Just a few months ago, Jon Fitch lost to welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre via a hard-fought unanimous decision. Now, the former No. 1 contender that had won a record-tying eight straight fights in the UFC has been released after refusing to sign an agreement for his name/likeness in video games, MMAMania.com reports.
According to the site, Fitch (19-3) refused to sign a deal that would give UFC "exclusive lifetime video game rights to his name and likeness" and that this began around the time Fitch signed his contract to battle Akihiro Gono at January's UFC 94 event. Fitch, nor his management team, have made a comment yet. Fitch had been fighting for the group since October, 2005 with notable wins over Diego Sanchez, Thiago Alves, and Luigi Fioravanti.
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Heavyweight Christian Wellisch (8-4) also was let go due to the issue. He had been in the UFC since August, 2006, fighting four times, with wins over Scott Junk and Anthony Perosh and losses to Cheick Kongo and Shane Carwin. It's expected that more fighters who refuse to sign the deals could be let go, as well.
A show of strength by the UFC or a legitimate issue for the fighters? As the business continues to evolve, more and more issues like this will come up and need to be resolved. This is why managers and agents will continue to be more and more important, but also why alternative organizations for the guys to fight in will be crucial as well in cases like these. The money is too important on both sides to not take these situations seriously.
Josh Nason has written and maintained Ropes, Ring and Cage since 2007 and can be reached at josh@ropesringandcage.com. If you are using any content or recapping from this site, please include a link to www.ropesringandcage.com. Thank you for your support!
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about 1 month ago
I may be missing a lot of background information about the contracts, but I can't understand the problem with signing. Was it a money issue??
from about 1 month ago
Hey Joe - he hasn't responded yet, so no one is sure what the issue is. I would assume the 'lifetime' tag might be the issue, especially if he eventually decided to fight somewhere else that also had video games. I suspect we'll be hearing more about this and what fighters did sign in the near future.
from about 1 month ago
This seems ridiculous to me. Is there a precedent for this? The NFL and NBA dont do this with their players do they? This seems like a slippery slope the UFC is going down but then again, they are better business men then I am.
from about 1 month ago
Well think about it, NFL and NBA guys have no real reason not to be associated with their respective organizations for life. Nobody is going to give up the NFL and go to the CFL. The issue with MMA is that there are many places to fight, and with fighters coming and going from promotions so often, a lot of them may feel that being tied to one promotion can backfire.
about 1 month ago
Rumor has it that Kos maybe one of the other big names that will be cut.
about 1 month ago
there is precedent with this in other sports, players, and video games. Barry Bonds and Michael Jordan to name a few...
about 1 month ago
they refused naming rights by their leagues in video games i should say... obviously not forced out of the league.. barry bonds maybe, but for other reasons :)
about 1 month ago
The UFC has far more in common with WWE than people either realise or want to admit.
about 1 month ago
It has to do with the UFC not offering any royalty rights to their fighters for their use in the video games. The UFC thinks the fighters are being rewarded by increased marketability and appeal. I think this is garbage. It is the same reason why college sports video games aren't allowed to use athlete's names because they aren't able to be paid for it. If a fighter is put into the game, he should be paid for it.
Also, the UFC wants liftime, exclusive rights. This seems absurd. Jon Fitch recently did an interview stating that his management was trying to get a window of 5 to 10 years for the rights, but not lifetime rights. In the interview, Jon said that the UFC and Dana White essentially threw the papers in his face and told him to sign or or suffer the consequences. Well, Jon didn't sign, and the consequence was being kicked out of the UFC. This is bogus, the UFC wants a monopoly on their fighters. The fighters are employees, not slaves.
Dana White went on to say that he is fed up with AKA, the American Kickboxing Academy because they aren't cooperating with the UFC totalitarian regime. Dana said that he no longer intends to do business with AKA or their fighters and that he doesn't want their fighters in the UFC anymore. Jon Fitch and Christian Wellisch are both AKA fighters. Two other big names, Josh Koscheck and Cain Velasquez fight out of AKA as well. Their time in the UFC may be winding down as well.
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