The ongoing standoff between Zuffa and Golden Glory continued Friday morning, as UFC President Dana White maintained his claim that the cuts to Marloes Coenen, Jon Olav Einemo, and Valentijn Overeem were caused by an insistence that Zuffa pay the gym directly, as opposed to the fighters.
Late Thursday night former-Strikeforce women bantamweight champion Marloes Coenen attempted to rebuke White's initial statement on her Twitter account, posting a picture of a paycheck signed to her directly from Forza LLC (a subsidiary of Zuffa), while writing, "@danawhite hurts me 2 hear things about my management that are not true.#Ibelieveinthetruth #proof."
Regardless, White maintained his claim, stating the check was written out at Zuffa's insistence, and that Golden Glory was extremely resistant to the idea. He explained the story to MMAJunkie.com.
"Even when we did the deal with Einemo (for a fight at UFC 131), we told them, 'We're paying the fighters.' Even though they agreed to the deal, they later came out and were flipping out during the event wanting to change the deal.'"
"It's not the way we do business. It's not how it works in the U.S. You don't pay the manager and the manager pays the fighter. You pay the fighter, and the fighter pays the manager."
If White's claims are the true, then the issue essentially boils down to Zuffa's reluctance to deal with the consist push-and-pull from Golden Glory. Several sources close to the issue have commented that Golden Glory fighters are often predisposed to signing checks over to the camp, and that Strikeforce may have held a looser reign on the discussions before their acquisition by Zuffa.
In that regard, the UFC has made it clear throughout the promotion's past that they rarely bend their own rules. Still, White insists that neither he nor the company has any problem with the fighters involved in the dispute, and that the policy is set with the best of intentions.
"I have nothing against these fighters. I have nothing against Golden Glory," he said. "The fighters go out and earn the money. They get the check. What they decide to do with it from there on out is up to them."