UFC
UFC Champ Ronda Rousey's split with Fight Tribe Management hitting California Supreme Court
Apr 5, 2014 - 1:45:06 PM UFC Champ Ronda Rousey's split with Fight Tribe Management hitting California Supreme Court

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey was granted a release from her management contract this week after requesting an expedited hearing through the California State Athletic Commission.

Rousey had been managed by Darin Harvey and Fight Tribe Management en route to getting into the UFC, but she's moved on to a new team, and is trying to get out of a contract that she'd had with Fight Tribe. The CSAC got her out of the management portion, but not the entirety of the deal.

CSAC Executive Director Andy Foster made a ruling only on one portion of the deal, though, and the remainder will head to the California State Supreme Court. Via Sherdog.com:

"The agreement is hereby found to be invalid and unenforceable as it relates to Rousey's professional fighting services and Harvey's professional fighting management services, only; the Commission makes no findings as to the other parts of the agreement that are not directly relating to MMA fighting and defers these matters to the California Superior Court. Rousey and Harvey are released from their fighter-manager agreement dated May 15, 2012, and the California State Athletic Commission orders any and all purses, which may have been partially or wholly withheld to be released to Rousey."

From his side, Harvey made a comment on Twitter regarding the ruling, and commented further in a statement made to Pro MMA Now:

ATTYN MMA MANAGERS IN CA IF YOU DONT GET YOUR 1.5 PAGE BOXING CONTRACT RATIFIED YOU HAVE NO CONTRACT AS IT RELATES TO PURSE #WILLGETSCREWED

— Darin Harvey (@darinharvey) April 5, 2014

"When I first met Ronda Rousey four years ago, she was destitute and UFC President Dana White was quoted as saying a woman would never fight in the UFC. I set out to make Ronda a star and prove Dana wrong. The results speak for themselves. Ronda is now a highly sought-after model, spokesperson and actress, not to mention the first and still reigning female UFC champion. She deserves all the credit in the world for her accomplishments, but she never would have achieved such unprecedented success without the unwavering financial investment, career guidance and professional support Fight Tribe Management and I provided her.

I am not a litigious person, but I never thought for a moment that once she made it to the top, Ronda would turn her back on us and refuse to honor her legal and moral obligations. After months of radio silence and without even giving me the courtesy of an explanation I was forced to go to court to compel Ronda to private arbitration per the terms of our agreement. Before that could be sorted out, Ronda's legal team ran to the State Athletic Commission, demanded an expedited hearing and tried to get our entire agreement thrown out on a technicality. During our four-hour hearing last week, I finally heard Ronda's side of the story. Frankly, it's pathetic and I'm not surprised the Commission chose not to include any of that in their written decision. The Commission did properly reject Ronda's attempt to invalidate the entirety of our agreement, and I am very pleased with that aspect of their decision. Our case against Ronda will now proceed. I am confident that when all the facts are presented to an impartial private arbitrator, Fight Tribe Management's contributions to Ronda's career will be fully recognized and fairly rewarded."

Penick's Analysis: It seems Rousey's going to wind up paying up some money to Fight Tribe following arbitration, and honestly, if they backed her to the point alleged, then it will turn out as the right thing. Of course, not knowing the particulars of their rift to begin with makes it hard to speculate with any certainty on this type of thing. Regardless, she's no longer got obligations to Fight Tribe as a management group, but she will have to deal with the rest of the issues contained in what's moving to the supreme court.