Fans expected to see super heavyweight Bob Sapp (11-6-1) on New Years Eve as part of Fighting and Entertainment Group’s (FEG) Dynamite!! 2010 event at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. But just before Sapp was to go on and fight Shinichi Suzukawa in a modified-rules bout in the opening fight of the event, officials announced the fight was canceled because he had attempted to renegotiate his contract just before his fight.
Sapp has come out to clarify things for fans from his end, speaking to MMAjunkie.com.
The fighter told MMAjunkie.com that he was supposed to get paid $30,000 for the fight but when he arrived in Japan, FEG exec Sadahura Tanikawa offered him $15,000 instead. Sapp spent the rest of his time right up until the time of the fight trying to negotiate a better deal than fighting for half of his original fee.
Despite not fighting on the card, Sapp was paid by event sponsors who wanted to apologize for the FEG execs behavior.
“They were apologizing for the horrible state that K-1 is in,” he said. “The No. 1 problem is that K-1 is extremely broke. So is DREAM. They’re paying some fighters as early as in six months, and the other fighters, they’re just stiffing.”
“(Tanikawa said), ‘Bob walked out because his fighting spirit wasn’t good,’” Sapp said. “And I’m just like, ‘You know what? I’m done with all the talk about me. I’m done with them stiffing the fighters. I’m just done with it. I’ve seen too much. Start paying people to show up.’”