UFC
Dana White cites differences in business practices for mass release of Golden Glory fighters
Aug 4, 2011 - 11:45:28 PM Dana White cites differences in business practices for mass release of Golden Glory fighters

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

As had been reported in some areas, the UFC's reasoning for releasing several Golden Glory fighters came down to a difference in business practices. Marloes Coenen, Valentijn Overeem and Jon Olav Einemo joined Alistair Overeem in being released from Zuffa this week, and UFC President Dana White said on Thursday that their reasoning for the cuts is pretty clear.

"This is actually a pretty simple explanation," White told reporters after the UFC 133 pre-fight press conference. "If you look back throughout history, we haven't had any Golden Glory guys fight with us since Semmy Schilt, right? And the reason is, we have very different business practices. It's tough to do business with them.

"The bottom line is, the way that they do business is, you have to pay them, not the fighters. We don't work that way. It's not the way we do business. It's not how it works here in the United States with the athletic commissions. You don't pay the managers and the managers pay the fighters. You pay the fighters and the fighters pay the managers."

For her part, Coenen told ESPN's Josh Gross that being paid by Golden Glory is how she preferred it for tax reasons, and that's precisely why they do things the way they do, but White says that simply isn't how they're going to do business. And in the case of Einemo, they played it the UFC's way and allowed him to be paid directly, but in losing his fight and them having overall difficulties with Golden Glory, he found himself on the chopping block.

"We can't do business with those guys the way that they do it," White reiterated. "There's a lot of places throughout the world they can do business like that; it's not a big deal for the promoters. We can't do it. It's not right. It's not the right way to do it."

"Well, the reality is, we're trying to work out these deals with these guys and they won't do it. They said, 'You absolutely cannot pay the fighters. You have to pay us.' Like I said, it's pretty simple to look back. The last guy to fight in UFC was Semmy Schilt, that was a Golden Glory guy. There's a reason for that."

Golden Glory has one remaining fighter on Zuffa's roster in Sergei Kharitonov, who will meet Josh Barnett in the semifinals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix in September. White said they are honoring his deal because his fights in the Grand Prix have him being paid directly, but when it comes back to negotiating for another deal it will likely mark the end of his run in the organization.

Penick's Analysis: The issue of paying the management team directly and having them pay the fighters, when it's clearly an issue of avoiding certain taxes, doesn't have a great ring to it for the UFC. Strikeforce went along with it, which is why disclosed payrolls for Golden Glory fighters were extremely low on many occasions. The UFC is taking a hard line stance and on a company-wide case they're not making exceptions on it. If Golden Glory refused to go along with that, it ultimately may have hurt their fighters and the paydays they could have received in Zuffa-owned organizations. Still, they'll have places to fight, there will be money to be made, they just won't be seen in the UFC or Strikeforce unless and until they change their stance on certain things.