Jon Fitch released from the UFC, other AKA fighters also rumoured to be released
By wetnut21 on Nov 20, 2008
Severa
l MMA sites are reporting that Jon Fitch, who’s coming off a 5 round loss to Georges St. Pierre, has been released by the UFC due to a dispute over image rights with regards to the UFC’s upcoming video game.
Some other AKA fighters are also rumoured to have been released, including Marcus Aurelio, Josh Koscheck, and Heavyweight prospect Cain Valesquez.
Edit: Another fighter confirmed to be released is Christian Wellisch.
[Update from Dustin]
UFC President Dana White reportedly spared Ultimate Fighter 1 standout and AKA member Mike Swick because Swick personally contacted White and pledged his allegiance to the UFC.
Fitch alleges that the UFC simply would not budge in any sort of contractual negotiations. He also has stated that he has been happy with the way that UFC has treated him and has nothing to do with money. For Fitch, the dispute is firmly an issue of respect.
More on this as news breaks.
Comments (6)
Get 1 Now
Get Free Gear
the fact that you even are saying jon made a bad move b/c w/o the ufc he has nothing is EXACTLY THE PROBLEM W/ THE UFC BEING THE ONLY BIG FIGHT GAME around. Because the UFC has such a powerful position in terms of showcasing fighters, and the fact that there aren’t too many other organizations for fighters to go to is why there needs to be other organizations.
No matter what you say about how bad EXC was in terms of their management or the fall of IFL & potential fall of Affliction and AFL, this bodes horribly for the fighters, who we as fans should be concerned about, as well as, our own abilities to watch FREE mma. Without these other organzations, we are severely limited in terms of what we will see and who we will see, and the fighters face the same problems. It is interesting that ALL of the other major sports organzations do not require their athletes to sign such crap and again why the UFC for as good as they are, are as bad as they are.
More fighters need to follow Fitch so that if all the fighters said “f” u to the UFC re: ancillary rights, then they would have to change their position. Right now, being one of the only big boys in the game allows them to bully everyone and anyone and that is not good for Fitch, for other fighters, for the fans or for the sport in general. Let ESPN take this on MMA live and give this issue the press they gave to Couture v. Lesnar and see what the public suddenly thinks about the UFC’s tactics and treatment of it’s fighters
I didn’t say anything about Fitch making a bad move.. With that being said, it’s certainly not a great move for his career.
I agree that if more fighters leave the UFC, especially big name fighters, it would go far in increasing the competition in the industry.
It would be absolutely fantastic if this issue came up on MMA live. I’d also like to see what Florian thinks about giving up his lifetime image rights.
TheFlyingTsunami, I’m shocked that you didn’t read the post, and then pretended like you did. I mean, it was only like 30 words. I agree that the UFC needs competition, but the UFC fighters boycotting isn’t a realistic solution, and everybody knows it. They’re not that organized, and Zuffa has the money to break a boycott really, really easily.
This is disappointing. Aurelio is a good fighter, as is Fitch, and Velasquez was a huge prospect. I won’t be shocked if they get this issue resolved, and I think that Fitch and Velasquez, especially, will work hard to get this sorted out.
In terms of what should be done to combat this, ESPN is not going to run a special on contracts in MMA. They’re not going to juice this, which is why the internet media (media-sphere II) needs to do something. Or at least try.
We’re not the people’s champion, and we’re certainly not the representation for the fighters. But we are being offered a great story on a silver platter.
After being emotionally upset and nearly destroying my computer . . . I thought about it for second.
The UFC has every right to ask the fighters on contract to sign those contracts. I guess, although it involves a thirdy party organization. From a business stand point, I really don’t see why Dana White wants to force this issue down the throats of his contracted super-star fighters. Personally I think a UFC video game will work well with a handful of stars and just simply create characters to fill in the roster. The game play is really important and they’ll only need a couple to really market the game . . . not all!!!
Personally I can see why Fitch management doesn’t want him to sign the contract. I wouldn’t sign ANYTHING in perpetuity without some financial compensation. I’m sure every fighter is learning lessons from Randy Couture’s recent ordeal. Even if I had no interest in working in the billion-dollar video game industry, I couldn’t simply hand over the rights to my name and image without compensation. Wait, yes Fitch would be getting extraordinary marketing and promotional push with the game BUT the contract possibly closes the door on any other opportunity.
I guess Dana White is really reading the Vince McMahon playbook. If Fitch ever starred in a big blockbuster film . . . expect White to get executive producer credit.
——————
“I had two fights left on my contract, but they always put a clause in the contract that if you lose a fight, they’re able to release you at any time after a loss. That’s pretty standard with any organization, but it’s pretty incredible that they’d go to those lengths for something like this, over a video game.
The video game agreement that they have that they wanted us to sign was basically we don‘t get anything for it. We get free publicity and promotion from the game, which is great, no problem. The problem is it’s a lifetime exclusive contract. That means we would never ever be able to work with any video game companies other than the one the UFC provides.” – Fitch (grabbed from Sherdog)
The article also mention that Fitch’s management tried to negotiate a 5 or 10 year deal as opposed to a lifetime sentence (oops, contract).
I got to add this.
I do think Dana White does a lot for his fighters, but I guess he also expects a great deal in return to help build the sport. Overall I think its unreasonable, but many leaders of huge companies conduct business in the same way. I’ve heard horror stories concerning business practices from Microsoft and Apple.
Hey at least Fitch is currently on the cover of the heavily marketed UFC DVD Ultimate Comebacks! I wonder if they will stop showing the great GSP-Fitch match on Spike?
f u guys!!haha