New Details on the Mark Miller / Deray Davis Cancellation

by Brent Brookhouse on Nov 9, 2009 5:37 PM EST in News Comment 37 comments

After our last update in which we had ULTMMA getting a statement from Knock Out Representation there was a report on The Underground stating that Mark Miller and Deray Davis had been promised a fight on the next Strikeforce card and had "been compensated." I decided to speak to Miller's representation myself to clarify.

When asked if they had now been paid their win bonus as the Underground post insinuated:

Mark was not given his win money.. the fight being cancelled also caused us to miss out on the sponsor $ that were under contract. As you know often the sponsorships can exceed what the fighter was set to make for his actual fight night salary.

I can not speak for what happened with the promotion.. We just know the fight was scrapped and are obviously disappointed. What can ya do? We look forward to hearing from Strikeoforce very shortly to schedule a new bout. Either way we greatly appreciate our partners-Jaco Clothing, Hayabusa, World Fight Shop, Immortal Apparel, Guerrilla Fight, Another Dimension Tatoos and Rockwell Watches. We look forward to Mark fighting in the VERY near future.

So it is clear that they were not paid anything but the show money by the promotion and I would assume that at this point they won't be getting any more for this event.

Knock Out Representation on if Strikeforce has indeed promised them a fight on the next card:

nothing has been promised as of yet.

Again, clearly there has been no activity since the show to make things right with the fighters.

MMARecap takes the story even further:

Even more upsetting is the fact that both fighters are local and sold several tickets to their friends, family, and training partners. While exact numbers are not known, MMA Recap has estimated that somewhere between 120-150 tickets were sold between the two fighters. In a 12,000 capacity venue, that's roughly 1% of all the fans showed up to watch that specific fight. MMA Recap has also confirmed that several of these fans tried to get a refund as the only fight they came to see live did not happen. These fans were told, "Card is subject to change" and were denied their refund.

I continue to await a response from Strikeforce on what has become a very disappointing story for a promotion that put on such a big event. I will continue to bring you any information on this story as it becomes available.

Update by Brent Brookhouse:

I will be speaking to Strikeforce about the situation Tuesday afternoon. Information will follow at that point.

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Comments

"Pay thyat man hees money."

Although detractors decry (MMA) as a brutal, bloody form of human cockfighting, aficionados know it is a brutal, bloody, totally fucking awesome form of human cockfighting. -The Onion

by The Kittitas Kid on Nov 9, 2009 6:11 PM EST reply actions 5 recs

I love Rounders.
rec’d

'Ello G'vnor!

by IHateMMA on Nov 9, 2009 6:25 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

isnt that dude fedors spiritual mentor?

by pandaboy99 on Nov 9, 2009 6:43 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

He actually owns the other 80% of M-1 Global.

by argyle on Nov 9, 2009 6:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Oreo Cookie!

by cauliflower_ears on Nov 10, 2009 1:03 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Damn, just when everything was going so well…

by HighNoon on Nov 9, 2009 6:12 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

When do the Salary Numbers come out? I’m curious to see how much there show money was.

by asmiley420 on Nov 9, 2009 6:13 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

It might not be mandated in Illinois, so maybe never.

by kid_eh on Nov 9, 2009 7:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

If every fighter representative isn't at least trying

To build in some contractual protection against this kind of thing they should be immediately fired.

Giving Shogun his props. I had the fight 48-47 Machida but Shogun put up a monumental performance and I am honored to have seen it in person.

by Day Man on Nov 9, 2009 6:22 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Strikeforce was probably in the red.....

….given they are in bed with M1 and probably had to pay Fedor a million.

by Dexerion on Nov 9, 2009 6:32 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

if this is one of the reasons why they didn't (or don't want to) do it, then... damn..

weoweoweo .deviantart .com -- @antontabuena

by Anton Tabuena on Nov 10, 2009 12:35 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Unfortunately this sort of stuff happens

with every promotion that isn’t the UFC…

by SES 84 on Nov 9, 2009 6:44 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Disgraceful.

Bolts from the Blue // "Game over." - Jamal Williams
Bloody Elbow // "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken

by Richard Wade on Nov 9, 2009 6:58 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Fuck Strikeforce. Seriously.

by Michaelthebox on Nov 9, 2009 7:16 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Disgraceful sums it up pretty well. I really poor revelation and end to what seemed to be quite a successful night for Strikeforce.

by TOON_UF on Nov 9, 2009 7:17 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Greasy.

Keep firing Assholes!

