(The team during easier times.)
According to Golden Glory head Bas Boon, fences have been mended between the UFC and his management group and fight team — so much so that the promotion is bringing back heavyweight John Olav Einemo and is in discussions to sign K-1 standout Siyar Bahadurzada as well.
“John Olaf Einemo is now back with the UFC and Siyar Bahadurzada just got offered a UFC contract,” Boon wrote in an email received by CagePotato earlier today.
The email went on to state that Golden Glory’s relationship with the UFC is good and that contrary to media speculation, neither side is guilty of any wrongdoing during the recent negotiations to sign former Golden Glory star Alistair Overeem to a contract with the Las Vegas-based promotion.
“I want to make the following statement to clear up any speculation.The UFC did nothing wrong and neither did Golden Glory management – when signing up Alistair Overeem with the UFC. It is public knowledge how the UFC does business,” Boon explained. “ALL correspondence between the UFC and Golden Glory was also shared/CC’d to Alistair Overeem who finally made a decision to sign the agreements. There will be a lot of rumors like in thet recent past when 4 Golden Glory fighters were released from the UFC and Strikeforce and that was the so-called end of GG’s relationship with the UFC. Not long after this rumor Golden Glory made a mega deal with Alistair Overeem signing with the UFC.”
Boon says that the current dismal state of MMA in Japan and Golden Glory’s home base in Holland is making it difficult for fighters to carve out a living outside of North America, which is likely why they decided to forgo the addition of a clause in Overeem’s UFC contract to ensure that he could continue to compete for K-1. Another fact that likely played into that decision was that “The Demolition Man” still hasn’t been paid for winning the K-1 World Heavyweight Grand Prix last year.
“These are difficult times in the fighting industry; we are still waiting for payment of FEG as Alistair said in the press and the future of FEG is still unclear. There is a Dutch law called bibop in the Netherlands which makes promoting events there extremely difficult.”
Boon, who revealed after the sudden firings of his fighters from Strikeforce and the UFC,that he was working with Strikeforce, K-1 and DREAM to form a partnership between the three promotions prior to the purchase of SF by Zuffa says that there is progress in Japan, but points out that he can’t say what just yet.
“There is also some really good news coming soon about the situation in Japan and I really want to let everybody know the details, but I have signed multiple non-disclosure agreements and I have to wait,” Boon explained.
Hopefully it’s that they have a suitable financial backer to revive JMMA, which has been on life support the past few years. Fighters and fans need another viable MMA option outside of the UFC umbrella.