UFC
Cutman Jacob "Stitch" Duran says UFC terminated working relationship because he spoke out on Reebok deal
Jul 21, 2015 - 10:15:47 PM Cutman Jacob "Stitch" Duran says UFC terminated working relationship because he spoke out on Reebok deal

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

In yet another example of the UFC's totalitarian hold on the MMA world, they've terminated their working relationship with well known cutman Jacob "Stitch" Duran after he revealed that those in his position have lost their sponsorships because of the Reebok deal.

@daej81 You will be the first to know that the UFC just let me go because I spoke out about the Reebok deal. Got to look for a new job!

— Jacob Stitch Duran (@StitchDuran) July 21, 2015

In an interview with MMAFighting.com, Duran had some harsh words for UFC President Dana White after he was let go by someone lower on the totem pole.

"I learned from that," Duran said. "There's no way that me as a person would go through that, as an adult, go through that again. It's been coming in the years where the UFC has just shown no respect for the great work that the cutmen do... That's another thing that pisses me off, that he didn't have the balls to call me directly. He had some other guys call me.

"It's not like I'm going to lack any type of work. It's just that I really enjoyed working with the fighters and the people in the UFC. To get a nut shot by Dana in him not calling me and having the balls to call me, it just showed me the kind of characters that I was dealing with... Dana has definitely changed. Now it's all about the economics. It used to be a fighter friendly environment."

Penick's Analysis: This shouldn't really be surprising to anyone who's paid attention to the goings on with the UFC over the years, but it doesn't make it alright. Duran was among the best at his job, and countless fighters have benefited from his presence at events over the years. That there was no consideration given to ancillary members of an event is also not surprising, especially given how seemingly little consideration went into what the actual fighters were losing. Duran getting released from his duties with UFC events because he dared speak out is another sign to all those who don't hold significant sway that they're expendable at the slightest sign of discontent.