...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Golden Glory attempted to get part of Alistair Overeem's UFC 141 earnings withheld as the two sides undergo litigation in Clark County, Nevada, but they failed to post a surety bond with the court to enforce the garnishment.
However, that was simply an opening salvo fired, and in January they once again received a court order to withhold Overeem's earnings from the event, according to MMAJunkie.com.
Per the report, Golden Glory - through their corporate parent company Knockout Investments - obtained an order requiring Zuffa to withhold $427,714.27 of Overeem's earnings from his UFC 141 victory over Brock Lesnar. They were required to post a surety bond in that amount, which they have done, and the order was executed on January 24 and served to Zuffa.
Overeem's total disclosed pay was $385,714.28 for the event, but he also received a pay-per-view cut as well as other guaranteed payments. Per the report, the $427K figure represents 30% of Overeem's purse, win bonus, pay-per-view proceeds, and "guaranteed payment for ancillary and intellectual property rights as set forth in the UFC Contracts and Zuffa's Promotional and Ancillary Rights Agreement of September 2011."
The money will be held in escrow until a judgment is made in the currently ongoing lawsuit filed by Golden Glory against Overeem. In the cage, Overeem is expected back on May 26 in a Heavyweight Championship bout against Junior dos Santos at UFC 146.
Penick's Analysis: Overeem thought he was out of the woods a little bit when Golden Glory failed to post a bond on the initial withholding, but now they've hit him even harder with this. Of course, if he prevails in court, the money will be his, but it's a significant chunk of change he does not have access to for the moment. This lawsuit isn't going away anytime soon for him, and it's going to be a big case for Overeem to deal with before being able to officially move on with his career.
[Alistair Overeem art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
DON'T GO YET... WE SUGGEST THESE MMATORCH ARTICLES, TOO!
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.