[Robert Sothmann]

Dan Slobodin, I feel for you and your friend. Jeez...it's like a parallel story.
They called everyone they knew...I was the only YES they received...haha.

I kind of knew what I was getting into, they told me he's THE CHAMP. My friend was supposed to be the cornerman for another Japanese guy who suddenly couldn't make it, so he stepped up like the little Samurai that he is...and got hit by a seasoned ton of bricks nicknamed The General. It was a learning experience for all involved.
I learned that my rebound time after getting hit with huge shots is very fast, that my head is a Tito sized target, and that I should at least know my opponents dominant hand.

[flyingforearm]

I agree with others who gave kudos to this post.

It comes down to the promoters being ethical, managers working for their athletes, and competitors being educated. It's so difficult in the smaller shows, where promoters start out with very little capital. They, like the bigger promoters, are trying to make a buck. They may genuinely be trying to promote MMA as well, but fundamentally, most promoters are trying to make a profit. So in the smaller shows, you'll see more young MMA athletes seduced by getting to be on a "professional" MMA card though they may only be paid a few hundred dollars. Promoters can take advantage of unprepared fighters' zeal and get them on the card, often times without providing medical insurance and/or thorough pre- and post-fight examinations by medical doctors.

This is a quote from an interview I did with Travis Lutter from my book:

"I mean there’s adults out there...putting together fights where all you gotta have is a month’s experience, I mean a month of training and you can come fight. I mean it’s stupid. Why do you want to take a guy that knows basically nothing, and you know, he knows just enough to go in there and get his ass kicked against somebody that’s been in there a year or whatever.... a no holds barred fight, you can go in there and get your cheekbone busted, you know, and you need to have surgery. You bust something. You could get knocked out, get a concussion, you get a trip in the ambulance. It’s like, and some of the smaller shows don’t provide insurance for ya, or worse yet, they’re not gonna be paying your bills. I think that’s really ignorant and stupid."

This kind of stuff needs to be addressed by the MMA community. Thanks again for the original post in this thread.

Official Website - Fighting for Acceptance: Mixed Martial Arts and Violence in American Society

[Robert Sothmann]

Don't get me wrong. I was training hard at the time but you still need the individual prep time for each opponent.

[valhalla82]

interesting

[Lizardman]

Originally Posted by Joe Funaro

Well I don't have a tag but I'm an Am fighter. I've only had 1 fight, I'm 1-0 and I would have more if not for some shady promoters and convenient injuries that can all be read in my log My Am MMA Prep Log

Alright enough of that, I agree with what King Kabuki said. The only problem is that MMA is young, especially in certain areas and sometimes it comes down to take it or leave it. When your looking for experience, you have to make a choice and decide whats worth what.

As a pro, I think you shouldn't have to pay for anything. Someone is making money off of your fight, don't sell yourself short. Your the product. You should be getting travel, license, hotel and fighter pay (obviously).

Even as an amateur you should be getting something. Theres 2 shows in NJ that hold fights. They don't give shit for am fighters. No hotel, no travel, nothing. It's a 4 hour trip each way for me and its the closest thing for me. On top of that, when I get there, theres no place for me to wait if I'm early, no place for me to change or shower afterwards, nothing. And the promoter still makes money off of me. Thats gay.

In contrast, my brother found www.NAAFS.tv in Cleavland, Ohio. Thats a little farther then NJ from me. The promoter is getting him a room for the night AND travel. He couldn't cover the entire plane ticket for my bro, the travel was based on driving, but he said he would be fine putting it toward a flight for him as long as my bro pays the rest. Thats awesome. Now you can be damn sure that when I'm healed up and ready to fight I'm gonna look at them first, not the crap in NJ. NJ put on a great show, but had nothing for the fighters.

I still might fight in NJ and get nothing because my freinds wanna see, but still, wheres the respect. Your making some guy money, if your amateur your not even getting paid to put your ass on the line and you'll end up spending money to make the promoter money. THATS FUCKED UP!

I never ended up fighting in NJ, my brother did, I went Upstate and fought at a charity event instead. It was a small show, held outside in bumfuck nowhere. The guy gave us a hotel for the night (3 of us), we didn't get travel but it was for charity so thats cool.

The point is don't let promoters mess with you. Theres tons of little shows out there, one of them will be good to you.

Your NJ experience is disturbingly familiar. The one fight I had was about 95% the exact same situation. Lost money, no guarantees, and most of all, he made bank. I didn't care at the time and still don't to an extent b/c it was a heck of an experience, but if imma take it seriously next time, i'll need to re-eval and absorb some of that KK knowledge

[prontostar]

this should be a sticky...nice work King Kabuki.

[MisterSambo]

I also had a similar experience for my 2nd and 3d fight. For my second fight my opponent was supposed to have no fights in mma and just some experience in combat sambo. Turned out that he was the muay thai instructor off the school where he was from and after the fight he told us also that he knocked out some of my teammates who was considered to be better than me at that time not so long ago. I just had the luck to see him warm up and after seeing him I decided to take the fight to the ground where I was able to got the tko. And in my second fight they gave me the name of my opponent the day before the fight. He was from the club who organised the event and they told me that he wasn't good at the ground. I didn't found anything about him in the net or elsewhere and he had a name normal for Switzerland. But once I got into the cage they announced him as Brazilian. But at that time that only made me angry and finally I was able to knock him out. I wasn't able to fight since then due to a broken hand but in future I will only participate if they announce my opponent more time before the event. And btw I hadn't been paid for those 2 fights. I just took them because it was the only possibility to fight in Switzerland and I needed experience. Now after looking with the organisator in future he will pay 100 bucks and once the event works better maybe more. That doesn't bother me at the moment cause I just had 3 fights and actually I fight only the get in the big organisations. So if someone has some tips how to get in those events, tell me.

[Gramps]

Originally Posted by MisterSambo

I also had a similar experience for my 2nd and 3d fight. For my second fight my opponent was supposed to have no fights in mma and just some experience in combat sambo. Turned out that he was the muay thai instructor off the school where he was from and after the fight he told us also that he knocked out some of my teammates who was considered to be better than me at that time not so long ago. I just had the luck to see him warm up and after seeing him I decided to take the fight to the ground where I was able to got the tko. And in my second fight they gave me the name of my opponent the day before the fight. He was from the club who organised the event and they told me that he wasn't good at the ground. I didn't found anything about him in the net or elsewhere and he had a name normal for Switzerland. But once I got into the cage they announced him as Brazilian. But at that time that only made me angry and finally I was able to knock him out. I wasn't able to fight since then due to a broken hand but in future I will only participate if they announce my opponent more time before the event. And btw I hadn't been paid for those 2 fights. I just took them because it was the only possibility to fight in Switzerland and I needed experience. Now after looking with the organisator in future he will pay 100 bucks and once the event works better maybe more. That doesn't bother me at the moment cause I just had 3 fights and actually I fight only the get in the big organisations. So if someone has some tips how to get in those events, tell me.

You're bad ass.

[justinnnn]

good to know. Good to know.

[MMAftfw]

Damn good post man, very useful info.