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Jay Hieron really must hate life right now
By Zach Arnold | August 7, 2009
So, Nick Diaz doesn’t show up for a drug test and his fight with Jay Hieron may be called off for the Strikeforce show next weekend.
Forget about Diaz, since he never seems to be in the right frame of mind on various levels. Focus on poor Jay Hieron, who has taken it on the chin from his days in the IFL and then the canceled fight against Paul “Semtex” Daley that was set for Affliction 3 on 8/1 and now this. It’s hard enough for a lot of MMA fighters to make a living, but when you continue to get screwed by your opponents or promoters you work for time after time, it may be time to find another profession.
It’s times like this where you really start to value the security that UFC can bring in terms of honoring their contracts and making sure fighters get taken care of (either by finding good opponents to fill-in or by paying the owed fight salary).
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 27 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
let’s wait and see if there are posts that say Zach’s a UFC nuthugger.
Jesus Christ, Nick. Dude has been smoking weed how long and doesn’t know how to prepare for a drug test?
Nick’s the type of guy you’d expect to have the latest Whizzinator from the Consumer Electronics Show
You’re absolutely right about the security of a UFC contract, Zach. That’s something some of the people on this forum and the Josh Gross/Loretta Hunt pretend journalists never mention.
I hope something works out for Jay. He is one of the best guys in MMA. He’s had awful luck.
http://xtremecouture.wordpress.com/category/life-times-of-jay-hieron/
He’s almost lost his sight, been arrested, lost the chance to compete for an NCAA championship, got booted from the UFC for suffering a cut, ran into George St. Pierre early on, the IFL, Affliction canceling on him twice, now this.
Nick Diaz is a punk bitch. Anyone who condones that POS, including Scott Coker and Strikeforce are Mickey Mouse.
No matter what, Jay should be competing for the title next week. That was the only fight on the card I wanted to see.
It was only a matter of time til Nick fucked someone else over.
Sucks for Jay, maybe Baroni would take a fight instead of Diaz
This card has taken so many hits… It’s a shell of what it was planned to be.
I agree with Zach here. People really don’t put enough value into the good things the UFC does.
I know people think I just hate on everything non-UFC… But it has more to do with what history has shown us. New organizations make all of these huge promises, never deliver, and the fighters are the ones who suffer. Many times it with long down times as organizations figure out how to sell their company.
It’s hard to blame a company like Strikeforce for everything here… But when so many things go wrong, you can’t help but wonder if things are functioning properly behind the scenes. And their last conference call that was a train wreck didn’t help matters.
One major thing I got for the White Q&A session last night is that he really cares about the fighters and te sport. Obviously he isn’t going to make wert decision fighters like. But just listening to him for over an hour you get the real sense he is trying to make the sport even better…
Some news that has been overlooked is that Brock Lesnar signed a new contract with the UFC. Mmalogic is saying he is basically signed for the rest of his career. I think Zuffa isn’t taking any chances right now. All of the stars are getting tied down for long periods of time. Kind is squashes the competition…. Not like the Aug 15th show is any type of competiion now…
It’s even worse, you left out the UFC blackballing him for signing with EA
http://mma.fanhouse.com/2009/07/29/jay-hieron-to-face-nick-diaz-for-strikeforce-welterweight-title/
“Hieron confirmed that he had already signed with EA Sports to be a part of their upcoming MMA video game, which proved to be a road block in negotiations with the UFC since they already have a video game deal with THQ.
“UFC stepped up the offer for me. It was a great offer, but again, I signed a deal with EA Sports. I was definitely surprised and I was ready to go back to the UFC. I got a great opportunity with Strikeforce, though, and I’m excited to fight for a title.”
If Nick Diaz can’t make it, Strikeforce can find somebody on short notice who will take the fight.
Probably can, but that’s no way to run a promotion (unless you’re in Japan).
The UFC slots in guys on short notice all the time. Dana loves it when guys step up to fight on short notice. Even in the video game. lol.
But considering the Nick Diaz drug issues and the weight issues that Strikeforce’s roster is plagued with, I think Coker might be a little too soft with his roster. He needs to put his foot down on these guys and gals. Coker is a great promoter with a ton of experience that’s why I’m surprised that Strikeforce is inheriting these EliteXC issues.
It still has a potentional to be even worse for Strikeforce. I bet Coker prays every day that both Gina and Cyborg will make weight.
Yes, but UFC runs enough events that typically they just trade fights between cards, or they pull someone from the next card back to the current card. It’s pretty rare that they bring in guys who haven’t had a chance at a few weeks camp. And it almost never happens in a main or co-main. It’s happened three or four(?) times already on this card, which isn’t that big a deal, except that it’s happening now the week before, and Strikeforce doesn’t run the same density of shows that UFC does, so they don’t have that same degree of flexibility.
Dave2, Strikeforce is kind of cursed with this thing because they are getting a roster largely composed of second tier guys or guys who could not or would not work in the “Zuffa system.” They need to take extra steps to help mitigate these problems (contract an extra guy at each weight class to be in camp for some “on call” salary or something maybe) because they’re going to come up more frequently.
