Dana White broke Ariel Helwani off a few minutes of his precious time to talk about a myriad of subjects, most interesting of which was his reaction to Golden Glory manager Bas Boon‘s public desire to meet all of Zuffa’s concerns, including direct payments to fighters and an exclusive contract with Alistair Overeem: “Well that’s awesome. If that’s the true story and that’s what he said, sounds like we can make a deal then…If Bas Boon is saying that this is the way we can do it, then we can absolutely, positively make a deal and we can get this ball rolling again.”
Though he appeared willing to move beyond whatever was behind the mass-firing, Dana didn’t relent from his position that the cuts were simply a matter of different business practices between the parties and nothing more: “I don’t give a shit what they tweet, what they take pictures of, or what they say, they fucking know exactly how it worked and we would not do it that way.”
After the jump, it turns out that Overeem has not been officially released by Strikeforce after all.
Dana White broke Ariel Helwani off a few minutes of his precious time to talk about a myriad of subjects, most interesting of which was his reaction to Golden Glory manager Bas Boon‘s public desire to meet all of Zuffa’s concerns, including direct payments to fighters and an exclusive contract with Alistair Overeem: “Well that’s awesome. If that’s the true story and that’s what he said, sounds like we can make a deal then…If Bas Boon is saying that this is the way we can do it, then we can absolutely, positively make a deal and we can get this ball rolling again.”
Though he appeared willing to move beyond whatever was behind the mass-firing, Dana didn’t relent from his position that the cuts were simply a matter of different business practices between the parties and nothing more: “I don’t give a shit what they tweet, what they take pictures of, or what they say, they fucking know exactly how it worked and we would not do it that way.”
Dana does come across as candid in this interview, but he strains credulity by stating that “one thing that I don’t do, I wouldn’t go [out] there and lie to all you guys.” In case you’ve forgotten his fondness for fibs, historical revisions, and stretches of the truth, keep watching the video. Not a minute later White responds to Ariel’s question about his having been in contact with Bas Boon since the termination with a pause, a gulp, and a barely audible “Yup”, similar to how you answer your girlfriend when she asks if any of your exes were at Steve’s party last night. You want to say, “No, I hate those skanks”, but the way she asks the question it almost seems like she already knows the answer, so you can’t risk the lie. I know that “Yup”; I’ve given that “Yup”; it’s the “Yup” of a man reluctant to tell the truth.
In other Golden Glory news, ESPN’s Josh Gross reports that Alistair is technically still very much the Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion. Rather than cut Overeem directly, Zuffa exercised a clause in in his contract which essentially allowed them to deduct the last fight from his deal for turning down a September fight in the Grand Prix Tournament semi finals. The two parties have entered into a 120 day exclusive negotiation period; if they fail to come to terms, Zuffa will have another 120 days to match any potential offers from outside promotions. A “Champion’s Clause” will prevent the Dutch fighter’s participation in a bout scheduled for October. Even if Overeem stays within the Zuffa umbrella, it’s not entirely clear which organization he’d end up fighting for. Dana asked, “To be in a position where Alistar can come over and fight in the UFC- why would I not do it?” It’s a good question. Let’s hope we get the answer soon.
(Imagine getting into a bar fight with these guys?)
The head of Golden Glory, Bas Boon released a press release Thursday that further explained some of the behind the scenes happenings that may have led to the recent sudden firings of Team Golden Glory fighters Alistair Overeem, Marloes Coenen, John Olav Einemo.
According to Boon, he was working hand-in-hand with Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker to form strategic partnerships with a number of organizations like K-1 and DREAM and had been involved in meetings with television networks with Coker in an effort to make the promotion a viable competitor to the UFC. Unbeknownst to Boon, while he was making connections and setting up these meetings, Coker was already in talks with Zuffa about selling the struggling promotion.
It’s not unforeseeable that when Coker informed the UFC that Boon had been instrumental in Strikeforce making a full-court press at competing with them, that they took umbrage with his effort to aid the competition.