I am the King of Rome, and am above grammar. -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor

by Ubernoober on Nov 9, 2009 7:18 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Mr. Brookhouse

To see good journalism in place of childish rants and finger pointing is refreshing and should actually provoke a response. It would be nice to see this issue picked up by others in the media…

To the subject at hand: how can strikeforce not be held responsible for this; the contracts were to them for the fight not CBS, the responsibility for the fighters health, conditions and well being and income is up to the promoter not the media outlet distributing the product.

by Beren on Nov 9, 2009 8:05 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Does anyone have a gif of that trip Mousasi did to Sokoudjou when he was on his back and Sokoudjou was standing over him?

They didn’t show it in the highlight reel at the end of the round either :(

I think it was about 1 min from the end of the first round.

Also, I hope that Strikeforce goes out of their way to patch up things with these guys sponsors on their behalf, as well as increasing their purse for their next fight.

Many of these guys at this level in the sport are coasting barely above water in terms of finances and to see them treated this way is pretty unethical.

by DirtyML on Nov 9, 2009 8:21 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
MMA Editor - SBNation.com

by Brent Brookhouse on Nov 9, 2009 8:29 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks, another slick move for the gif collection :)

Good job following up on this story too.

by DirtyML on Nov 9, 2009 8:41 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Right foot hooks knee, left foot pushes hip, left hand picks ankle. It’s really beautiful.

Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
MMA Editor - SBNation.com

by Brent Brookhouse on Nov 9, 2009 8:45 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Sexy even.

A man should never waste an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.

by iiowyn on Nov 9, 2009 11:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Please see update...

I will be speaking to Strikeforce tomorrow afternoon.

Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
MMA Editor - SBNation.com

by Brent Brookhouse on Nov 9, 2009 8:33 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Brent, Thanks for doing this.

Mark’s a Chicagoan, and being one myself, I’m pulling for this kid to get his coin!

Cheers,

Jay K.

by JAYGK95 on Nov 9, 2009 8:46 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I've spent time living in the 'burbs...

and Chicago is the closest “major city” to where I’ve spent the majority of time (southwest michigan) so I always pull for Chicago guys

Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
MMA Editor - SBNation.com

by Brent Brookhouse on Nov 9, 2009 8:51 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Deray is from this area too and a good guy to boot. He had a ton of friends and family on hand for the fight (as did Mark). It’s a bad situation. Good work on all this Brent, it’s appreciated by all of us.

Twitter.com/mmagroundnpound
www.mmagroundnpound.com

by bigtim on Nov 9, 2009 11:28 PM EST via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, I briefly spoke to Deray at the weigh in and he seemed like a really good guy. Both he and Miller looked good, neither appeared to have a bad cut…etc.

Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
MMA Editor - SBNation.com

by Brent Brookhouse on Nov 10, 2009 8:54 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for staying on top of this man. The “real” media doesn’t give a shit, so I’m glad we’ve got guys like you.

by asa on Nov 9, 2009 11:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I hate to see big sponsors like Jaco and Hayabusa, particularly the latter, totally stiff a small time fighter for not competing due to something wholly out of their control. The way athletes get treated says a shitload about how they feel about a sport.

by pdl on Nov 9, 2009 10:03 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

it’s to be understood though. They aren’t paying the guys out of the goodness of their hearts, they’re paying them to advertise a product. no fight means no advertising.

by Phildo on Nov 9, 2009 10:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It’s understood in the contract. Certain companies will pay fighters even when they don’t need to, because they care about the sport and the athlete more than squeezing for money. It’s just like the UFC backroom bonuses, you treat fighters well when they do the best they can for you. I understand the local sponsors pulling out, but major, established combat sports brands that could easily chip the guy some cash for loyalty… I hate it.

by pdl on Nov 9, 2009 10:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

If Strikeforce makes some gesture to make it up for the fighters and the upset fans, they’ll earn a lot of credit in the MMA community.

If they leave this issue as it stands – shame on them.

by klown on Nov 9, 2009 11:07 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

credit for what they should have done from the beginning? we’re probably not even talking about more than a few grand here. their minimum show money is 1500 and win bonus is 1500.

They didn’t even have a choice in paying the show money – the commission pays that.

I dont blame them for cancelling a fight… shit happens and they are going through some growing pains. But you have to make things right.

Affliction did the same thing and paid show and win bonus for both fighters.

This shit happens in Zuffa where a fight gets canceled and its not even Zuffa’s fault (fighter injury the day of the fight or a few days before or what not) and Zuffa still makes things right.

I dont expect strikeforce to pay their sponsorship monies or refund their families tickets but they should at least pay each fighter their win bonuses, book them on the next card asap and give them a bunch of comped tickets for the next show to make up for it.

Im sure they will do something otherwise Brent will probably “WAMMA” their asses.

by mmalogic on Nov 10, 2009 2:52 AM EST up reply actions 6 recs