand jury. Separate videos showing him tossing money at strippers and smoking in a nightclub have surfaced in recent days.
Gordon's decision to hang out with Manziel certainly doesn't mean his chances of being reinstated are doomed. But it does some raise eyebrows, especially because Gordon and Manziel hanging out together has led to trouble in the past.
They were with each other the day before the 2014 season finale and overslept the following morning with Gordon missing a walk-through practice and Manziel failing to report to team headquarters for treatment on an injured hamstring. The Browns suspended Gordon for the last game and fined Manziel, who was on injured reserve.
Furthermore, Gordon has admitted that living life in the fast lane led to his third suspension from the league.
"I was distraught and embarrassed [when I was suspended for the third time], but I was like, 'Man, I’ve been ripping and running too much, too fast. I needed to slow down,'" Gordon said in a video published in December on ProAthlete.TV. "I’m glad that somebody gave me a swift kick in the ass to let me know what’s real and what’s not."
For the NFL to reinstate Gordon, the All-Pro selection in 2013 must convince the league he remained abstinent from substances of abuse throughout the entire banishment.
"To be reinstated, a player must demonstrate sustained abstinence," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello explained in an email in January. "In support of their applications, players generally put forward verifiable testing records and/or submit to periodic NFL testing during the banishment period."
During a news conference Feb. 5, Goodell said he also wants to make sure Gordon won’t repeat his pattern of behavior before reinstating him.
"The process is that we’ll go back and we’ll look at how he’s conducted himself over the last several months, what he’s done to make sure it’s consistent with the terms of his suspension," Goodell said. "And at some stage, we’ll have a report on that, and I will engage with our people to understand where he is, where he’s been, but most importantly, it’s where he’s going.
"When these things happen, it’s about trying to avoid them in the future. Our No. 1 issue here is to prevent these things from happening. I’m hopeful that Josh understands that he’s going to have to conduct himself differently going forward to be a member of the NFL and to be representing the Cleveland Browns, or any team in the NFL."
On Feb. 25 at the NFL Scouting Combine, Browns head of football operations Sashi Brown said all signs point to Gordon being "on a path to come back and be reinstated."
Brown also made it clear the organization would be willing to give Gordon another chance if he were reinstated.
"Josh is taking it seriously and has learned from his mistakes," Brown said. "He’s serious about wanting to be a pro and be one of the best wide receivers in the game. If he’s done all the things, puts himself in that position and cleans up some of the mistakes, then certainly we would welcome him back."
Gordon isn't the only Browns receiver who's been spotted with Manziel in recent days. Last week, veteran Dwayne Bowe was photographed with Manziel outside a Miami jewelry store.