Another interesting tidbit Boon dropped in the statement was that Golden Glory had made arrangements, with the help of the UFC, for its fighters to be paid directly by Zuffa/Forza and for them to cash their checks in the U.S. prior to returning back to Holland, where it takes between six and eight business days for their money to clear. According to UFC president Dana White, Golden Glory refused to allow its fighters to be paid directly, which was the reason he says they cut ties with the likes of Alistair Overeem, John Olav Einemo and Marloes Coenen.
Check out the full release after the jump.
(Imagine getting into a bar fight with these guys?)
The head of Golden Glory, Bas Boon released a press release Thursday that further explained some of the behind the scenes happenings that may have led to the recent sudden firings of Team Golden Glory fighters Alistair Overeem, Marloes Coenen, John Olav Einemo.
According to Boon, he was working hand-in-hand with Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker to form strategic partnerships with a number of organizations like K-1 and DREAM and had been involved in meetings with television networks with Coker in an effort to make the promotion a viable competitor to the UFC. Unbeknownst to Boon, while he was making connections and setting up these meetings, Coker was already in talks with Zuffa about selling the struggling promotion.
It’s not unforeseeable that when Coker informed the UFC that Boon had been instrumental in Strikeforce making a full-court press at competing with them, that they took umbrage with his effort to aid the competition.
Another interesting tidbit Boon dropped in the statement was that Golden Glory had made arrangements, with the help of the UFC, for its fighters to be paid directly by Zuffa/Forza and for them to cash their checks in the U.S. prior to returning back to Holland, where it takes between six and eight business days for their money to clear. According to UFC president Dana White, Golden Glory refused to allow its fighters to be paid directly, which was the reason he says they cut ties with the likes of Alistair Overeem, John Olav Einemo and Marloes Coenen.
Check out the full release below.
———-
First of all we would like to thank all the support of the fans.
The Golden Glory management discussed before coming to the US about the payment situation and it was agreed to speak with a Zuffa lawyer about this in Vancouver, to find a solution.
There was a contract in place and Golden Glory and Einemo honored the UFC rules including getting the check [in] the fighter’s name (Einemo showed his check in the gym as well which was [in] his name and Alistair and Valentijn also confirmed their payment was done by check in their name. The Zuffa lawyer explained that the fighters could open an account at a bank [where] the UFC did their banking and the check would clear in only two days instead of 6 weeks [to] 8 weeks (that’s how long it takes to clear a check in a foreign country, which was also an issue for some of the fighters) and they could then transfer the amount to the final destination [of] their choice. They were thankful and did this.
The reason that the Golden Glory management company is doing this business for the GG fighters for over 12 years with payment directly to the management company is for the benefit of the fighters, coaches and trainers are paid on time and the management company will take care of [bookkeeping] and taxes and exchange rates and legal help for the fighters.
We have many fighters from many different parts of the world and also have gyms in Berlin, Germany, Liverpool, England, Pattaya, Thailand, California, USA, Bucharest, Romania, Moscow, Russia and three gyms in Holland. Golden Glory is growing on an international level and we are working with one management company to coordinate these businesses.
Fighters only sign agreements with promoters if coaches, trainers, management and the fighter agree with the terms, regardless to whom the payment will be done.
The Strikeforce situation was different.
Behind the scenes I was preparing a great deal for corporation between Strikeforce, DREAM, K-1 and Glory to do something great together with Scott [Coker] (this included a TV channel and footage deal). I introduced Scott [through] a partner of mine in LA to some powerful people in the US (Scott was very surprised after this meeting and [texted] and [emailed] me after his meeting with these people how impressed he was). I never could have 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 with the same UFC for selling Strikeforce.
Scott told me that he had partners and that there were financial difficulties with Strikeforce and any new TV or other deal they would welcome. As I am a producer as well (produced more then 1000 hour of fighting content and also made tons of other deals for promoters like the K-1 live broadcasting on the Dutch TV Channel SBS6) I trusted Scott with some business plans as I knew Scott from the time he was a promoter for K-1 and we all wanted to move forward in the fight business.
