ROUND TWO: A controversy develops…

As news of Fitch’s release started to spread, the MMA media gave it a collective “WTF” for the reasons we enumerated in Round 1: Fitch won’t sign, Dana blows up. The usual coterie of Dana White/UFC nuthuggers notwithstanding, it became clear that Fitch was getting the better of things in the media coverage of the story….

FiveOzofPain reported on a Dana White radio interview where he claimed that Fitch’s release wasn’t about the video game issue and went postal again, blaming the media and the economy:

“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.

White would continue his disjointed rant until the radio station had to reset their time delay due to his barrage of f-bombs:

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.

Dana White radio interview @ FiveOzofPain.com

One of “the t-shirt guys”, Tom Atencio of Affliction, indicated that he’d welcome Fitch to the fold:

“Yes I am,” Atencio said of his interest. “Does that mean we’re going to get him? Don’t know.”

Atencio commended Fitch for standing up to the proverbial 800lb. gorilla.

“I think if you don’t agree with something, than you should stand up for what you don’t agree with,” he continued. “And I’ve got to give it to him, he’s got balls for doing it.”

Though he admits Affliction’s welterweight division is thin at the moment, he says the problem can soon be fixed, and Fitch could sign a non-exclusive deal with the company.

“We’re still working both ways,” Atencio said of Affliction’s contracts. “There’s some guys that want to fight in Japan and want to fight in Canada. Until we get going full bore and get 12 fights a year or whatever we’ll end up doing, it’s really hard for us to hold these guys to anything and make them sit on the bench. If they’re not making money, they’re not paying their bills. If they’re not fighting, they’re going to get ring rust. I don’t want to do that to them.”

As the number two ranked welterweight in the world, it’s likely Fitch will soon have several suitors.

“I think he’s a great fighter,” Atencio said. “He’s at the top of his game.”

Meanwhile, the hardest working man in sports media Michael David Smith at AOL Fanhouse reported on Fitch’s primary concern with being released from the UFC: sponsorships. Fitch indicated that “75-80%” of his income was from sponsorships and being in the UFC equals more money from sponsors:

“I’m leaving all that stuff up to my management,” Fitch said when asked if he’d fight for another promotion. “I know I’m welcome in several places but we’ve got to talk prices and what kind of money we got there. That’s where the big hit is, is the money on sponsorships, because those are probably at least — at least — 75 to 80 percent of the money you make.”

After a question from Morency, Fitch continued, “If you’re not in the UFC — the UFC is a big show. That’s what everybody knows and everybody watches, so all the sponsors want to be seen in the UFC. So if you’re not in the UFC you take a big hit in the wallet.”

And that takes us back to why UFC has all the leverage in its dealings with Fitch: The UFC is by far the No. 1 brand in MMA, and there’s value to being associated with that brand. A lot of fighters will take what they view as a sub-par deal from the UFC just to be associated with the UFC brand. Fitch is going to find out the hard way that it’s not easy to make a living as a fighter if you’re not in the UFC.

One of the other top dogs in the MMA media kennel, Kid Nate at Bloody Elbow reported on Ivan Trembow’s take on the situation:

It’s crystal clear in USA Today’s interview with Dana White that what the UFC is trying to do is separate the fighters from their managers, whose job is to look out for the best interests of the fighter (as opposed to just signing whatever the UFC orders the fighters to sign).

White cites Mike Swick as an example of a model employee, a “partner” as he words it, who called White personally and said to forget about his management because he’s with the UFC.

White says in the same interview that if Fitch would just call him and do the same thing (ie, separate himself from his management and agree to sign what the UFC wants him to sign), that White would do that in two seconds.

The message to fighters is clear: If you want to keep fighting in the UFC, but your manager or lawyer advises you against signing the merchandising agreement, you can just ditch your manager, contact me directly, and sign whatever I tell you to sign.

In the USA Today interview, White also puts unnamed “other MMA camps” on notice that he’ll cut off all relations with them just like he did with Fitch’s camp if they don’t do what he wants.

Nate offers the following observation with a historical example from a different medium:

Honestly I feel like what the UFC is trying to pull is very old school monopoly business practices. Kind of like what DC comics did to the guys who created Superman or what Marvel did to Jack “King” Kirby. Its bullsh*t to try to force guys to sign away lifetime rights to their likeness. And in this day and age of online communications its very hard to get away with this kind of bareknuckle stuff. Even if you are the best MMA promotion in the history of the planet.

He also mentions a forthcoming documentary on Matt Lindland’s legal battle with the UFC–we’ll get the trailer to that and post it later this evening. He concludes with this great line which succinctly sums up our take on this situation and the sport of MMA:

Basically the movie asks the question, “If its not about the best fighting the best, is MMA a sport?”

Good question. Sometimes it feels like its more of a racket.

The Fitch v. Dana story even made it to the UK, a story in The Sun newspaper reported that “Jon Fitch has been axed by the UFC in a row over image rights”

In Dana vs. Fitch/AKA Round 3, Lorenzo makes the peace…for now…