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SUNSTONE

By SUNSTONE
in The Tailgate

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Special K

Special K

Posted
Posted

Yeah, I heard this about Fitch today. That's really too bad, he was a good fighter who I enjoyed watching. He did not deserve to be cut like that over this type of contract dispute, that's just ridiculous. I wouldn't sign a lifetime contract like that either. Hell no.

Heck, I told my friend it was unwise for him to sign a 5-year contract with a certain organization that had not fully established itself yet. He was just starting his pro career and trying to build up his pro-fight record starting from the bottom up. He has now won a ton of fights and the bigger organizations are interested in him, but he can't maneuver out of his contract for another few years without having to pay a bunch of money he doesn't have.

It just really sucks all around. These MMA organizations know they have the upper hand in contract negotiation because most of these fighters are scrounging for money to support their full-time training. Therefore, they can present a totally lopsided contract that can screw over the fighter in the long-term and they know a lot of fighters have few other choices then to sign. I know that's how business works, I know DW is an astute businessman, but the treatment of fighters in most of these MMA organizations is really crappy IMO.

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d0ublestr0ker0ll

d0ublestr0ker0ll

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Posted (edited)

I agree Keeastman.

Obviously, it's awful to see this happen to Fitch. I'm wondering if every other fighter signed a contract with the same stipulation. Jon didn't sign it, but does he expect to become the next superhero and have a breakout game on the Xbox 1080 in 10 years? I think being in the next UFC video game is the best he'll do as far as making it in to a video game. But a lifetime contract? That is just sick. How about, a 25 year contract? No? 15? In 15 years Tom Clancy might want Jon to be in a new video game, "Rear Naked Choke". If Fitch were to bolt out of the UFC and be in another video game, I'm sure it wouldn't destroy Dana's empire. Lavar didn't get kicked out of the league when he didn't want to be in video games. Same with Jordan.

Jon most likely refused to sign the best video game deal he'll ever get. But the bottom line is Dana is a moneybagging president making decisions in complete fear.

Losing Fitch and Koscheck knocks out two top-5 guys from the Welterweight division, a division starving for depth.

Edited by d0ublestr0ker0ll
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StillUnknown

StillUnknown

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thats kinda foul. the UFC needs Fitch, Koscheck, & Cain Velazquez. i can't believe they would cut them over something like this

especially Fitch who just got some real recognition after goin 5 rounds with GSP. and they need Cain for that super thin HW division they're trying to hold together

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lovetoaster

lovetoaster

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Posted
thats kinda foul. the UFC needs Fitch, Koscheck, & Cain Velazquez. i can't believe they would cut them over something like this

especially Fitch who just got some real recognition after goin 5 rounds with GSP. and they need Cain for that super thin HW division they're trying to hold together

My thoughts exactly...I am shocked by this news.

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Sebowski

Sebowski

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Posted

More on it here

http://www.usatoday.com/community/profile.htm?UID=b973fd1960517f32&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3Ab973fd1960517f32Post%3A6a1ddeb2-defa-4a6e-a240-875203407a5d

White “This is not an attack on Jon Fitch. It’s not an attack on any one fighter. We have chosen not to do business with this camp called AKA. These guys have never, ever, ever treated us like partners. They’re always fighting over stupid, stupid (stuff) and negotiating over stuff that makes no sense. They’re negotiating like they’ve got Mel Gibson and this thing is the biggest movie ever being made. You know what I’m saying? The reality is, we’re not even sanctioned in Massachusetts or New York … (and) we’re going into all these different countries trying to do these different things. And I’ve got these guys that basically don’t want to be partners with me. You’ve got morons — morons — that are running these fighters’ lives. But to tell you the truth, one of the fighters from AKA called me and said, “Listen, I don’t care what these managers say or what they’re doing. I make my own decisions and my decision is, I’m with you. I’m your partner, I’m in.’ And this was before we even told AKA we wouldn’t be doing business with them any more. So this really isn’t an attack on Jon Fitch or any personal fighter. We’re just choosing not to do business with AKA any more. We’re not going to do business with them. And listen, there’s other guys out there that they can go do business with; they’re just not going to do business with me. Now there’s rumors out there, I know, about, ‘It’s over a video game deal. It’s over the ancillary rights agreement. It’s over this, that.’It’s over a lot of different things. It’s not one specific fighter or one specific thing. It’s about a lot of different things with a lot of these fighters. And you know what? This is more than just AKA. There’s other camps out there that we’re having trouble doing business with. And at the end of the day, this is a business. We run a business just like any other business. You come in, you do your job with your company and you get paid. And the guys that don’t want to do business with you — then go work somewhere else. It’s as easy as that. You don’t have to do business with us. There’s other people out there you can do it with.”

Fitch is basically saying that you told his management team was, "If you don't like it, you have nowhere to go. Who are you going to sign with?" Is that an accurate characterization of what you said?

"That's not accurate at all. I never talked to Jon Fitch once. I never talked to Jon Fitch. I talked to the AKA guys, the guys who manage him.

The only fighter that called me from AKA was Mike Swick. Mike Swick called me from AKA, that was it. And Mike Swick said, "Listen, I don't know what's going on. I don't care what's going on. I'm with you, I'm in business with you guys. You guys are my partners." And I said, "I appreciate that, Mike. We look at you the same way."

This isn't an attack on any fighter. I didn't talk to (Fitch) and say, "Where are you going to go? What are you going to do?" Affliction is trying to do build a company right now. Those guys are dying for fighters — dying for fighters. I'm sure Fitch isn't going to have any problems finding work over there, or any of the other guys.

