Despite a falling out with Zuffa, Golden Glory and Alistair Overeem are reportedly interested in signing an exclusive deal to fight in the UFC.
The news comes nearly a week after Overeem and a multitude of other Golden Glory fighters were released from their Strikeforce contracts.
“We just want to be able to produce great fighters and create great fights for the fans,” Golden Glory co-owner Bas Boon said in a released statement on Thursday. “We have no intention for co-promotion deals and are even willing to make an exclusive deal for Alistair Overeem to fight in the UFC, if the terms are right.”
UFC president Dana White has stated that the release of Overeem, his brother Valentijn, former women’s champion Marloes Coenen and Jon Olav Einemo were strictly business decisions. According to White, Golden Glory doesn’t typically allow their fighters to be paid directly.
Promotions usually pay the gym, and the fighters are cut checks afterwards.
Immediately following her release, Coenen challenged White’s statements with a picture on Twitter of a check paid directly to her from Zuffa.
Regardless of the situation, Boon acknowledges that Golden Glory has no qualms about paying its fighters directly.
“The payment was done how the UFC wanted,” Boon continued in the statement. “I do not understand why Dana claims we did not agree. We did not have a choice and never said we would not fight in the future or that we would refuse to work like this in the future.”
“[We worked out that problem with the Zuffa lawyer in Vancouver and even agreed with their new sponsor policies]. Maybe there is a miscommunication and Dana was not well informed that the direct payment issue was solved and no longer an issue.”
According to Boon, there were already deals in place that had been discussed with Strikeforce lead man Scott Coker before Zuffa purchased the promotion, which has led to a plethora of headaches for all parties involved.
“I introduced Scott through a partner of mine in L.A. to some powerful people in the U.S. [Scott was very surprised after this meeting and excited and mailed me after his meeting with these people how impressed he was],” stated Boon.
“I never could’ve guessed that at the same moment I was talking to Scott to make a massive move for becoming a real competitor to the UFC, Scott was already talking to the same UFC for selling Strikeforce. I trusted Scott with some business plans. The problems with Strikeforce was that we made some agreements with Scott which were creating headaches now that Zuffa took over.”
Can an agreement be made that would bring one of the top heavyweights in the world to the bright lights of the UFC?
White has stated that there were no hard feelings in the decision to release Overeem. He was even open to the possibility of doing business with Golden Glory if they agreed to change some of their business practices.
Stay tuned to Bleacher Report for more on this story as it unfolds.
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