UFC Releases Fitch And Others

Fozzy

John Fitch and Christian Wellisch wouldn't sign agreements that gave the UFC lifetime rights to their images for video games so the UFC cut them: http://mmamania.com/2008/11/19/jon-fitch-christian-wellisch-and-possibly-others-cut-by-ufc/

A usually reliable source called in to MMAWeekly's radio show saying that Josh Koscheck was cut too

On the one hand, I can understand the complaints of people who say that the UFC is being very overbearing with their "lifetime exclusive" rights thing. But really, is a guy like John Fitch ever going to be in another video game? And if he is, is it going to be big enough to the point of it being worth giving up his UFC contract?

Charlie3dan

Fozzy wrote: »

A usually reliable source called in to MMAWeekly's radio show saying that Josh Koscheck was cut too

I got an email on monday saying Josh Koscheck was headlining a special event on december 10th against Yoshida. Seems strange they'd cut him without letting that fight go ahead first.

Dragan

Fozzy wrote: »

John Fitch and Christian Wellisch wouldn't sign agreements that gave the UFC lifetime rights to their images for video games so the UFC cut them: http://mmamania.com/2008/11/19/jon-fitch-christian-wellisch-and-possibly-others-cut-by-ufc/

A usually reliable source called in to MMAWeekly's radio show saying that Josh Koscheck was cut too

On the one hand, I can understand the complaints of people who say that the UFC is being very overbearing with their "lifetime exclusive" rights thing. But really, is a guy like John Fitch ever going to be in another video game? And if he is, is it going to be big enough to the point of it being worth giving up his UFC contract?

Well, considering Fitch went for 25mins against GSP and couldn't be shut down i'd say he has some faith that with improvements he will yet wear the strap. And frankly i agree with them.

Signing away your image rights for life for anything is a stupid idea under the vast majority of circumstances.

Article says Koscheck will still fight.

Dana has his say


This looks bad for the UFC to be honest. They're trying to own the fighters.

“We’re looking for guys who want to work with us and not against us, and frankly I’m just so [expletive] sick of this [expletive] it’s not even funny. Affliction is still out there trying to build its company. Let [Fitch] go work with them. Let him see what he thinks of those [expletives]. [Expletive] him. These guys aren’t partners with us. [Expletive] them. All of them, every last [expletive] one of them…. I’m not a douche bag and I do a lot for these guys, a lot more than any of you will ever know. We’re in a horrible time in the economy now, and every guy with two nickels to rub together is making a run at us. We’ve worked too hard, given too much, to let certain guys come in and [expletive] with that.”

– UFC President Dana White fumes via Yahoo!Sports.com about the situation that went down earlier this evening surrounding the release of Jon Fitch for not signing an agreement that would give the promotion exclusive lifetime video game rights to his name and likeness. White appears to be most heated about the management team that represents most of the fighters out of American Kickboxing Academy (AKA), Zinkin Entertainment. In fact, he says that with the exception of Chuck Liddell, Mike Swick and more than likely Forrest Griffin (who are also represented by Zinkin Entertainment) that other top fighters such as Josh Koscheck and Cain Velasquez are also possibly on the outs. “Kos,” as of press time, is still scheduled to headline UFC Fight Night 16: “Fight for the Troops” on December 13. However, after reading these comments who knows what the future holds. This is madness.

Drunkmonkey79

Its just one more step into monoply madness for Dana, he's becoming Vince McMahon! He wants all of the fighters under his rule but couldn't possibly have enough shows to showcase them all, he wants fighters on his roster so no one else can have them and now he wants their likeness rights FOREVER! Madness!!

Fitch comments

I agree on the one hand about the video game rights being unlikely to affect Fitch but a lifetime sign over for anything without negotiation is a huge deal.

Shockwaves were sent through the world of mixed martial arts on Wednesday night with the news that top welterweight fighter Jon Fitch had been dropped from the Ultimate Fighting Championship following a contract dispute.

Just hours after learning of his release, Jon Fitch spoke exclusively to MMAWeekly.com about the situation that led to the events that have now made him a free agent.

"This is like over the course of two days, three days," Fitch explained about the release. "It had to do with Dana (White) calling my managers and immediately saying, 'we need to get him to sign this contract' and 'it's a big favor to me.' Then we asked him, 'Why do you need this contract signed?'

