Golden Glory, the Dutch gym and management team that has been a powerhouse in kickboxing and MMA for a decade, disputes Alistair Overeem's claim that he has parted ways with them. Golden Glory executive Bas Boon seems to be interpreting Overeem's statement as merely a decision to no longer train in the gym, not a split with the management firm. Boon commented to Fighters Only:
"We regret that 12 years of working together and friendship has come to an end. I can not really comment on any details as I do not have them myself yet [and] we don't air our dirty laundry [in public,].
"There is a management contract in place and as long as this is honored we are fine with the decision from Alistair and wish Alistair much success in his further career."
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Boon also spoke to MMA Junkie and hinted at legal remedies:
"I wasn't really surprised, actually, after the last three months because he already had a lot of different ideas on how he would divide certain percentages which were normal in the past, and apparently, are not now," he said. "I think the judge will decide on this issue that we have, and when that is decided, we will see who was right and who was not."
The camp's lead trainer Martin de Jong seems to think that Overeem is only splitting with the management company, not the gym. Keep an eye on MMA Nation for updates.
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One source of frustration could be related to Overeem's contention on The MMA Hour that he has not been paid for winning last year's K-1 Grand Prix -- the World Series of kickboxing:
"They didn't pay me. It's a lot of money, I can tell you that.
"We're on the verge of starting up legal action, but Japan is a hard environment to move. You have the language barrier, you have the culture barrier. Are we expecting something from it? It's hard to say. I actually think it's going to be really hard. FEG has a lot of outstanding liabilities, a lot of unpaid bills, so maybe mine is just going to be put underneath the stack of the other bills. They have a lot of debt."