World Series Of Fightings ledande personer, Ali Abdel-Aziz och Ray Sefo, är inte typerna som backar från konfrontationer. Således har konflikten som började med en tweet från Josh Burkmans sida utvecklats till dagens snackis i kampsportsvärlden.
Efter att welterviktaren Josh Burkman (27-10) bett om att få avbryta kontraktet med World Series Of Fighting, som följd av en utebliven vinstbonus efter WSOF 9, inleddes en väldigt offentlig och infekterad konflikt, som i skrivande stund ännu inte nått ett slut. Det hela började med att Burkman tog till Twitter för att uttrycka sin önskan om att tillåtas avbryta kontraktet med en match kvar, varpå organisationens matchmäklare Ali Abdel-Aziz svarade att man från WSOF:s sida inte gjort något fel. Burkman och Abdel-Aziz fortsatte konflikten, tills vd Ray Sefo, efter att båda parterna tagit till svordomar, tillslut uppmanade ”The Peoples Warrior” att lägga ner stridsyxan, medan han samtidigt påminde om att det finns andra i organisationen än Abdel-Aziz att förhandla med.
Bloodyelbow.com kontaktade matchmäklaren, som valde att dela med sig av sin och WSOF:s sida av den tilltrasslade situationen.
”We found Josh Burkman and brought him to the WSOF, with the promise to give him some fights, which we did. We gave him 5 fights in 16 months. He got paid more collectively than anybody we have. He got treated like royalty. We gave him extra tickets for his family. We made him the face of the company. Other fighters would even complain about how well he was treated. He wasn’t even supposed to fight on this card. It was supposed to be David Branch, but he contacted my partner saying he needed to fight because he needed the money. They made the agreement between them. I had nothing to do with it. So he fought, and got paid more show money than he was supposed to get paid. He agreed to that amount of money, which is the most he ever got paid from us, and that was coming off a loss. Then, I find out today, that he contacted the UFC. Every fighter dreams of going to the UFC, and I understand that. Anthony Johnson finished out his contract and asked us to please not match the UFC’s offer, so we didn’t. We wished him the best of luck, and let him know he will always have a home with us. We will do the same with Josh, when the time comes. He has one more fight left on his contract. I told my partner, ‘He wants to be in the UFC, but he’s at least got to beat UFC level talent, and that’s Palhares and Fitch. He should fight Palhares or Jon Fitch if he ends up winning. Personally, I think nobody wants to fight Palhares. He’s a tough match-up for anybody. Do I like Josh Burkman? Of course I do. Does he like me? I really don’t care, because if he doesn’t, there are other people in the company that can deal with him in my place. Ray Sefo’s tweet was not meant in the spirit of a breakdown at WSOF. He was simply saying that if Josh had a problem with me, there were other people within the company that could work with him.”
Huruvida Burkmans önskan uppfylls eller ej är i skrivande stund okänt.
