MMA News: Dana White Responds to Marloes Coenen's Comments

It has been a rough week for Golden Glory fighters. 

First, Strikeforce heavyweight Alistair Overeem was cut from the Zuffa-owned promotion on July 29. 

No official reason was given, but the public perception was that Strikeforce was bitter over the fact that Overeem refused to fight on September 10, when the semifinals of the Heavyweight Grand Prix will commence.

The next night, July 30, Marloes Coenen met Miesha Tate in the cage to defend her Strikeforce bantamweight title as the co-main event on the Fedor vs. Henderson card.

Coenen came up short, and the submission specialist got a taste of her own medicine when Tate forced her to tap to an arm triangle.

Then, Zuffa dropped a bombshell on August 3, releasing Coenen, Valentijn Overeem and Jon Olav Einemo.  

Valentijn had won three fights before being stopped by Chad Griggs at the Overeem vs. Werdum card in June.

As for Coenen, she posts a 19-5 professional record and was a staple of the Strikeforce women’s division.

Finally, Einemo was coming off a loss to Dave Herman at UFC 131, but that was just the second of his career and the bout was named Fight of the Night. 

All three fighters, like the now former Strikeforce heavyweight champion, are members of team Golden Glory.

On August 4, Dana White explained that the cuts that followed “The Demolition Man” had nothing to do with bad blood or proving a point.

From Cage Potato:  

"

“This is actually a pretty simple explanation. If you look back throughout history, we haven’t had any Golden Glory guys fight with us since Semmy Schilt, right? And the reason is we have very different business practices,” White explained.

"It’s tough to do business with them. The bottom line is the way they do business is, you have to pay them, not the fighters. We don’t work that way. It’s not the way we do business. It’s not how it works in the United States with the athletic commissions.”

“You don’t pay the managers and the managers pay the fighters. You pay the fighters and the fighters pay the managers…The reality is, we’re trying to work out deals with these guys and they won’t do it,” White clearly stated.

“They said you absolutely can’t pay the fighters, you have to pay us. And it’s pretty simple to look back and see that the last guy who fought in UFC was Semmy Schilt. There was a reason for that.”

"

Coenen was not too happy with White’s comments and immediately took to Twitter to shed some light on the situation. 

“@danawhite hurts me 2 hear things about my management that are not true. #Ibelieveinthetruth #proof”

While that tweet may not mean all that much by itself, Coenen accompanied it with a picture of her check from July 30. 

Without going into too much detail, clearly visible are two things: it is issued by Forza, LLC (the Zuffa subsidiary that purchased Strikeforce) and that the check is issued to Marloes Coenen. 

Dana White did not remain mum about Coenen’s comments for very long though.

According to MMA Junkie, White acknowledged that Coenen received a check after her bout on the Strikeforce Fedor vs. Henderson card, but it was only due to the UFC’s insistence.

White said the UFC worked out the same type of deal with Jon Olav Einemo at UFC 131, but Golden Glory was not satisfied in either situation as far as the UFC President was concerned. 

At the end of the day, White’s argument was that he was not going to deal with constant complaining and harassment from Golden Glory as far as how fighters are paid is concerned. 

MMA Junkie and ESPN’s Josh Gross dug a little deeper into the situation.

“Further sources familiar with the negotiations suggested Golden Glory fighters are often willing to simply sign over their checks to Golden Glory, regardless to whom they are issued.”

“MMAjunkie.com was unable to confirm those requests on-record, but veteran MMA reporter Josh Gross seemed to suggest the relationship with her management is one of complete trust.”

Gross stated on his Twitter: “"Marloes Coenen just told me she wants Golden Glory to handle payments because of tax purposes. She's paid direct and knows what she makes."

White went as far as to welcome an open-forum discussion with Golden Glory, adamant about the fact that he has nothing to hide.

"I'm pro-fighter," White said. "I'm not pro-manager. The fighters go out and earn the money. They get the check. What they decide to do with it from there on out is up to them.”

"I have nothing against these fighters. I have nothing against Golden Glory. The commissions are there to make sure there are never any bounced checks. We're required to do business a certain way, and we have no choice but to comply."

So who do you side with here? Golden Glory or Dana White?