MixedMartialArtsLawBlog Year-End Updates

Posted on December 31, 2009 by David Nelmark

As 2009 comes to a close, I wanted to provide updates on a few of the year's MMALB columns.

Rapper DMX  Pulls Out of MMA Fight.   According to this statement released by the promoter, the entire event had to be canceled because "[w]hen [DMX] decided to back out of the event due to our refusal to fix his fight, it left Thunder Promotions LLC with little time to promote an event with a replacement headliner."   According to other sources only a few hundred tickets had been sold.

While there is a tremendous amount of comedic value in writing about an MMA event where DMX is deemed a "headliner," the cancellation does have sad consequences for the other fighters on the card, especially Iowa's own Travis Fulton (who has 192 MMA wins on his record). Fulton was looking to reinvent himself and make it to the big show.  Instead, according to his manager, Chad Bergmeier, all Fulton got after arriving in Alabama was a redeye flight back home.  To date, the promoters still have not come through with Fulton's paycheck.

MMA Organizations Battle Piracy -  The Square Ring v. UStream lawsuit has gotten bogged down, but UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta recently testified before the House Judiciary Committee (along with executives from Major League Baseball) about the importance of cracking down on online piracy.  I think it's a watershed event when an MMA bigwig gets to go to Washington to speak alongside a Big Three (NFL, NBA, and MLB) representative.     

This related Cagewriter article is interesting.  It covers the testimony and also provides an example of why if you are planning to tell people how to steal a pay per view broadcast you should not first send an email to event promoters. 

Jon "Bones" Jones's Appeal to the NSAC is Denied.  MMAJunkie provides a full recap.  While I am not surprised at the denial, I am still waiting for someone to comment and resolve the discrepancy between the referee only deducting a single point, but then calling Jones's downward elbows an intentional foul.

And, most importantly, Kimo is still alive!

I leave you with one of my favorite MMA quotes of the year.  It's not law-related, but it is nonetheless worth sharing, and it comes from MMA Journalist Jim Genia:

BJ Penn is without a doubt some kind of fighting deity, but I definitely think Gray Maynard, Frankie Edgar and Jim Miller can beat him. However, they have to coordinate it so they all attacking him at once, i.e., Maynard comes in low, Edgar comes in high and Miller blasts him with a shotgun. Otherwise, they're doomed.

Happy New Year, MMALB readers!

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DMX is a Rapper/Actor/Boxer/Defendant

Posted on November 27, 2009 by David Nelmark

Rapper DMX has been sued for $1 million backing out of a celebrity boxing match that was part of a Boxing/MMA card called "Alabama Pride" slated for December 12, 2009 in Alabama.   

Documents posted by TMZ (add requisite grain of salt) indicate that DMX wanted the "fight" staged in a way that protected both his safety and his reputation.   While Thunder Promotions is not above advertising a fight featuring a rapper whose best martial arts credential is that he co-starred with Steven Seagal, it does draw the line at fixed fights.  DMX is out.  Coolio is in.  Really. 

Several lessons here:

1.  Before you promote a fight, make sure those on the card actually plan to take part in a real fight.  (Of course, this may have happened here as a lawsuit has been filed, but see Number 2.) 

2.  The amount of damages sought in a lawsuit often have nothing to do with reality.  (19,000 people wouldn't pay to see DMX rap, let alone fight.)      

3.  If you are going to send out a document that makes your client look really bad, a confidentiality provision in that same document does not help you if the other party decides to go public with it instead of signing it.

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