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Another fighter accuses DREAM of being a deadbeat on paying out fight money

By Zach Arnold | August 17, 2010

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It’s Bibiano Fernandes, the man who beat Joachim Hansen. He says he won’t fight until he gets paid. Whether his claims are valid or invalid, a lesson to anyone who fights for a Japanese promotion is that you need an agent on the ground in Japan who is politically or legally connected so that if you do have a dispute with a promoter there, you can take care of the problem first-hand.

Odds & Ends

I’ve written a timely preview of five big MMA fights coming up for the rest of 2010 that I think will outperform expectations.

Despite the fact that both Anthony Johnson and Shane Carwin find themselves on the courtroom/legal blotter, I still think Tim Sylvia ended up having the worst weekend out of all fighters despite getting paid for beating Paul Buentello.

WEC 50 and why certain fights got preference for title shots

Larry Pepe interviewed Reed Harris on Monday and asked him why Joseph Benavidez got the title shot against Dominick Cruz (as opposed to Scott Jorgensen) and where Scott stands in the WEC fighter hierarchy right now with the powers-that-be.

LARRY PEPE: “So, let’s talk a little bit about the title shot. Before we get to the actual fight, the word out there a couple of months ago was that Joseph (Benavidez) and Scotty Jorgensen, who has won four straight, were the guys really under consideration for the title shot. Was that true? And if so, what tipped it in Joseph’s favor?”

REED HARRIS: “Well, yeah, it was true. I mean, you know, certainly Scotty Jorgensen has really improved a lot and has done, he’s won quite a few fights. But I think what we looked at more was Benavidez is, who he beat and how he beat them, you know, and the fact that he knocked Rani Yahya out, who I think has never been knocked out, and then with his win over (Miguel) Torres, you know, Torres was 37-2 at the time. You know, Joseph beat him and also submitted him and that has never been done I think in 40 fights Torres has had. So because of the way he won and how impressive he looked, how much better he looked… We thought he deserved a shot at the title.”

LARRY PEPE: “And look, style makes a difference, I don’t care what anybody says.”

REED HARRIS: “That’s right.”

LARRY PEPE: “I’m not saying this about Scotty, but we hear it with Jon Fitch all the time with decisions and stuff, you know how you win also matters when it comes to making the determinations for title shots.”

REED HARRIS: “To make your point, it was something we discussed and it was a decision we had to make. Both of those guys we could have put either one of those guys in there and felt comfortable about it.”

(snip)

LARRY PEPE: “We talked about Scotty Jorgensen. He takes on a very tough Brad Pickett. Scott came on last week and he said he thought it would be impossible for him not to get the title shot if he beats Pickett. That would give him five straight wins. Do you see it that way? Do you think he gets the title shot with a win over Pickett?”

REED HARRIS: “Yeah. I mean, as soon as we see the fight, we want to see how he looks, to make sure there are factors like injuries, etc. that we look at, but if he goes through Brad Pickett, who I think is on a nine-fight win streak and is certainly he shouldn’t overlook and I know he’s not, then I think that would put him in that position where he gets a title shot, yeah.”

LARRY PEPE: “And to your point, for people who aren’t familiar with Pickett because he’s only fought twice in the WEC, this is a guy, Reed, who’s 19-4 overall with 15 stoppages. He had that slick Peruvian neck tie in his debut against Kyle Dietz. This guy is no slouch. If people that think is a walkthrough for Scotty, I think they better be very surprised.”

REED HARRIS: “No, I’ve heard Pickett, you know, as far as a chin has probably got one of the best chins in WEC. And like I said, I think he’s had a nine-fight win streak and this guy’s very, very tough. He trains with Mike Brown down at ATT (American Top Team) in Florida, which is probably one of the best camps in the world, similar to I mean Jorgensen’s got a great camp as well but this is going to be a very tough fight for both of those guys. And by the way, it should be very entertaining for the fans. I got a feeling this is going to be a very, very exciting fight.”

Other notes from the Reed Harris interview… Chael Sonnen will be at the WEC 50 show. Plus, the winner of the Anthony Pettis vs. Shane Roller fight will become #1 contender to Ben Henderson’s Lightweight title.

Topics: DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

7 Responses to “Another fighter accuses DREAM of being a deadbeat on paying out fight money”

  1. 45 Huddle says:

    Not even paying their champions is a huge deal. Certainly shows they are in financial problems.

  2. Bryan says:

    Anyone know if MAX of the World GP have the same issues with paying fighters?

  3. EJ says:

    The reason Joseph got the title shot before Scott is simple he dominated Miguel Torres, I don’t think it’s a conspiracy or anything but he had the more spectacular win of the two. If Jorgensen continues to win he’ll be next in line for a title shot, I think sometimes fans just want to overthink everything that happens when the answers alot of times are clear.

  4. edub says:

    Am I the only one that thinks it shouldn’t have even been close between Benavidez and Jorgensen for a title shot? Mizugaki was a pretty good win, but he was coming off a should be loss to Jeff Curran. The other wins; Noah Thomas, Chad George, Antonio Banuelos… I would even venture to say he is still one more win against a top opponent away from a title shot.

  5. Chromium says:

    Didn’t DREAM just get a huge cash infusion from some Chinese investors or something to that effect? You’d think they could afford to pay their champions.

    Also, wouldn’t not getting paid possibly invalidate Fernandes’ contract? He may actually be free to go wherever he wants now. I could definitely see him going to WEC or Bellator. Sengoku, not so much.

    • Steve4192 says:

      “Didn’t DREAM just get a huge cash infusion from some Chinese investors or something to that effect?”

      No.

      What they got was investment capital firm who promised to beat the bushes and find them some investors. Obviously, they haven’t been able to deliver any suckers … errrr …. ‘investors’ just yet.

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