Scott convinced me to start working with Strikeforce, we always had a better deal in Japan and Europe, but as K-1 was having a lot of difficulties and Scott giving us all the terms we wanted, we started taking steps to do more and more business with Strikeforce.
The problem with Strikeforce was that we made some agreements with Scott, which was creating headaches now [that] Zuffa took over.
The fighters were paid in the previous Strikeforce bouts to an account of the management without any problems, yet UFC claimed this was impossible. Then the fighters were [losing] sponsors as the UFC took over Strikeforce as they implemented their new rules. [Their view was that] if you can sponsor the fighter you should sponsor the organization first. I understand this from a business point of few, but some companies can’t [afford] to pay 100K or more to an organization. And some fighters getting 5 or 10K in sponsorship is [where] they actually can make some good money. We just wanted the things as they were before, but it was far from what it was before. The payment was done how the UFC wanted and again we agreed and did the same as in Vancouver, so that matter was solved so I do not understand why Danna 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 the 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 as I myself have been in and out hospital for two weeks because of heath issues (the reason why this press release is so late).
Anyway we regret the response from Zuffa and the releases, but it is their company and they can do what they want. We would like to keep working in the future with the UFC and with this statement I [clearly] say that direct payment to any of our fighter was not a problem and will not be a problem in the future. We just want to be able to produce great fighters and create great fights for the fans. 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.
Filed under: UFC, StrikeforceDespite the rancor between Golden Glory and the UFC, which resulted in several of the Dutch promotion’s fighters being released from their Zuffa contracts, top Golden Glory star Alistair Overeem is still interested in signi…
Despite the rancor between Golden Glory and the UFC, which resulted in several of the Dutch promotion’s fighters being released from their Zuffa contracts, top Golden Glory star Alistair Overeem is still interested in signing an exclusive deal with the UFC.
That is one of the revelations in a statement that Golden Glory co-owner Bas Boon released on Thursday.
“We just want to be able to produce great fighters and create great fights for the fans,” Boon said in the statement. “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.”
What exactly the right terms would be is not clear, but one thing Boon did make clear is that he takes issue with UFC President Dana White’s statements about Golden Glory’s payment policies. White said the UFC wanted to pay fighters directly and was uncomfortable with Golden Glory’s policy of serving as a middleman for fighter payment, but Boon said Golden Glory is fine with Zuffa paying Overeem, Marloes Coenen, John Olav Einemo and any of its other fighters directly.
“The payment was done how the UFC wanted,” Boon said in the statement. “I do not understand why Danna [sic] 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 the Vancouver and even agreed with their new sponsor policies). Maybe there is a miscommunication and Danna [sic] was not well informed that the direct payment issue was solved and no longer an issue.”
Boon also placed some of the blame for the problems between Golden Glory and Zuffa on Strikeforce‘s Scott Coker.
“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 exited and mailed me after his meeting with these people how impressed he was). I never could have 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 with the same UFC for selling Strikeforce,” Boon said in the statement. “I trusted Scott with some business plans. … The problems with Strikeforce was that we made some agreements with Scott which were creating headaches now Zuffa took over.”
Those headaches, according to Boon, are a major reason that Golden Glory’s fighters are having problems with the UFC. But Boon is still hoping those problems will be resolved. And a resolution could result in Overeem inside the Octagon.
(Boon [far right] with a few of his Golden Glory brothers.)
If you’ve followed kickboxing and MMA for a while, chances are you’re familiar with Golden Glory thanks in large part to fighters like Alistair Overeem, Semmy Schilt, Marloes Coenen, Siyar Bahadurzada, Gokhan Saki and Sergey Kharitonov.
It’s behind the scenes, however, where several key players from coaches Cor Hemmers and Martijn de Jong to founders Ron Nyqvist, Frederico Lapenda and Bas Boon make Golden Glory run like a well oiled machine.
We recently spoke with Bas Boon about the past present and future of his esteemed Dutch-based “fight family.”
Check out what he had to say after the jump.
(Boon [far right] with a few of his Golden Glory brothers.)