But if Fitch called me today, if Fitch called me right now and said, "Dana, listen, I don't know what happened with my managers ... but I want to work this out with you," I'd work it out with Fitch in two seconds.

It has nothing to do with Jon Fitch or any other specific fighters. It has to do with the management team, the guys who own AKA. I don't want to be in business with them anymore. End of story.

You're saying that it's an accumulation of things that finally brought it to this point...

Exactly. "

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lovetoaster

lovetoaster

Posted
Posted

See, now this is a very level headed account. I like seeing these more than the quotes that said F Fitch and F Velasquez earlier. It's just a little more professional, you know? Ahh, maybe that's just the pr guy coming out in me.

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lovetoaster

lovetoaster

Posted
Posted
Dana might not be able to tell the whole story because of legal stipulations, but his beef is vague as hell.

His beef is vague, but Fitch does not seem like he knows what the hell is going on either. This whole thing is baffling.

Fitch only knows what his crew at AKA has told him, and that seems pretty vague and what Dana is spouting is pretty cloudy too.

In the end, I bet Fitch goes elsewhere, but Kos and Velazquez leave AKA and stay with the UFC. That sucks because I like Fitch.

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Sebowski

Sebowski

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This is the funniest part of the story for me.

Fitch:

I never talked to Dana directly, but they did, DeWayne (Zinkin) and Crazy Bob (Cook) did....

I don't know. I got my promotional contract terminated — I got that e-mail today, so as far as I'm concerned — my contract's terminated, I'm no longer with them.

I'd like to speak with Dana myself personally once just to ask him, "What's going on? Is this really how you treat people?"

White:

But if Fitch called me today, if Fitch called me right now and said, "Dana, listen, I don't know what happened with my managers ... but I want to work this out with you," I'd work it out with Fitch in two seconds.

:doh:

Pick up the phone Fitch.

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d0ublestr0ker0ll

d0ublestr0ker0ll

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Posted
His beef is vague, but Fitch does not seem like he knows what the hell is going on either. This whole thing is baffling.

Fitch only knows what his crew at AKA has told him, and that seems pretty vague and what Dana is spouting is pretty cloudy too.

In the end, I bet Fitch goes elsewhere, but Kos and Velazquez leave AKA and stay with the UFC. That sucks because I like Fitch.

Agreed. I can't understand to this day why Randy and Dana never talked throughout their battle. Using a biased middleman seems ignorant of Fitch. Call your boss, man. But Dana is jumping the gun big time. Is a termination of this sort supposed to be hair-triggered? They should talk things out man to man. If AKA wanted Fitch to shut his mouth, he should say F-you and ditch them. AKA, UFC, is it really a tough choice?

That said, if the lifetime video game agreement is true...it is a TAD outlandish.

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lovetoaster

lovetoaster

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Posted
All the AKA guys should go to Strikeforce, forget Affliction. Strikeforce is a much better run org and is based out of San Jose, like AKA. Strikeforce has a TV deal with NBC and HDNET. They are poised for the long haul, I don;t know if the same can be said about Affliction.

I agree. I like Strikeforce and think they are a very well run organization. I think they have gone about it the right way in building a name and building a fan base, whereas Affliction just tried to jump onto the scene with a bang. That does not work out very often.

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StillUnknown

StillUnknown

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Posted

i think Dana might have gotten caught promising fighters to the video game company before the promotional contracts were signed. maybe thats why this seemed to happen overnight

i still find it hard to believe that Dana couldn't come up with a better decision than to cut the 2nd best WW in the world, and potentially cutting the another top 5 WW and a fast rising HW prospect in a division that needs as many prospects as they can get

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Destino

Destino

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I just can't believe that Dana is in charge of a multi-million dollar business. Could you imagine the CEO of Coke coming out and saying "**** THEM!" about one of their distributers?

Coke and the UFC are striving for very different images. Having said that I doubt the CEO of coke is any different. He just can't be a hard ass in front of the cameras.

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Special K

Special K

Posted
Posted

Thanks for the article Sebowski. Interesting read. When the news first came out I believed a lot of the circulating rumors to be facts...which it appears that were not. I can now see Dana's side of the issue and I have to say that I pretty much agree with him. If I owned a business and was unable to work cohesively with another organization or manager, I'd tell them to take their business elsewhere. And if the fighters wanted to stay with them, fine. If they wanted to fight in my organization without being managed by the dismissed company, that's fine too.

I just can't believe that Dana is in charge of a multi-million dollar business. Could you imagine the CEO of Coke coming out and saying "**** THEM!" about one of their distributers?
I think the CEO of coke would do that, as well as any shrewd CEO of a company. If you have a dysfunctional partnership with another company you dissolve your partnership.
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StillUnknown

StillUnknown

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Posted

well this didn't last very long: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2008/11/20/jon-fitch-back-in-the-ufc/

Just shy of a day after the reported dismissal of Jon Fitch by the UFC, It appears the two have come to an agreement and the top 5 welterweight has returned to the company.

The news was first reported by MMARated this afternoon.

It is being reported that Fitch spoke with UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta this afternoon and the parties managed to resolve their differences, and the fighter will sign the much talked about video game licensing agreement.

Fitch still stands by his assertion that he didn’t appreciate the way Dana White treated the fighter when attempting to negotiate a deal for video game licensing.

At this point everything appears to be resolved and the scheduled fight with Akihiro Gono at UFC 94 appears to be back on.

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