"Then we finally asked, after reading through the contract, why can't we negotiate for different terms? Because it asked me for a lifetime contract for the video games, so they would have exclusive rights to use our likeness for these video games and we couldn't go and do any other video games ever again in our lifetime."

Before anything was decided, Fitch says his managers tried to re-negotiate a different deal from the lifetime contract, but an ultimatum was soon made.

"So basically we said we weren't cool with that deal and why can't we do it for five or 10 years? Why does it have to be a lifetime deal? Their next response was, 'either you guys are in or you're out' and 'sign this or you're going to get dropped from the UFC,'" said Fitch. "So we hear that and we didn't even think they were serious. Why would you want to release fighters at our level over something like that? Doesn't make any sense.

"Within two phone calls, it got to 'sign this or you guys are out.'"

The American Kickboxing Academy welterweight standout explained that the situation for the urgency of the contract from the UFC might have stemmed from another company, EA Sports, putting out an MMA video game of its own. Apparently the UFC had promised all of its fighters exclusively to THQ, the makers of the upcoming UFC Undisputed 2009 game scheduled for release in spring of 2009.

"We were already promised to THQ by the UFC, even though none of us were under contract (for that), in order to save face, they had to force us to sign this thing," he explained.

He also states that the new video game contract was partially due to the fact that competitors in the UFC were originally given a "merchandising" contract that was shot down after many fighters did not want to sign that either.

"It started with the merchandising agreement," Fitch stated. "The original merchandising agreement they sent out, it encompassed all avenues of all this stuff and everything that falls under merchandise, and they wanted to force us to sign that a while ago. (They wanted) all the guys in the UFC to sign these contracts blindly that gave them all of our rights, image, everything that they could find anyway to market or sell us."

The Indiana born fighter went on to talk about his confusion following a tenure with the UFC that included nine fights, eight of which were wins, and a hard fought five-round decision loss to Georges St. Pierre that has garnered talk for "Fight of the Year."

"This is seriously how they're trying to treat fighters? Especially me? " Fitch questioned. "I've never complained about them. I've always done my best for the UFC in a positive way. I've fought my ass off. I'm arguably the second best welterweight in the world. Yet they are still willing to release me, especially after my last fight?

"Just because I lost, it sure as hell wasn't because of lack of effort or poor performance."

The day started with Fitch confirming his next fight in January against Akihiro Gono, but just as quickly, he received a rescinded contract from the UFC for the bout agreement, and shortly thereafter, a voided promotional contract effectively releasing him from his fight contract.

"We got the bout agreement returned today and then later tonight they released me from my promotional contract. So at the moment, I'm no longer with the UFC. I'm unattached right now," Fitch commented.

While the deal to sign a lifetime contract didn't necessarily appeal to Fitch, he says it was the manner of which the deal was brought to the table that ultimately angered him the most.

"Honestly the contract wasn't even that big of a deal," he said. "We're not getting paid for it anyways, and it's not a deal where I'm actually going to get another deal with a video game agency. I don't have that kind of pull, most guys don't. It has nothing to do with that. It's that they brought this contract to us and basically kicked in our front door, came in guns blazing, and said 'sign this contract or you're dead.'"

Regardless of the contract situation, Fitch feels the mistreatment is simply unacceptable and he is willing to move on if that's what has to happen.

"I am the UFC's bastard son," Fitch said adamantly. "I mean, from the get go. I don't even know how better to explain it. They didn't have any regard or care for me whatsoever. There's nothing more I want than to be the UFC champ, but something like this and they're going to throw me away?

"I also have confidence in the fact that I'm one of the best fighters in the world. I'm going to find a home, and I'm going to find a way to make money no matter what the deal is. I will not be treated and talked to like a dog."

A fighter with the talent of Jon Fitch will likely be snatched up by another promotion very soon, but still he is just shocked at the way everything happened.

"It's not like I've been bad mouthing them or doing anything negative toward the UFC at all. All I've done is go out there and fight my ass off. I'm at a loss. I don't even know what to think right now. I'm still kind of in shock."

dunkamania

I have felt for the last while that it was only a matter of time before the UFC did more harm to MMA than good, I just figured it would be further down the road.