If you’ve followed kickboxing and MMA for a while, chances are you’re familiar with Golden Glory thanks in large part to fighters like Alistair Overeem, Semmy Schilt, Marloes Coenen, Siyar Bahadurzada, Gokhan Saki and Sergey Kharitonov.
It’s behind the scenes, however, where several key players from coaches Cor Hemmers and Martijn de Jong to founders Ron Nyqvist, Frederico Lapenda and Bas Boon make Golden Glory run like a well oiled machine.
We recently spoke with Bas Boon about the past present and future of his esteemed Dutch-based “fight family.”
Here’s what he had to say:
First off Bas, thanks for taking the time to speak with us. When did you first get involved with martial arts and kickboxing?
At age 15.
Did you train?
Yes, I trained in tae kwon do and at age 16 I began training in kickboxing. I started together with Peter Aerts. A seminar with Rob Kaman got me hooked. I fought 19 fights and won 17 in a style called PKA. You had to kick eight times above the belt to win. There were not too many low kick fights at that time. I had a knee injury when I was 17 and it got to a point were I stopped fighting and I concentrated on my business. I started a small martial arts store when I was 17.
Do you find that a lot of fans from North America are surprised when they hear about how long Golden Glory has been around and just how deep its roots are entwined in the highest levels of MMA and kickboxing from current members of the team to guys like Bas Rutten (through Cor Hemmers), Rob Kaman, Gilbert Yvel, Peter Aerts, the Dekkers brothers, Heath Herring etc…etc?
I have been together with Cor Hemmers for over 26 years. We promoted fights together like the classics Peter Aerts vs. Maurice Smith, Aerts vs. Frank Lobman and Ballentine vs. Dekkers. I produced about 400 fighting shows. In that period you get a lot of knowhow and I know that when a formula works to keep this going. The only two fighters who went their own way after some years with Golden Glory were Heath Herring and Gilbert Yvel. We wished them luck with their future careers. I admit it is quit unique to have a team that has worked together for almost 12 years and still everybody is together.
Your team is known for primarily as kickboxing specialists because of the K-1 pedigrees of a number of your fighters. Has it been a difficult to convince people that you are both a well-rounded MMA AND a kickboxing team?
Not really. We have Sergey Kharitonov who struggled with a long lasting shoulder injury, but is now fit to fight MMA and kickboxing. We have John Olav Einemo who suffered an injury but is fit to fight MMA again. Siyar Bahadurza defended his Shooto world title belt in Brazil by winning by KO in round one and he did the same at a PTA event, winning his fight by KO in round one. Alistair destroyed Brett Rogers for the Strikeforce world title defense bout and won the K-1 World Grand Prix. Semmy has already promised me that he is hungry to win a fifth K-1 GP belt and then wants to win a title in the UFC or Dream. Marloes Coenen won the Strikeforce women’s world title and has defended it. We convince people by beating our opponents and fighting as much as we can worldwide.
We know who the fighters are. Who are the people who make up the business and training sides of Team Golden Glory?
I handle most of the business, but I do consult a lot with Cor Hemmers and other trainers and people who were involved from the start. I am the person who will look after the contracts and take care of flights, seminars, TV interviews, media appearances, social media, production etc.
Besides your well-known champions like Alistair, Marloes, Siyar and Semmy, what other champions has Golden Glory produced?
We are working on bringing Kharitonov and John Olav Einemo back into the MMA world. Krista Flemming was world champion in kickboxing. Nieky Holzken became the K-1 Max champion in Sweden. Now Robin van Roosmalen and Max are both 21-year-old 70 kg talents who we will see fighting in the K-1 and Glory events next year. Heath Herring won the WVTC9 in Aruba. Chalid Arrab en Stefan Leko won the K-1 Las Vegas GP. Gokhan Saki won the K-1 Hawaii GP and multiple Thai/Kickboxing world titles. Errol Zimmerman won the K-1 GP in Amsterdam, just to name a few.
