Rage in the Cage Responds to Strikeforce Challengers Blood Work Story

Rage in the Cage matchmaker John Petrilli sends along his version of what happened with the Christian Grosinsky/John Wood bout at Strikeforce Challengers 10. I'm not going to offer any additional comment, you all are aware of my feelings on the situation and they have not changed. I'm also aware that I said the last post would be the final on the situation but with RitC being such a major player in all of this it is only fair that they have their side of the story printed as well:

    The Christian Grosinsky vs John Wood on the Strikeforce Challengers 10 fight card was scratched at 4PM on fight day with the show starting at 5:30PM to accommodate Showtime televised live starting at 8PM PST.

    The blame for this cancelled bout first centered on Strikeforce, then on Rage in the Cage then on the AZ Commission or a combination of these three.

    Here are the facts:

    John Wood had 3 teammates on the Strikeforce undercard.  These match ups had been in place for over 3 weeks when I offered John Wood the replacement slot.  I took into account the fact that he was traveling to the show to corner his teammates and would be at the show with or without a match up.

    Initially, when I offered the bout to John Wood, I expressed two concerns.  Could he get all his medicals done in time and could he make the mandatory 186 pound weight limit ?

    Here is his Aug 9 e-mail reply:  "Well .... I can have my meds done tomorrow and I can make the weight"

    I was in daily communication with John Wood and the AZ Commission regarding this matter.  In an Aug 10 e-mail to me John Wood stated "All of my meds are done but the blood results won't get the (sic) until thur or fri .. I'm faxing the rest today ...".  Upon check in, when John Wood reported for the official weigh-ins at 5PM on Thursday, the AZ Commission advised him that they had received his physical and his optholomogical exam but not his HIV, Hep B or Hep C blood work.

    The entire Commission staff was at the Dodge Theater by 3PM on Friday ( fight day ) and still had not received the blood work.

    Follow-up on Monday, revealed that the date/time stamp on his faxed blood work to the Commission Office was 3:54PM on Friday August 13, 2010.  The Commission staff did not get physical possession until Monday morning.

    The Grosinsky vs John Wood match up was scratched at approximately 4PM on fight day about 90 minutes prior to the show start time.

    Here is how Strikeforce compensated Christian Grosinsky that evening for this unfortunate incident:

    1.  Paid him his full show AND win purse.
    2.  Gave him a pair of competition Strikeforce MMA gloves.
    3.  Two comp tickets ( face value $126 ).
    4.  Provided excellent seats for Grosinsky and his cornermen for the show.

    Now that all the facts are known, I hope this provides closure on this incident without any wrongdoing whatsoever assigned to Strikeforce, Rage in the Cage or the AZ Commission.

    John Petrilli ( RITC Match Maker )