A blow-up between UFC President Dana White and Duane Zinkin of Zinkin Entertainment has led to the dismissal of American Kickboxing Academy fighters Jon Fitch and Christian Wellisch, and unless a resolution is reached it is very likely that Josh Koscheck and Cain Velasquez will be following them out the door.
Zinkin and Bob Cook represent a majority of AKA fighters, and the disagreement stems from Zinkin advising his fighters against signing a new merchandising contract that would give Zuffa the exclusive lifetime rights to the name and likeness of its contracted fighters. Fitch refused to sign the agreement and was cut, and while Wellisch was agreeable to signing the deal, he was cut as well simply because he’s associated with Fitch.
“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,” White said in his typical charming style from Hawaii. “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.”
Velasquez has one fight left on his current contract but the company will not renew his deal at this point. Josh Koscheck, who saved the company last month by stepping in to face Thiago Alves on last-minute notice, will at least get his main event on December 10th against Yoshiyuki Yoshida, but that will likely be his last fight for the company as well. He’s only getting to fight in December because Dana White promised him that he could.
Mike Swick, another member of American Kickboxing Academy, will remain with the UFC. He called Dana White and said he wants to continue with the UFC and will sign the merchandising agreement.
Dana White tells USA Today that there is no lifetime deal on merchandising. His side of the story is that Zuffa would have the rights to create merchandise for fighters, but the contract wouldn’t stop them from doing business elsewhere.
I’ll have more on this developing story in tomorrow’s edition of The Botterm Dollar.