A little known fact is that the founders of GG were also responsible for creating the International Vale Tudo Championships (IVC). What role did the experience of promoting the IVC play in establishing Team Golden Glory?
My long time business partner Frederico Lapenda who I produce movies with in Hollywood was the founder of the WVTC. During the event in Aruba the idea was created to start an elite fighting team, and as such, Golden Glory was born.
In your opinion, which fighter has progressed the most from the first day they walked into the gym until now?
I must say Alistair Overeem, by far. Semmy progressed a lot in his boxing and so did Siyar, but overall, Alistair has improved the most.
A lot of camps have a rule that teammates will never fight each other. What is Golden Glory’s stance on teammate versus teammate bouts?
We fight each other every day in the gym. Semmy already fought Errol in K-1 and Karaev fought Chalid, so no problem. It becomes an extra match to see who is GG’s strongest fighter.
It’s been said that the best teams are like family. Seeing footage of Marloes and Alistair’s mom waiting with fans at the airport in Amsterdam for his triumphant return after winning his Strikeforce title and seeing the in-ring team celebrations at events like the Glory MMA and kickboxing event you held recently, it’s obvious that your fighters aren’t just training partners. Do you see them as your family members?
Yes it is one big family and even if some of us do not train together, they all fight proudly under the banner of Golden Glory. The good thing is that Semmy Schilt is the man to beat at this moment and he prepares in Golden Glory Zuid Laren in Holland and Golden Glory Romania. Alistair Overeem prepares at Golden Glory Breda in Holland. It would have been a real battle if they had met in the K-1 finals. We sometimes talk crap about each other. In Breda they always say that they will beat the crap out of each other if they would meet in the half-finals or finals. It’s the honor of who is the best GG fighter too. They do this in the gym every week – beating each other up.
You recently made your Ultimate Glory events available through pay-per-view purchase via YouTube. Prior to that they were free. What made you decide to stream past Glory show for free when you could have definitely charged for them?
We want to make it more popular and we want everybody to know that Glory is a very high quality produced show that will compete in the future with any other big fight promoter in the universe. Martijn de Jong and Bert Ditmans are the driving force to promote these glory events. I work more in the production and distribution side of it, like making TV deals and help together with Cor Hemmers and some partners with the matchmaking.
I’m from a small town in Ontario, Canada just outside of Toronto – the Canadian city Dana White calls the Mecca for MMA fans and where the sport was recently sanctioned. Having covered MMA for several years in Canada, I’m sure a show like yours would do well here. Have you considered bringing Glory events or gyms to other locations like Canada?
We are rapidly extending with the opening of GG gyms around the world, recently after Golden Glory Romania and Golden Glory Pattaya Thailand we have opened a Golden Glory gym in Berlin Germany. The beginning of next year Golden Glory California will open and we have serious talks for Golden Glory Dubai and Moscow. If a co-promotion can be done with somebody in Canada, we are all ears.
Can we expect to see more recognizable Golden Glory fighters like Gokhan and Siyar on future Glory cards?
Yes that’s the purpose of the Glory events to create a platform to have our use stable of talented fighter fight on a regular basis.
You recently revealed some details about the Golden Glory satellite location that you are opening in California. Will it be open to the public or is it by invitation only?
It will be open for the public and there will be a professional section in the future.
Alistair’s web-based documentary series “The Reem” is incredible from the cinematography right down to the choice of music. Are there plans to make similar series for other Golden Glory fighters?
It is very expensive to have camera people fly with us all over the world. This is a childhood friend of Alistair and there is a special bond with the team as well. As you could see in the Thailand episode other GG fighters were also interacting with the camera. This is a huge job and the large amount of hours and efforts put into in this documentary is crazy.
A lot of fighters seem to be spending time with other camps to fill in gaps in areas of their game that need work. Do you host fighters from other teams for training camps or do you prefer to keep your cards close as not to reveal any Golden Glory training secrets?
No we do not, only fighters who have signed a management deal. I consider it very unprofessional to help fighters with a different management to then find out that two years later it will be your opponent in some big MMA/kickboxing show.