Charlie3dan

Fitch is right and the only way to handle it is for the fighters to take a united stance on it. I'm a fan of Dana White and frankly I hate when this stuff gets in the way of seeing the best fights but he can't treat fighters this way.

Yea I like Dana as well but his business sense is very much all take and no give. He does try to make out that he's made guys millionaires which is true but are the fighters getting a fair slice of the money being made off them? I don't think so.

I read Tito's book (pure literary genius:pac:) and he makes Dana out to be a very hardline negotiator who will not budge unless he absolutely has to. He says Dana would emotionally blackmail him with things like "you'd have nothing if it wasn't for me" etc etc. And I think this was shown in his dealings with Fedor.

Bubs101

f4wonline wrote:

While not cut yet, without a resolution, White will be cutting Cain Velasquez, the heavyweight who many considered the future of the division, as well as Josh Koscheck. Koscheck will not be cut right now because White felt that by Koscheck saving the company by taking the fight with Thiago Alves on 10/25 on less than two weeks notice, they owed him at least one more fight. Plus, it would be difficult to replace him since he is scheduled for the main event, against Yoshiyuki Yoshida, on 12/10 in Fort Bragg on the next Spike TV "Fight for the Troops" special.

Velasquez would be a big loss as well. He was two fights away from a championship match.

Also, does anyone know if Couture was asked to sign the same contract as seeing as he got a role in Red Alert 3 I could imagine him being very reluctant

cowzerp

Deleted User wrote: »

I agree on the one hand about the video game rights being unlikely to affect Fitch.

Imagine in 1 year fitch leaves UFC or is kicked out, they still put him on there future games while he's trying to build his reputation, and he's used as the brutal guy in the game that everyone beats up!

Thats what would happen, not real life but it could still tarnish peoples outlooks on him, especially new younger fans who never seen him till the game..

Perfect fit

i think its more that other promotions wouldnt offer him contracts as the ufc still effectively "owned" his image

dunkamania

Below is an articel on a radio interview with Dana on the subject

Favourite bit

"White would continue with his passionate response but became so angry that the amount of expletives he used exceeded the station’s delay, prompting Carmichael to place the UFC president on hold until the delay could be restarted. When order was restored, White returned and apologized."

Full article

UFC President Dana White publicly addressed reports of the release of former welterweight title challenger Jon Fitch during an emotional radio interview Wednesday night with sports talk show host Carmichael Dave during “The Carmichael Dave” show on 1140 KHTK in Sacramento.

Within seconds of the interview’s commencement, a distressed White didn’t hold back his feelings on the situation.

“No, no, no. It has nothing to do with an agreement,” White corrected Carmichael when the host began to suggest Fitch was cut amidst reports he wouldn’t sign an agreement that would grant the UFC lifetime rights to his likeness for the purpose of making video games.

“It doesn’t have to do with Jon Fitch either,” continued White. “I like Jon Fitch. I’ve never had a bad word with Jon Fitch. The problem is with the idiots that run AKA. I won’t use any names; the idiots know who they are.”

But in expressing a big picture concern that extends beyond Fitch, White began to introduce the current state of the economy as a reason why he doesn’t understand why fighters are more agreeable to terms of deals that are being presented.

“The economy is changing by the second. Every day when you wake up tomorrow, bad things are happening,” he said. “Not just in the United States but all over the world. Television networks are in trouble. The sponsors who used to sponsor them are in trouble. Some of them are going out of business and the rest of them are cutting their sponsorships big time.

“Companies that have been around for hundred years are going out of business. It’s crazy. Banks are going under. And I’m in a situation now where I’ve got these guys — I’m trying to run a business — bro, I live on a plane 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That’s all I do is fly everywhere to try to build this company. And these guys think this thing is so big and these guys start negotiating all this stupid stuff like they’re Mel Gibson. No disrespect to Jon Fitch — I like Jon Fitch — (but) like we’re going to be doing the Jon Fitch swim line sometime soon? And then the clothing line.

“It’s insane. What I try to do — is we put together all of these things and we try to make everyone money. That’s the way that it works. But I’ve got these guys from AKA, these idiots, that don’t want to play. Listen, at the end of the day it’s not a big deal. The problem is because when something goes wrong in the UFC all the idiots from the media like to jump out and go, ‘Yeah, there’s something negative with the UFC. Let’s get out there and talk about it!’

