Photo by Esther Lin / MMAFighting.com
Prior to Alistair Overeem's UFC 141 bout with Brock Lesnar, it was announced that Overeem's former management team at Golden Glory had filed a lawsuit against him for breach of contract. Word came out that Overeem's purse would be held in escrow until the matter was resolved. While it was true that there was a court order for the purse to be held, it was contingent on Golden Glory doing a little work on their end. This didn't happen and Overeem was given his check.
Despite a court order calling for over 90 percent of Alistair Overeem's guaranteed purse to be held in escrow following his fight on Friday against Brock Lesnar, the 31-year-old Dutch heavyweight was paid in full.
A Nevada court, citing an existing and enforceable pact between Overeem and Knock Out Investments, a fighter management group, decreed that UFC parent company Zuffa "is directed to issue a check from the portion of the purse owed to Overeem in the respective amount of $241,285.49, made payable to Knock-Out Investments; and that the Nevada State Athletic Commission shall hold" the check pending further order of the court.
That order was contingent on KOI, also known as Golden Glory, posting a $200,000 surety bond by fight time.
That bond appeared to have not been posted, thus Overeem took home his full $385,714.28 with more to come after he receives his portion of the PPV. Golden Glory says they have more legal actions planned for the future.
0 recs | 33 comments
Not even the courts want an Uberknee!
GreyedOut - January 3, 2012
inasmuch as I'm not a 'Reem fan
That’s good to hear. I’m even less of a fan of the management team taking all of a fighter’s purse, pretty much regardless of circumstance.
Cory Braiterman - January 3, 2012
This whole debacle has "settlement" written all over it.
Dave Strummer - January 3, 2012
Yes.
This is what will most likely happen. Settlement for an “undisclosed” amount.
pud333 - January 3, 2012
I think he meant that's why it was "dropped"
because something was agreed-upon behind closed doors.
That said….I think the fact that KOI could not secure the 200k bond lends credence to the rumors of not taking care of their managed fighters
OmoPlata - January 3, 2012
385k is a nice slice of cheese
Ricardo Arguello - January 3, 2012
Holy fuck!
Alistair hit a fucking lick! Damn near 400k!? With more to come from ppv buys? A ppv that featured Brock fucking Lesnar? Does anyone know a rough estimate of about how much extra cash a fighter can receive from ppv’s?
SentientAndroid - January 3, 2012
Depends, but definitely a seven-figure number. I seem to remember that the only concrete evidence we have in regards to this issue was the photocopies of the checks Randy Couture cashed for UFC 68 and UFC 74, respectively. His PPV cuts were almost 7 figures, but those events were both around 500k buyrates, and that was also over 4 years ago. He was making over a million per fight as the champion back then, so I’d imagine Lesnar/Overeem would make more depending on the buyrate. PPVs were cheaper in ’07 and less people bought them direct (buys via UFC.TV = all revenue for Zuffa).
Machiel Van - January 3, 2012
This is news to me
I would’ve never thought that Randy was making millions back then.
SentientAndroid - January 3, 2012
The UFC has always only had a handful of true PPV stars,
Those few guys have A LOT of negotiating power. Randy’s return drummed up a lot of interest in UFC 68, and was really the entire showcase of UFC 74. Also remember, the ONLY fighter who was making more in the UFC at that point was Chuck Liddell.
Machiel Van - January 3, 2012
Yep.
I remember reading/hearing about Chuck raking in 500k per fight when he was fighting even after he was on a losing streak.
SentientAndroid - January 3, 2012
I think...
last week it was reported AO will get 2$ for every ppv buy over 500k
Fokman - January 3, 2012
In the court documents
I think it said Overeem was getting $2 for every PPV buy after $500,000.
GreyedOut - January 3, 2012
nice
SentientAndroid - January 3, 2012
So he could conceivably make, say, a cool mil? Probably more like half that given the terrible year and the timing of the card, but… Not damn bad.
thirdparty - January 3, 2012
Let' not forget that Allistair also got a UFC signing bonus of $1M
I think that’s payable over the first 3 fights if I read correctly from Josh Gross’s article.
BrandtShaft! - January 3, 2012
GG seems almost as bad as M-1 management
They claim that Overeem owes them money but they aren’t willing to go thru the proper channels to collect. Something doesn’t add up…
jack knight starman - January 3, 2012 via mobile
This.
If it’s such an outrage, why not just post the bond? 200k is relatively small anyway. By the time they get to collecting money, assuming they win at all, they’ll have paid huge in attorneys fees and in the meantime put a big stink on their brand to draw fighters. GG is fail.
Kid Kimura - January 3, 2012
They don’t have 200k to post bond but they want 30% of Reem’s salary which is probably going to be between 1-1.5 mil when all added up for a single fight.
nastyem - January 3, 2012
I thought as much as well
a 200K bond to get a potential 1-2 mill + more legal leg room is a drop in the bucket.
GG YOU DONE GOOFED!
squaresphere - January 3, 2012
The simple answer
they’d either have to post the full $200,000 in cash with the court – which is unlikely, or they’d have to get a surety company.
Generally a surety charges 10-15% of the bond amount, plus fees and costs. So now you need to get $20- 30K in cash to post the bond. Plus the surety company would need collateral worth the remaing amount. And you dont get your $20-30K back when the case is done.
Most companies dont have that kind of cash laying around.
Ironbuddha - January 3, 2012
Yeah I can’t understand why a company would initiate this action and then not follow through.
Unless they really don’t have 200 000.. Odd.
UncleMax - January 3, 2012
I don't find it odd that they don't have $200,000 lying around
That’s a lot of cash to just put up as a bond in a case where it seems very questionable whether they even have a legal leg to stand on.
MichaelDavidSmith - January 3, 2012
The Nevada court
Thought they had enough to go on – an enforceable contract, to be precise – to put a hold on Overeem’s purse. The fact that they didn’t post the bond is mind-boggling. Taking lawyers’ fees into account, it probably cost them five grand just to get the court order.
Patrick Wyman - January 3, 2012
Possibly to unsettle him before the Lesnar fight?
Remember back in 2010 when Don King posted $1M cash bond to bar Mayorga from an MMA fight. Link [yahoo sports]
higgledy-piggledy - January 3, 2012
located in amsterdam...forgetful about important details...
there must be a connection!
some schmuck in texas - January 3, 2012
Random Question:
Does anybody know if the UFC payout figures we see after every event are pre or post-tax?
skeebop - January 3, 2012
They are just reportable earnings. So pre-tax.
DonkeyOatey - January 3, 2012
Pre-tax. We also don’t see what they’re paying their trainers, supplements, etc. We also don’t see how much they make from sponsorships and the ambiguous discretionary “locker-room bonuses.” The whole thing is just hazy and muddled; it’s best not to really concern yourself with how much the fighters are making, it’s just impossible to know.
Machiel Van - January 3, 2012
I mean in a specific sort of way. It’s always nice to see fighters get paid well of course.
Machiel Van - January 3, 2012
Wow, Golden Glory showing their true colors...
Imagine being a fighter and seeing this… I would never want to be managed by these guys. I guess this will help other management companies in Holland.
aTn - January 3, 2012
I thought I heard the sounds of laughter and corks popping from the M1 Global office (a trashcan) next to my mansion (a dumpster)
Now to keep Malki away from Overeem.
menckenstein - January 3, 2012
Good for Overeem
He put on such an excellent performance that it would have really sucked to see him not get his purse.
Chris Groves - January 3, 2012
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