Many people have been asking MY view on what happened with StrikeForce and Golden Glory. Finally, after hearing from the fans and fighters involved, I thought to write what I though.
First thing we heard was: “Dana said that it was the problem from GG management, that they don’t want the checks directly to go to the fighters”. But then there is suddenly a picture from Marloes Coenen’s check on the Internet with her name on it, a check that she cashed herself.
Some will ask, “Why does GG do business like this?” Well, it’s for their own protection of course, but it probably started because some checks from Japan started to bounce from some organizations. And if they didn’t bounce, the fighters would be able to get them cashed 6 or 8 weeks later. Since fighters want their money right away, and GG loves their fighters, they said “No problem, we pay the fighters from our OWN money, pay their trainers and sparring partners, and then when the money comes in, we simply deduct everything from the check that is paid, this way everybody get’s paid”. I know for a fact, 100% true, that they STILL need to get money from some organizations. The fighters got paid, but GG didn’t because they paid the fighters out of their own money. And some people say that they are crooks? Please explain this to me, who else, what management, give me one name, does this?
As a fighter, this would be something really cool, but even more for the trainers, because, ask trainers how many times they get paid by their fighters? You will be amazed with how many do NOT. I know fighters who became World champion in big organizations, even the UFC, and they never, yes, you read this good, NEVER, paid their trainer (OK, I might be wrong 1 or 2 times from the at least 10 or 15 times, but I am pretty sure I am not wrong). It sickens me and I would love to mention names, but out of respect of their coaches, I won’t. I hope those fighters read this, so they know that I know.
Anyway, these problems don’t exist at GG, at least not when the management is taking care of this.
So we know now why GG does this. And of course when GG heard that the UFC wanted to pay their fighters directly, and that they otherwise didn’t want to do business, GG right away said “OK, no problem”. And that’s why you saw that check from Marloes Coenen popping up.
So what is the real reason then that they let the fighters go? Well, because we don’t have an answer now, I started speculating and thinking about everything, that’s something you do when you don’t have answers.
The truth is, I don't exactly know, but what I DO know is that Alistair Overeem was in a beautiful spot. When he would win the tournament, his contract would be over and that would put him in a really good spot.
That's about the same situation as I had in Pancrase. I had ONE more fight on the contract, and Pancrase waited for that moment and then put Funaki against me. They thought: "Funaki beat him before, he will do it again, and when that happens, we have Bas in a perfect position for the new contract".
But, that all fell through because I beat Funaki, and now I, not them, was holding the power to negotiate.
Similar position for Alistair, IF he would win his last fight on the contract of course.
You heard from Alistair that he went into the Werdum fight with an injury, and that Scott Coker knew this and told Alistair he HAD to fight, and if he would do that for him, he would give him time to "heal up" after the Werdum fight. "No worries, late fall is gonna be the finals", is what was said to Alistair, his trainer and management
Now, they suddenly changed the date, I believe it was because it fell on the same day as another event, but whatever the reason was (it doesn't really matter), Alistair was promised late fall, NOT early September.
Oh, and for people who wondered about this: why didn't Alistair tell the people he was injured right after his "not Alistair like" performance against Werdum? Because then the people could have understood why he was "off", right?
The reason of that is that Alistair hates people who look for excuses. He even said that Remy Bonjanski deserved an Oscar after he complained about a fight he lost; he also had hard words for Badr Hari when he complained why he lost against Alistair. So the last thing that Alistair wants to do, is be like the guys who he said looked for excuses. Otherwise people are gonna say “He’s complaining about those people, but he’s exactly the same!”
Now, the Big Foot fight, is probably the most important fight in his career, you don't think that he wants to be without injuries before he fights a guy like that? Especially after fighting with an injury and not able to perform as usual. (he could have lost the fight against Werdum because of it).
And talking about injuries, why didn't StrikeForce ask for his medicals? Could it be because they already knew he was injured? Or did they simply want to get him out of that "Golden contract" that he had? I really don’t know what the reason is, but tell me, could it be something else? Because to me, it all looks weird, and you start getting those conspiracy theory's.
Like, could it be that during all the stress of selling the company, StrikeForce didn't realize what they were doing when making this, for Alistair really good, contract?
Or didn't it matter because they were selling the company anyway?
Because the fact that Alistair IS the StrikeForce heavyweight Champion (and only person in the world who holds a K1 World title and not 1, but 2 different MMA World titles), and that he DOES have a legitimate reason not to fight (X Rays plus letters from Doctors), makes me really wonder why they let him go.
And then, (if that's not weird enough), the next week they suddenly let the rest of GG go, Valentijn Overeem, OK, I expected that, he simply didn't fight, but Jon Olav Einemo (who they, by the way, also paid personally) was UFC and not StrikeForce. And Marloes Coenen after losing only her last fight, which was a World title fight they let her go!?
“They don’t like the management from GG”, is what I have been tweeted by MANY fans, and you know what? It really starts to look like this now.
But, then some of you will say, "Kharitanov is still there, they didn't fire him and he is also GG". Yes, that's true, but that could be true because otherwise everybody would have known 100% that it’s a "powerplay", (that’s what they call it on the internet).
Now we simply never "really know" what went on, all we can do is speculate and making conspiracy theories.
But, whatever the reasons are, the fans lose in this situation. Because the chances that Alistair is going to fight in the UFC now, are slim, and I don't know about you, but I would have loved to see Alistair versus Jr Dos Santos, two top strikers in an MMA match, hell yeah!
So let’s hope it get’s fixed!
Oh, last thing, just so that you know, because people also made their own stories about this in the past. When Alistair won the SF belt he didn't have contract with SF. SF didn't offer Alistair a contract or fight from Nov 2007 until May of 2009 when they had secured the Showtime deal. This is why he never defended his belt throughout that time. They didn't have the money to pay him or the opponents for him to fight. Look for yourself; look at the heavyweight fights SF had between those dates? Was Alistair supposed to fight Paul Buentello over and over again?
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