“Listen, this is just like any other job. You don’t want to work for me? They’re plenty of other opportunities out there. The t-shirt guys are trying to start their own business. Get in business with them. Do it with somebody else. If you don’t want to be in business with me? Then you don’t have to be in business with me. It’s simple as that.”

Later in the interview, Carmichael then began to read a quote by Fitch from a Yahoo! Sports article written by Kevin Iole in which White issued a direct response.

“’I’m more than willing to work with them, but I don’t see why we have to give up our whole lives. Why not a time limit?,’” the host read before being cut off by White.

“What’s with this whole lives?,” White interjected. “Do you know how much Jon Fitch made for the Georges St. Pierre fight? Where the hell else could Jon Fitch go right now and make the money he made? He made $169,000 for that night for that fight. Where’s he going to make that kind of money in one night?”

White would continue with his passionate response but became so angry that the amount of expletives he used exceeded the station’s delay, prompting Carmichael to place the UFC president on hold until the delay could be restarted. When order was restored, White returned and apologized.

However, he wouldn’t remain calm for long as he once again started to verbally assail the media and the state of the economy.

“It’s like all the media wants to jump up and go ‘Oh the UFC! The UFC!” Shut up! Shut up. Every one of you shut your mouth. Mind your business. Here’s the deal: the reality is we’re working our asses off to make this thing bigger and better for everybody. The world is a very dangerous place right now with this economy.”

White also confirmed during the course of the interview that he had been contacted by Mike Swick and indicated that Swick had expressed a desire to handle business on his own and work something out with the UFC. In regards to other fighters affiliated with AKA such as Josh Koscheck and Cain Velasquez, White didn’t mention them by name but stated he had no desire to work with any fighters that are represented by the San Jose-based fight gym.

Nothingcompares

Woah! Nightmare!

How does it work in fifa and ea? Does Fifa own the image rights for all soccer players? Do soccer players get a cut from EA on their game sales or does the money go to fifa? how does it work in the NFL for the John Madden games?

Maldini2706

He's back

http://mmarated.com/blogs/blog/20081120/rated_exclusive__fitch_back_in_ufc-1081.html

Less than a day after being reportedly ousted from the UFC in a contract dispute Jon Fitch is now back with the company, the top welterweight contender confirmed to MMARated.com on Thursday afternoon.

After speaking with UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta via phone, Fitch said the two had managed to clear the air, that the fighter would sign the company’s much-maligned video game licensing agreement and was cleared to fight Akihiro Gono at UFC 94, as previously planned.

Fitch added that he still hasn’t spoken to UFC President Dana White and admitted that he didn’t like the way he’d been treated by White during attempts to negotiate a deal involving rights to his name and likeness for the upcoming “UFC Undisputed 2009” video game.

“Communication kind of broke down with Dana (White) so we talked with Lorenzo,” Fitch told MMARated. “(I) just got off the phone with him and we came to an agreement. We’re going to move ahead and I’ll be back in the UFC. We’re going to sign off on the video game and I’m back. It was never even about the agreement or the contract. It was the approach that we felt Dana was being a little bit hot-headed and was threatening us right off the bat. It didn’t seem like a professional way of doing things.”

MMARated’s Ariel Helwani is on the scene at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif., and will have more from Fitch as it happens.

Fozzy

Well, all's well that ends well apparently. Fitch and Wellisch are back: http://mmarated.com/blogs/blog/20081120/rated_exclusive__fitch_back_in_ufc-1081.html

He spoke to Lorenzo Fertitta on the phone and agreed to sign the video game agreement. Wellisch had already agreed, but he was released because he had the same management and Dana was annoyed at them

Something interesting that I learned from this was that the UFC can't release a fighter after a win. So even if Cain Velasquez doesn't agree to sign this agreement, they can't get rid of him until either he loses or his contract ends

Same for Koscheck, although they wouldn't think of releasing him until after his next fight, even though he lost his last one, because he took that on short notice and they always feel indebted to someone who does that

Fozzy

From f4wonline.com:

The gist of the major story of today with the firing of Jon Fitch and Christian Wellisch by UFC is that it's largely problems between DeWayne Zinkin and Dana White that came to a head and the fighters themselves were the victims of the crossfire. We have a lot more on last night's audio show and will have the most detailed story in the Observer this week that will be available on the site tomorrow. The videogame issue was part of it, but these have been problems simmering for many years, long before most of the fighters in question were even in the UFC.