Considering you are based out of Holland where you helped put Dutch kickboxers and MMA on the map, is it frustrating to think of all of the opposition you’ve encountered from politicians from the earliest days of the Cage Fighting Championships (CFC) to the Glory event you held in October?
Its politics we just have to deal with this. The UFC hired former state athletic employee Marc to only work for the UFC and get the UFC’s shows sectioned in as much states as possible. Europe works different, but overall they make it more and more difficult to promote events in Holland. I am concentrating on the worldwide business of Golden Glory. I run the Golden Glory Pattaya gym and am closely involved in a project called “Fight Game” which is a clothing company that is currently one of the biggest sponsors of Golden Glory. I have more interesting projects I am working on and do not want to spend time in politics which use fighting sports to gain popular interest for their own agendas. I like to keep busy with positive things.
Where do kickboxing and MMA rank in Holland in comparison to other popular sports like football and ice hockey?
Soccer is number one but then fighting sports for sure, no other sport gets 20.000 people for a sports event in Holland.
If you could predict a Golden Glory fighter who will likely be turning heads in the near future, who would you say it would be?
Philp Verlinden and Robin van Roosmalen and Russian fighters Max and Kharitonov will be more and more in the news soon.
What’s next for Golden Glory in 2011?
Alistair fighting Werdum, Semmy back in MMA in UFC or Dream, Kharitonov in Strikeforce, Marloes and Siyar in Strikeforce and there is so much more coming.
Again, Bas, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us. We wish you continued success in 2011 and look forward to talking to you again in the future.
Thank you. I wish everybody good health and happiness keep training and make your wishes become reality as a fighter.
(They may be in for a shock to learn that horse meat isn’t available in Cali.)
CagePotato.com was informed last night by the head of Team Golden Glory, Bas Boon, that the revered Dutch fight camp will be opening up a satellite location in Huntington Be…
(They may be in for a shock to learn that horse meat isn’t available in Cali.)
CagePotato.com was informed last night by the head of Team Golden Glory, Bas Boon, that the revered Dutch fight camp will be opening up a satellite location in Huntington Beach, California, likely by the end of the year.
According to Boon, the gym will be run by Carlo Dekkers, the brother of retired Golden Glory champion kickboxer and current trainer, Ramon Dekkers and it will act as the base for training camps of team members who will be fighting in North America similar to the one they set up in Pattaya, Thailand for fighters readying to compete in Asia.
Boon says that several of Golden Glory’s revered trainers like Cor Hemmers and himself and star fighters such as Alistair Overeem, Semmy Schilt, Sergei Kharitonov, Siyar Bahadurzada and Marloes Coenen will make the California facility a regular destination, adding that the team will also be recruiting American fighters through the gym.
A date for the gym’s opening has not been set, but Boon said it will likely be announced soon when the logistics are finalized.
(They may be in for a shock to learn that horse meat isn’t available in Cali.)
CagePotato.com was informed last night by the head of Team Golden Glory, Bas Boon, that the revered Dutch fight camp will be opening up a satellite location in Huntington Be…
(They may be in for a shock to learn that horse meat isn’t available in Cali.)
CagePotato.com was informed last night by the head of Team Golden Glory, Bas Boon, that the revered Dutch fight camp will be opening up a satellite location in Huntington Beach, California, likely by the end of the year.
According to Boon, the gym will be run by Carlo Dekkers, the brother of retired Golden Glory champion kickboxer and current trainer, Ramon Dekkers and it will act as the base for training camps of team members who will be fighting in North America similar to the one they set up in Pattaya, Thailand for fighters readying to compete in Asia.
Boon says that several of Golden Glory’s revered trainers like Cor Hemmers and himself and star fighters such as Alistair Overeem, Semmy Schilt, Sergei Kharitonov, Siyar Bahadurzada and Marloes Coenen will make the California facility a regular destination, adding that the team will also be recruiting American fighters through the gym.
A date for the gym’s opening has not been set, but Boon said it will likely be announced soon when the logistics are finalized.
Despite the rancor between Golden Glory and the 