The UFC has brought in guys on short notice who weren’t training for a fight at the time. It happens.
And even if these guys don’t want to work in the “Zuffa system” (exclusive contracts), that gives them no right to be unprofessional. UFC fighters are technically independent contractors, just like Strikeforce fighters. Independent contractors are expected to uphold their side of the agreement. If you can’t make weight or pass a drug test, that’s like hiring a handyman (who works non-exclusively for other people) to do a job for you and he shows up unreasonably late. Would you want to continue doing business with someone like that? It has nothing to do with the Zuffa system. People like Nick Diaz, Gina Carano and Cris Cyborg are just unprofessional and very unreasonable to be working with.
Coker should be putting his foot down on these people. He should be warning these guys and gals and then ripping up the contract with the next infraction. Yes Coker has a contract to honor but if the fighters aren’t honoring their side, then Coker has every right to end the agreement and release the unprofessional fighter.
There’s very specific parallels to the Diaz situation in typical contract law disputes (you contract for someone to do something, they don’t have the license to do it). I don’t know if penalties for making weight are internal to the contract or if they’re part of the regulatory framework of the sport.
Not showing up for a test required to renew your license is way beyond unprofessional.
Even if Strikeforce can’t do anything to punish Diaz for not showing up to drug tests or to others for not making weight (I beleive the UFC has cut guys for this though no?), they should just let his contract run out and not renew it. Nick Diaz may be popular with hardcore fans but losing one name fighter isn’t going to hurt their product. You can’t be letting primadonnas like that ruin your product and make you lose money. Nick Diaz can go off to Japan where they took several months to pay him for his fight. Give him a taste of his own unprofessionalism.
You guys know that Jay Hieron drive a Bentley right? Wheres $10,000 dollar, diamond-encrusted watches? His family has some big business (timber I think)and I saw the interview where he said that he does not fight for the money.
He is going to be ok guys. Trust me.
I’ve known Jay for awhile. The only part you got right is that he has a $10,000 watch. Bought it with his bonus check for winning the IFL championship. He definitely fights for the money. Gina and BJ are the only people who have made the big time that don’t.
Urijah Faber also comes from a family with money but considering the recent complaints he’s made, it’s clear he fights for money also.
Considering that the fight game is hardly rewarding financially (compared to just sticking with a regular 9-5 and forgetting about fighting) until you make it to a really high level, it surprises me that anyone without a loaded family would even get into pro fighting. Working full-time at a day job on top of training regularly is grueling. If you don’t have a successful side business (a gym) or you aren’t making enough on the side bouncing or serving people drinks in a gay bar with your shirt off once or twice a week (*cough*War Machine*cough*), you gotta go work at Sam’s Club or whatever and be left with very little sleep.
A lot of the guys get by because of their girlfriends.
I’ve always been impressed with the fact that Carwin is a somewhat well known fighter, but he still works full-time as an engineer. The guy has got an amazing work ethic. Houston Alexander is even more impressive on that front. I don’t know how they do it.
[…] Zach Arnold makes the case: Forget about Diaz, since he never seems to be in the right frame of mind on various levels. Focus on poor Jay Hieron, who has taken it on the chin from his days in the IFL and then the canceled fight against Paul “Semtex” Daley that was set for Affliction 3 on 8/1 and now this. It’s hard enough for a lot of MMA fighters to make a living, but when you continue to get screwed by your opponents or promoters you work for time after time, it may be time to find another profession […]
It amazes me how many parents support their kids into their 20’s. There is a difference between loving your child and spoiling them. Most people who have this happen end up having financial issues later in life because they were never taught how to stand on their own two feet and constantly needed bailing out.
As for Carwin, I think Lesnar/Carwin is the next big fight for the Title. Cain doesn’t have the IT factor like Carwin does. So I wouldn’t be shocked if Carwin/Cain is cancelled and Lesnar/Carwin is made now.
Well, if you look at Houston, it really does affect his performance.
Wasn’t Jay Hieron a late replacement for Joe Riggs in this fight to start with? It’s getting pretty bad when they need a last minute replacement to fight the late replacement. This event seems to be cursed.
[…] we last spoke about this issue, we wrote about Jay Hieron must really be hating life right now. When Hieron’s fight against Paul “Semtex” Daley was canceled after the […]
[…] Vi får förhoppningsvis se två nya bältet då ett bälte för kvinnor i 145 pounds ska delas ut mellan Carano och Cyborg samt ett nyinstiftat bälte i weltervikt där Nick Diaz är den självklara favoriten, om han kommer att få ställa upp. Diaz har inte medverkat till de drogtester som kommissionen kräver innan hans match. Diaz manager menar att det finns en risk att Diaz kan vara positiv på THC eftersom han inte haft tid att få drogerna ur kroppen (Diaz har marijuana på recept). Managern understryker att om man testas positiv får man inte gå match och inte heller söka tillstånd om att gå match på ett helt år. Jay Hieron är verkligen otursförföljd. […]