I'll post the main info when I can :pac:

Karmafaerie

Nothingcompares wrote: »

Woah! Nightmare!

How does it work in fifa and ea? Does Fifa own the image rights for all soccer players? Do soccer players get a cut from EA on their game sales or does the money go to fifa? how does it work in the NFL for the John Madden games?

Now that's a liscencing nightmare!

Every club owns the marketing rights of the player to some extent.
The own the rights to the players footballing side.
Their own personal rights belong to them, but as Pro and FIFA (EA) are footballing games, it falls under that.
That's why Beckham or Henry will appear in a game, but it doesn't stop them advertising markers or gilette.
The club licences are owned by the individual clubs, but managed by the leagues.
So FIFA (EA) for instance has a deal with the premiership.
The competition licences reside with FIFA and UEFA.
So Pro could buy exclusivity for the Champions League.

All this doesn't stop individual teams from signing agreements.
Such as Man Utd and Liverpool signing deals with Pro, while FIFA (EA) have the rights for the premiership.

All very confusing.

To be honest though, this whole video game thing is nonsence, and not the issue.
The only fighter I can think of who ever ownded his own rights and never compromised, is Mike Tyson.
He signed an exclusive deal, which is why you won't see him in the likes of EA Fight Night.
Most sportsmen never even think about it, as it only effects you if you're one of the real stars.

Going back to the football games for instance, The players themselves get no money from it, as it's part of their contract.
The clubs don't get paid individually as it's part of the league agreement that they get paid every year for being in the league (except this time around with Man Utd and Liverpool who signed individual deals with Konami).
The leagues get paid for the rights to the competitions, and UEFA and FIFA get paid for the rights to the competitions they own (ie: Champions League/European Cup/World Cup).
The only players that get paid, are the ones who're put on the cover, and I'm sure that would be the same with the UFC games.

mirwillbeback

Fozzy wrote: »

Well, all's well that ends well apparently. Fitch and Wellisch are back: http://mmarated.com/blogs/blog/20081120/rated_exclusive__fitch_back_in_ufc-1081.html


Same for Koscheck, although they wouldn't think of releasing him until after his next fight, even though he lost his last one, because he took that on short notice and they always feel indebted to someone who does that

to be honest Fozzy, i don't think the UFC feel indebted to anyone, Tito, Randy good examples. they seem to be total bullies, and eventually their guys are going to walk - all they need is an organistation that can last more than a year!

rovert

mirwillbeback wrote: »

to be honest Fozzy, i don't think the UFC feel indebted to anyone, Tito, Randy good examples. they seem to be total bullies, and eventually their guys are going to walk - all they need is an organistation that can last more than a year!

Yeah just look at Wrestling industry, oh wait yeah :eek:

Fozzy

As promised, here's the basic outline of what's in the Observer

DeWayne Zinkin, the representative of the AKA guys (Fitch, Koscheck, Velasquez, Swick and Wellisch), and Dana White have had some bad blood dating back to when Zinkin represented Sean Sherk in 2003. Sherk had a title fight coming up and his contract ran out a week before the fight with one fight left on the deal. So Zinkin insisted that Sherk get paid for the fight that didn't take place as well as the new title fight. Dana said that the title fight was the final fight in his contract and that they had a new and better deal lined up for him after the title fight. Zuffa ended up having to pay Sherk for the fight that he didn't have, and it annoyed them a lot, so they released Sherk after he lost the title fight

The reason Zuffa insisted on this lifetime video game exclusivity license is because THQ already have the rights to use UFC fighters, but they don't have exclusive use. The word is that two other companies want to make an MMA game and THQ obviously wouldn't be very happy about a rival company using their characters

The "lifetime exclusivity" thing is unlikely to hold up in court. It never has in the few times that it's been challenged in pro wrestling, one time by Lesnar

The "lifetime" bit is so that the UFC can legally still sell the videogame after a fighter leaves the company. Say Fitch signed a five year deal. Then he leaves the company and in five years time the UFC are still selling the videogame that's due to come out soon, with Fitch on it. Fitch could sue them, saying that they don't have the right to use his image on the game. So with the "lifetime" clause it means that they can continue to sell the videogame without modifications after fighters leave the company

