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Report: Pro Elite trying to fight off bankruptcy sale

By Zach Arnold | November 10, 2008

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In an incredible article, Media Post reports that Pro Elite management is trying to fight off the efforts of Showtime to have an auctioning of the company’s assets on November 17th. (Showtime obtained part-ownership of Pro Elite Inc. in exchange for money they gave to Elite XC management to help put on their 10/4 Florida event.)

Update: Loretta Hunt has a fascinating article on this story, including this tidbit:

[Monte] Cox, who has managed over 60 fighters over the last 11 years, said the 15-year-old sport has entered new territory with Showtime’s intentions to auction off his client’s contracts. Cox and others have their doubts that the sale of a personal services contract will be upheld in a court of law.

What’s fascinating about this news item is the fact that Elite XC reportedly used personal service contracts with fighters. If you recall, PRIDE used the same type of agreements with its fighters. When DSE sold the PRIDE assets to UFC, I was screaming at the top of my lungs that fighters would be able to break away from those contracts if they were PSCs. UFC found itself having to renegotiate new contracts with PRIDE fighters because of it.

Now, we have Cox claiming that the fighter contracts up for sale at the auction on November 17th are PSCs, meaning in theory that they are not transferrable to third parties. This is why Cox is questioning whether or not Showtime will be able to pull off what they are doing.

More details on the war between Pro Elite and Showtime here.

Update: Clearly, agents representing Elite XC fighters think that the personal service contracts are not transferrable to third parties.

Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

19 Responses to “Report: Pro Elite trying to fight off bankruptcy sale”

  1. Rob Maysey says:

    http://mmapayout.com/2008/11/proelite-promoters-license-suspended/

    Joyner/mmapayout looks like they broke this story earlier in the day. Interesting nonetheless.

  2. 45 Huddle says:

    Any of these fighters who sign with Affliction after this is over…. Should fire their manager for bad advise. What’s the point of going from one defunct company to another potential one.

    I have a feeling we will see Shields & Lawler in the UFC.

    As for Monte Cox…. Got to love how he is using his tiny MMA companies such as Adrenaline and Extreme Challenge as a way to keep Eddie Alvarez away from being auctioned (which won’t happen anyways). Alvarez needs to be fighting in the UFC or DREAM. Any other company would be a waste at this point in his career.

  3. Fightlinker says:

    The UFC had to renegotiate for the people they wanted to use but weren’t they also able to basically ice all the other fighters who wouldn’t deal? Wasn’t that what happened with Mark Hunt?

  4. zack says:

    ^^ Like Joachim.

  5. Jeff says:

    Whether a personal service contract is assignable (i.e. can be sold) would depend on the terms of the contract. I don’t know of any reason why they automatically wouldn’t be assignable.

  6. skwirrl says:

    They would sign with Affliction cause they can make more in 2 shows there than in 4 or 5 in ZUFFA. You think AA made a 500K in a YEAR in Zuffa??? That was one fight in Affliction. I know Matt Lindland didn’t make 300K in Zuffa.

  7. skwirrl says:

    All you need to know about the Zuffa payscale is Urijah got 16K. And he pushes the entire promotion. Get outta Zuffa and go to Japan, Cali Kid.

  8. […] problem is, as Zack Arnold points out, the contracts might not be […]

  9. 45 Huddle says:

    1. Affliction doesn’t have 2 more shows left. They can’t even get off a second show.

    2. The Andrei Arlovski contract is a thing of the past. They finally learned that you can’t make money paying guys this much. Not as if it will matter since their likely won’t be a second show.

    3. It is highly doubtful that Urijah Faber only got $16,000. Everybody knows there is money given beyond what is reported.

  10. xx2000xx says:

    One of the BIG stories with the Filho overweight was that if he loses they will walk over and give him the belt.

    There are 3 different stories on that now from 3 different people. It will be interesting to know the truth and while they hand Filhlo’s belt over, they are handing over his UFC contract as he’s not wanted in the UFC until his multi-drug problem is corrected.

    When was the last time a UFC/WEC champ was overweight? More so, over 6 pounds, or 4 at the final?

    Seems that he wanted to continue his addiction to crack and the date rape drug that he went in treatment for and steroids of course that he may or may have not have done in Japan helped that quest.

    He needs be like Kosheck. Disregard the formula that he knows for a year or two and work on standup. Otherwise join the club as the real MMA people pass him by.

  11. […] Pro Elite is trying to fight off bankruptcy sale, by Budding Heads with Showtime on Auction; Situation Continues To Deteriorate. Bottom line, ProElite and Showtime need to stop the insanity before it’s too late. […]

  12. dave2 says:

    Faber might get a big money fight with Kid in DREAM if he’s lucky but that’s about it. I don’t think he’d make more in Japan than America. He’s unknown in Japan and featherweights don’t make much in Japan except for Kid. Faber is no longer the WEC champ anyway

  13. 45 Huddle says:

    What would be a fair payday for Featherweights? I can’t see even the very best getting more then $30,000 to $40,000 a fight.

    Look back to even UFC 35, when Zuffa put on the first Lightweight Main Event between Jens Pulver vs. BJ Penn. There was a lot of vocal fight fans who thought it would do solid PPV Buys because it was a solid grudge match. In the end, the PPV didn’t do so well.

    It took many years, and the popularity of BJ Penn to really bring back the division. Now it is a staple of UFC PPV’s, and typically having the most exciting fights.

    Right now, the Featherweight & Bantamweight divisions are in a Pre-UFC 35 mode. They can’t sell PPV’s. They on’t have the name value to really demand huge money.

    Eventually, the sport will adapt, but for right now, lower pay for these guys seems like the right thing.

  14. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    Kid needs to get healthy and ready to fight first. He’s been shelved for a year.

    Will have been, rather, by the time he’s ready to fight.

  15. […] Maybe the contracts of Kimbo Slice, Gina Carano, Jake Shields and the other EliteXC contracts can’t be auctioned off after all. […]

  16. […] problem is, as Zack Arnold points out, the contracts might not be […]

  17. […] A In-Depth Look at Pro Elite’ attempt to fight off bankruptcy sale […]

  18. Gerard says:

    Why is it that the byline for this article is listed as today when this article was first ‘published’ last thursday?

  19. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    He bumped it because of the update at the bottom of the article.

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