A 258-pound mixed-martial arts fighter was charged Thursday with choking his wife and beating her bloody at their Apple Valley home.

Brett "Da Grim" Rogers, 30, was charged in Dakota County District Court with three felonies: third-degree assault, domestic assault by strangulation and stalking. He remains jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail.

The charges also include endangerment of a child, a gross misdemeanor. The couple's 9- and 10-year-old daughters were home at the time.

Rogers' most recent bout, carried live nationally on Showtime from Dallas, was on June 18. He lost for the third time in his past four matches. That includes a loss in May 2010 to heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem. On Thursday, Strikeforce released Rogers from his pro contract.

According to the charges:

Officers called to the home met Rogers on the driveway shortly after 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. His speech was slurred, and his breath smelled of liquor. He acknowledged arguing with his wife, 30-year-old Tiuana Rogers, but said he hit her only after she hit him.

A neighbor told police that he saw the couple outside and that Brett Rogers was standing over and punching his 160-pound wife in the face as she was on the ground.

The couple's 9-year-old daughter said she saw her father push her mother against a kitchen cabinet, prompting the girl to shout at him to stop.

Officers located Tiuana Rogers walking by a nearby school, her face bloodied, a tooth missing. She attributed her injuries solely to falling on the ground.

But during an ambulance ride to the hospital, she told an officer and paramedics that her husband choked her with both hands. She also said he chased her into the back yard and hit her in the head until she "blacked out."said she didn't want her husband charged because it would be bad for his career.

The complaint did not say what started the violence.

While Tiuana Rogers was in the hospital, the daughters told a neighbor that their father had choked them in the past.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482