Wellisch agreed to sign the deal but Dana had decided to get rid of all the AKA guys, so he got caught up in the middle of it. Velasquez wasn't released because they couldn't legally since he won his last fight. Koscheck wasn't because they felt they owed him after he took his last fight on short notice and because he's aready advertised in a main event in an upcoming show. Swick wasn't because he rang Dana before the dispute and said that he's on his side

It's another way in which the UFC are modelling their business after WWE. WWE released two of their top guys who had negotiated outside merchandise deals in the past. Now they have exclusive merchandising deals to prevent that

Zuffa are also very protective of their rights


That's the main stuff, although there was a lot more written than that

rovert

Ill vouch for Fozzy on this, Meltzer pretty much wrote an extra issue of his newsletter for it.

Derek Coleman

Seriously guys, do you care how the UFC runs its business? Does it affect you? Are they big evil corporate Bullies? Get a bleedin grip.

Its good to read all this cause it gives us something to talk about but don't get all high and mighty and curse the UFC and Dana White. Are any of us running a successful MMA organisation? No. Chill out, let them do what they've been doing for 10 years +. They've survived this far with great success.

If the fighters start running the company its the beginning of the end for UFC.

Some people like to say UFC is like WWE. Well look what happened to WCW. The wrestlers ran that company. ............into bankruptcy.

Fitch has come out very well in all this. Stayed calm and didn't say anything he'd regret too early. Good to see him back.

Fozzy

Derek Coleman wrote: »

Seriously guys, do you care how the UFC runs its business? Does it affect you? Are they big evil corporate Bullies? Get a bleedin grip.

Its good to read all this cause it gives us something to talk about but don't get all high and mighty and curse the UFC and Dana White. Are any of us running a successful MMA organisation? No. Chill out, let them do what they've been doing for 10 years +. They've survived this far with great success.

If the fighters start running the company its the beginning of the end for UFC.

Some people like to say UFC is like WWE. Well look what happened to WCW. The wrestlers ran that company. ............into bankruptcy.

Fitch has come out very well in all this. Stayed calm and didn't say anything he'd regret too early. Good to see him back.

I think what annoyed most people is the thought that the UFC were forcing their fighters to sign "lifetime" image deals. Hopefully my last post explains why that's so important for the UFC and why it doesn't really affect the fighters negatively much at all

I think that the key reason that it got to the point where Fitch was released was that Dana's been under a lot of stress lately (the state of the economy appears to be driving him mad) and he's not great pals with Zinkin (there was also some other stuff in the Observer about Wellisch's and Velasquez's recent contract talks not going well for a few reasons). When Zinkin tried to reword a deal that the UFC absolutely requires, it looks like Dana wanted to send a message rather than deal with him anymore

Derek Coleman

Dana has been great entertainment over the last few months in his interviews and video blogs!
Constantly cursing and calling Affliction "The t-shirt guys". LOL. It adds to the UFC that they have someone like that who speaks his mind and sticks to his guns. The whole EliteXC thing was brilliant aswell.

Jon Fitch is upset at the way his Boss treated him....... Boo Hoo. Build a bridge. We've all been there.

Red Sleeping Beauty

I came across this article and it's kinda connected to the thread - http://www.gamespot.com/news/blogs/rumor-control/909119209/26943052/ufc-threatens-to-ban-ea-mma-fighters.html

UFC threatens to ban EA MMA fighters?
Posted Jul 2, 2009 4:00 pm PT By TomM_GScom 270 comments Source: Enthusiast blog MMA Scraps, relating a forum post on the Mixed Martial Arts Underground forums.



What we heard: It isn't just the fighters in the octagon that employ merciless tactics to defeat their opponents, it would seem. Last November, a number of news outlets reported that welterweight contender Jon Fitch and his fellow American Kickboxing Academy members were cut from the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Reportedly at cause for the move was a licensing disagreement between Fitch and the UFC on THQ's UFC Unleashed 2009, in which the fighter refused to sign away his name and likeness rights in a lifetime contract for the game.

