Jay Golshani from Battlefield Fight League released the following statement this morning: “I will keep it short and get right to the point. In the past 2 weeks we have seen some press releases and heard a few cheap shots thrown our way from Darren Owen and the AFC and we have kept our mouth shut but we feel now it is necessary for us to point out some FACTS so that are fighters and fans are not mislead.”
– There is no truth to Ryan Chiappe signing a multi-fight deal with the AFC. Below is an official statement from Ryan Chiappe’s management:
“On July 3rd a post on TopMMANews’s ‘Rumor Mill’ was released stating that Ryan Chiappe has apparently signed with the Aggression Fighting Championships effective immediately after his bout vs. Dave Logan on July 28th. I would like to clarify that there is no truth to this statement.
This not only makes my client look unprofessional but also makes Echelon FM appear to be ‘Double Dipping’ in regards to having multiple agreements with multiple promotions at the same time. After the bout with Mr. Logan we will look at our options.
I was not pleased to read something that although may be partially accurate in the sense that we have spoken with other promotions before the Logan fight was offered to us and I apologize to all parties involved including Mr. Chiappe and BFL for this ‘Rumor’ to be circulating on what people consider to be a reputable website. I will not address this matter again until Mr. Chiappe’s contract obligations have been met with BFL.”
– Graham Spencer did not vacate his BFL belt because he wanted to join the AFC. I asked Graham Spencer in June to vacate his belt as we could not agree on terms on an extension. I suggested to Graham that I would give him a release at a later date to join the AFC as I thought that would be the best option for him as I could not see a suitable matchup for him within our current roster. The AFC has yet to contact us regarding the release of Graham Spencer and he is still officially under contract with us. As promised, his official release from our organization will be sent to his management this week.
Below is an official statement from his management:
“This is an official statement from Echelon FM and Darcy McBride stating that although verbal agreements were made, we have not yet received an outright release for Graham Spencer from BFL prior to the Press Release on July 3rd. Mr. Golshani had asked Spencer to vacate his belt last month as we could not agree on a contract extension. There was a mutual understanding at that time that the best interest of both parties was to part ways and I had been assured by Mr. Golshani that we will indeed receive this release upon the vacation of Mr. Spencer’s BFL Featherweight Title which has now occurred. We would like to thank Mr. Golshani for the opportunity to explore other options with Mr. Spencer.”
Here are a few FACTS for Mr. Owen:
-you are not the biggest MMA organization in Canada, MFC is. You are not even the biggest MMA organization in B.C. You have done what 7 events in 3 years, we have done 16 in less than 2 years.
-you call all our roster offering them promises and contracts pretty much on a nightly basis, well here is something that we feel is necessary for all the fighters to know. Did you guys even honor Nick Hinchliffe’s big contract? FACT: you dumped 2 of his four fights to other promotions because you didn’t even hold enough events to honor the contract and when you did actually hold an event he was not included because you could not afford to pay him. (He only fought 2 out of the 4 promised fights within your organization)
-do you really have a deal with fox sports net in the US that puts you in over 30 million homes?
FACT: You never signed a deal with Fox Sports NET in the US, you were refused because they said you have to improve you lighting and your production and at the time was not adequate to American Television. We signed a television deal with Fox Sports NET at the time not you guys!
-We have been on live TV on Canadian Television 3 times, you have never been on live TV.
-our highlights have been aired on HDNET inside mama and Spike TV, you highlights have never been aired on American Television.
-Our program is the highest rated show on the fight network, yours not even close.
-you have made previous announcements to hold events in Nova scotia, Wininpeg and now Grand Prairie. FACT: you actually have never held a show outside The Bear Mountain Arena in Victoria! We promised shows in 5 cities in 2 years. We have Held shows in Vancouver, Nanaimo, Vernon and soon Penticton, Toronto and Mexico. That is 6 different cities to your 1 city. When we say will do something we actually do it, we don’t announce it to get our fighters hope up and then back out!
-you claim to have the highest outside attendance outside Zuffa in the last 3 years. Well your average total fight purse is $12,000. Where is all the money going? Maybe it’s time to put some of that gate money back into the fighters and pay them what they are actually worth instead of banking it all into your savings account.
-Our job is to promote guys and we do a good Job doing it. Our top marketed guys like Gary Mangat and Matt Baker are household Names. We help our superstars achieve their ultimate goal (Marcus Aurelio to Bellator.) We put our guys on the map, so it’s not true when you tell people we lock our guys up and hold them back from their potential, it’s the exact opposite we bring them up the correct way and market them the right way and give them all kinds of opportunities. When is the last time you guys put a fighter on the map? All you do is contact the guys we have built and beg them to come fight for you because you don’t want to take the time and spend the money to build guys like Matt Dwyer, Micah Brakefield, Jeremy Kennedy and Jacen Brooks. You rather have us do the work and try to bad mouth us and try to get the m to switch over. What have you guys done for Derek Meder? There is a guy ready for the next step, but unfortunately when you don’t put the time in and do your job and market your roster in a proper fashion it’s a lot harder for them to achieve their goal. So next time instead of bashing us who is basically outperforming you in almost every aspect of the game besides sending out false press releases, start promoting for a change maybe you can stop hating on your competitor and get some positive results.
