Jon Fitch Released From The UFC

[quote]Kataklysm wrote:
Maybe I just don’t understand all that legal stuff but how is this situation different from all the hockey players appearing in NHL games? Why does it matter to Fitch and the others, I’ve never heard of an hockey player getting kicked out of the league because he didn’t want to appear in a game.

Edit: Actually it’s the term “likeness for life” that confuses me, I’m french and I’m not really familiar with that expression.[/quote]

Basically it means that for the rest of the fighters life, any image of them used in a video game would be the property of Zuffa. So they could never work for any video game again unless it was allowed by Zuffa.

dAlso, from what Fitch said, they were to receive no royalties or compensation for signing the contract, they just wanted the fighters to give that likeness up for the sake of being in the UFC.

This might not seem like a major deal, but you have no idea what it is going to be like in 20 years. Boxers from 20-30 years are getting paid a lot of money to be in the Fight Night games, if someone makes an MMA game 20 years from now these guys want to be able to cash in on that. Signing this deal would mean they never make a cent and Zuffa can do what they want with their image.

good explanation donut…

basically they are agreeing or in this case not agreeing to allow their likeness to be used for profit that they will not be sharing.

Or working , or your image working without
compensation.

On an ethical note, its who knows what else your likeness or image will be used for,
what endorsements advertising ect your signing yourself up for.

kmc

Did the rest of the fighters agree to this abysmal contract? Wow.

wow, if the ufc loses koschek to, and lets say affliction signs koschek, shields, and fitch, and hughes and serra have their one final bout before heading off into the sunset, and st.pierre moves to 185, affliction will have more top end welterweight talent than the Ufc

but good for fitch for standing up for what he thinks is right, and not signing what he calls a ridiculous deal. oh and talking about welterweight talent, what will ever happen to karo parisyan to?

I have a feeling a lot of this is Dana just playing hardball. I think they will eventually come to an agreement.

[quote]Donut62 wrote:
I have a feeling a lot of this is Dana just playing hardball. I think they will eventually come to an agreement.[/quote]

Apparently, they did as Fitch is now back with the UFC and the fight with Gono is back on.

Fitch was just caught in the middle. It’s his manager that Dana doesn’t like and things boiled over yesterday.

[quote]Djwlfpack wrote:
Donut62 wrote:
I have a feeling a lot of this is Dana just playing hardball. I think they will eventually come to an agreement.

Apparently, they did as Fitch is now back with the UFC and the fight with Gono is back on.

Fitch was just caught in the middle. It’s his manager that Dana doesn’t like and things boiled over yesterday.[/quote]

You mean, Dana doesn’t like Fitch’s manager because he looks out for Fitch’s interests?

It looks like Lorenzo Fertitta stepped in and settled the matter and came to agreement with all the AKA fighters.

[quote]Donut62 wrote:
It looks like Lorenzo Fertitta stepped in and settled the matter and came to agreement with all the AKA fighters.[/quote]

Not to read too much into this, but is it possible that the only guys Dana is answerable to are starting to get sick of his crap?

Yeah Dana is a smart business man, however he is a prick. He knows how to rub people the right way in order to get people to watch UFC.

I especially like when Dana bashes boxing, and that kids are lining up to train in MMA. Maybe Dana never got the memo that most people can’t afford to send their kids to a “MMA” class which cost $80 and up. Now compare that to an authentic boxing gym which runs a hell of lot cheaper then BJJ or MMA gym I ever been to.

[quote]KBCThird wrote:
Donut62 wrote:
It looks like Lorenzo Fertitta stepped in and settled the matter and came to agreement with all the AKA fighters.

Not to read too much into this, but is it possible that the only guys Dana is answerable to are starting to get sick of his crap?[/quote]

At a point, you would seem to think so. Dana has the aggressive spirit that suited him well to the role of growing a fledging company from the ashes of bankruptcy. Now that they really have emerged as the top dog, you have to wonder if that same role of the attack dog is going to play well. The company is in a completely different position. I thought they were taking a step in that direction with Lorenzo stepping down from the Casino business and taking over half of Dana’s job.

The Fertitta’s have all the strings and are smart guys, if it means they start to lose money I would think they would have no qualms about giving anyone the boot. Since they haven’t I can only guess Dana is still worth more to the company than the trouble he causes. How long that lasts…?

I’ve always romanticized the idea of becoming an MMA fighter, and this certainly gives me an interesting insight into the politics of the fight game. If being a fighter doesn’t pan out for me maybe a managerial position would be cool.