After months of frustration, Invicta FC star Kaitlin Young finally broke her silence Sunday about a non-paying sponsor from back in the summer of 2012.
A winner of the very first Invicta FC “Fight of the Night” bonus for her bout against Leslie Smith at Invicta FC 1, Young claims that Gamebred Fightwear has not fulfilled obligations that the two parties agreed to for her fights in 2012.
According to Young, part of her deal with Gamebred Fightwear was that she was to receive 100 “signature” shirts for the Invicta 1 fight in April 2012. That apparently has not happened. She also says that she is owed a sum of money from her second bout in July.
“I have not received 85 of the 100 signature shirts for the Invicta 1 fight,” Young told Bleacher Report MMA. “And I have not received half of the financial compensation for the Invicta 2 fight in July.”
Non-paying sponsors are not anything new to mixed martial arts, but for a fighter like Young who is competing in the high levels of women’s MMA, it seems a bit surprising that a sponsor wouldn’t deliver. Unfortunately, because there was not a legal contract between the two, it will be hard to determine what the actual obligations were.
“There was not a contract, which is pretty standard for smaller amounts of money and gear agreements,” Young said. “Gamebred has expressed that they have no intention of correcting the situation.”
Young also noted that fans who purchased the signature shirts she spoke of, through the Gamebred website, still have not received them.
Although Young hopes that the situation with Gamebred will be rectified, she is not holding her breath.
“I very much doubt it will [be fixed] but I have accepted that at this point,” she said. “I just don’t want anyone else to lose money because of them.”
A request for a rebuttal from Gamebred Fightwear has not yet been answered.
With things having gone this far, Young also asserts that she will not work with Gamebred again, even if they fulfill the obligations in their spoken contract.
“If they try to compensate me now, it will only be due to social pressure—not because they are an actual sponsor,” she said.
Young is set to fight Amanda Nunes at Invicta FC 5 in Kansas City on April 5. She has asked MMA fans to get the word out about the situation with Gamebred Fightwear.
Nick Caron is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. For more fighter news, interviews and articles, please follow him on Twitter @nicholascaron.
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