While that issue ultimately came to a peaceful resolution, the UFC again appears to be strong-arming the mixed martial arts talent pool over the fighting organization's deal with THQ. As spotted by enthusiast blog MMA Scraps, a Mixed Martial Arts Underground forum poster with the username Golden Boy said yesterday that the UFC was prepared to ban all unsigned fighters who agree to be a part of Electronic Arts' upcoming MMA title.

"I hear that all [MMA] managers were informed that if any of their clients not currently under contract with the UFC sign to be a part of the EA game, the[y] will forever be banned for fighting in the UFC," Golden Boy wrote. Later in the thread, a poster using the handle KenP--who MMA Scraps identifies as notable MMA agent Ken Pavia--substantiated this claim, writing, "It's true. And they told me [they] want the word out."

EA announced its entrance into the MMA genre during its press conference at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo. Though EA has yet to officially announce any fighters for the game, former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia told MMA News that he and fellow ex-champ Randy Couture had both been signed to appear in the game. EA Sports MMA is in development at Madden studio EA Tiburon, and the first installment is due in 2010.

The official story: Neither the UFC nor Ken Pavia's agency had responded to GameSpot's request for comment as of press time. EA declined to comment on the matter.

Bogus or not bogus?: Given the UFC's strong-arm business tactics in the past, this report seems entirely plausible. However, without firm confirmation from one of the parties involved one way or the other, it's impossible to say for certain.

Not a very well written arcitle/rumour (and I know if a few days old) but with EA releasing an MMA video game could it restart this "lifetime rights" thing ? Will the UFC try and use strongarm tactics to damage EA's bid and keep an monopoly or will the "lifetime exclusivity" remain as defined (sort of) by Fozzy's post above where it's just related to the specific product.

Fozzy

There's me getting a fright about what this means for the show next week :pac:

I read this in the Wrestling Observer last week. I don't think that it's anything to take too seriously. The UFC are trying to scare fighters into not being in the EA game, which may just be because of pressure from THQ who want to see their own MMA game do best

But while it may cause a slight obstacle for the fighter, if the UFC really want a guy like Jake Shields, for example, they'll sign him whether he's in the game or not. And if he is in the game then it'll probably just raise his stock and make the UFC more eager to sign him

If I were a fighter looking to get into the UFC soon, and with a reasonable chance of it happening, then I'd stay away from the EA game. But if I wasn't interested in seeking out the UFC until a good bit after the game comes out then I'd have no fear signing up for it

Red Sleeping Beauty

Fozzy wrote: »

There's me getting a fright about what this means for the show next week :pac:

I read this in the Wrestling Observer last week. I don't think that it's anything to take too seriously. The UFC are trying to scare fighters into not being in the EA game, which may just be because of pressure from THQ who want to see their own MMA game do best

But while it may cause a slight obstacle for the fighter, if the UFC really want a guy like Jake Shields, for example, they'll sign him whether he's in the game or not. And if he is in the game then it'll probably just raise his stock and make the UFC more eager to sign him

If I were a fighter looking to get into the UFC soon, and with a reasonable chance of it happening, then I'd stay away from the EA game. But if I wasn't interested in seeking out the UFC until a good bit after the game comes out then I'd have no fear signing up for it

Yeah that's what I was thinking. If it's someone high profile and worth the money that they want to sign then UFC will sign regardless of a game. It may just be THQ pulling a few strings .

Maldini2706

It's possible that being in the EA may stop THQ from using a fighters image rights in any future game as well.

Professey Chin

Karmafaerie wrote: »

The only fighter I can think of who ever ownded his own rights and never compromised, is Mike Tyson.
He signed an exclusive deal, which is why you won't see him in the likes of EA Fight Night.

Sorry I just had to draw attention to this part

Ad198906

Mod edit-- abuse

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2 week ban

Valmont

I won't really be missing John "Unanimous Decision" Fitch at all. I found his fights were usually predictable and boring.

Ad198906

Ad198906 wrote: »

Mod edit-- abuse

We have rules on abusing fighters/promoters etc.
2 week ban

Valmont wrote: »

I won't really be missing John "Unanimous Decision" Fitch at all. I found his fights were usually predictable and boring.

LOL @ this thread. This was sorted out and Fitch is back in the UFC, he only fought 2 weeks ago!

Mossy Monk

Valmont wrote: »

I won't really be missing John "Unanimous Decision" Fitch at all.

Oh dear