Hans Molenkamp has been thrust into the news. For those of you who watched Dominick Cruz‘s post-fight interview with Joe Rogan after his win at UFC 259, you may have the same question that I do, “Who exactly is Hans Molenkamp?” MMA Sucka’s Jeremy Brand spoke to him on Sucka Radio last year. If you’re looking to learn a little more, check that out here.
So who is Hans Molenkamp?
It was an odd choice to call out someone who the public doesn’t know, but something ticked off Cruz so badly that he felt that he just had to make the beef public and put the pressure on Hans Molenkamp.
What is Cruz angry about?
After a little internet sleuthing, it seems as though Molenkamp works for Monster Energy, a major sponsor of the UFC. According to Dominick, Molenkamp has the power to decide which fighters are awarded a Monster sponsorship. With sponsorships already being hard to come by in the UFC after the Reebok deal, a Monster sponsorship is a huge deal and a huge increase to the chosen fighter’s income.
Cruz claims in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan that Molenkamp “holds fighters hostage.” “He’s been forcing us to comment on his pictures, forcing us to do videos and pictures with him just in order to hold our contracts hostage.” In a later interview with the media, Cruz expands on his issue.
“It’s not trapped in a contract, it’s forced to give him clout, forced to hype him up if I want to make money,” Cruz said. “Monster pays me, so the equivalent would be does the UFC pay me? Yes. Does Dana White own the UFC? Yes. So if Dana White says, ‘Hey, go on my page, and like my page’—Dana White has gone on this man’s page and said something. They ignored it like it didn’t happen. So I’m not the first one to say something, Dana’s also said something, maybe ask him about it.”
Dana White defends his sponsor
Dana White attempted to do some damage control in his post-fight presser, “if you don’t like them don’t do business with them. They’ve been good to us, they’ve been good to the sport, and they’ve definitely been good to the fighters.” However, in an Instagram comment left by Dana White on one of Molenkamp’s posts, White clearly has his own issues with Molenkamp. (picture of comment here).
Monster has since responded to the allegations by Cruz. “We take any such allegations seriously and are looking into it at this time,” a Monster spokesman wrote to MMAFighting about the incident. A phone number for Molenkamp that has been used by the Monster rep. has been disconnected as of Monday.
Is there any potential for a fight?
Dana White was not asked about whether or not he would be in favor of the charity bout, however, Cruz has already tried to enlist his help. “Dana, maybe you’ll do it,” Cruz said. “Maybe you can set up this charity event. He calls himself a pro fighter, Hans, let’s go.”
Hans Molenkamp has not commented on the call-out from Cruz as of now and has been unable to be reached since the fight. Molenkamp has been bombarded with negative comments on his social media since the call Cruz’s callout.
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