It looks like the UFC will be going forward without their signature cut man, as Jacob "Stitch" Duran reported that he will no longer be working with the UFC following his comments to Bloody Elbow over the recent Reebok deal.
Well, if Jacob 'Stitch' Duran was thinking about leaving MMA cut man work for boxing, it looks like the decision has just been made for him. The longtime UFC cutman recently spoke to Bloody Elbow about the Zuffa's Reebok deal, which went into effect earlier this month. Duran revealed that, as part of the deal, he and other cutmen & women had lost their own ability to carry sponsors on their apparel during UFC events. And unlike fighters, Duran said, he and the others in his profession weren't being compensated by Reebok for their losses. He went on to suggest that the move may lead him to consider doing more boxing work, as unspoken rules made cross-promotional MMA work difficult.
It looks like the UFC brass were not happy with those statements and Duran has since revealed, via Twitter that his contract with the promotion was terminated as a direct result.
Here's the interview that got him canned:
Many people were probably unaware that cutpeople were making money on sponsors. How big of hit will your pocket book take with this new policy ?
It's a solid shot. I got paid on a monthly basis so it definitely added up. I made really good money on that sponsorship so it's kind of a shocker to transition.
And working as a cutman is where you primarily make your money right?
This is what I do full time. I also do boxing and the pay scale is a little different there. The fighters pay you directly in boxing, where in MMA it's the promoters that pay you to work the event instead of with the individual boxers. With boxers, especially when you're working for the top dogs, you make more so the sponsorship money was nice to have [in MMA]. So I might have to start looking more at boxers again.
Could you pick up more work with Bellator or any other MMA promotions?
It's not highly recommended to work for another promotion. Even though we are independent contractors, its an unwritten rule.
I wasn't aware of that. Would you like to be able to work for other MMA promoters?
It would be awesome to go back and forth, but with the amount of fights the UFC has it would be hard because you stay busy.
So did you and the other cutmen know that you wouldn't be able to keep your sponsors with the Reebok deal or were you caught off guard?
We were given sufficient warning but they basically told us we weren't part of the negotiations of that Reebok deal. That was only going to involve the fighters.
I don't think they did this out of malice. Not at all. Really, what I think is we might be doing too good of job where they just maybe forgot about us. I also don't think they thought about or understood what kind of value we could give them.
Them being Reebok, right?
Yes. I understand why my old sponsors used to come to me, because I gave them exposure. Before a fighter entered the cage or between rounds you'd see me and my vest on camera. No reason Reebok couldn't be getting that exposure now. I wonder if Reebok realizes they are missing a nice piece of real estate.
Did the UFC hear about you and the other cutmen's concerns before the deal took effect?
We told our concerns to our higher ups who brought them to their higher ups but we were informed it's a no-go. We were told there's nothing left in the kitty for us so there wasn't much we could do.
So what does this mean for your future as a cutman?
I really love working the MMA circuit. I really love working with the fighters and the UFC, but I also have a family to support. So do I start focusing more on seminars? Do I start giving my business card more to boxers?
If you or other cutmen decided to go somewhere else because of the money do you think this could potentially hurt the quality of cutpeople in the UFC?
That was a question that was asked me by someone from the UFC Saturday night and my answer was yes. And that means you have elite level fighters and you'll have young, inexperienced guys working as their cutmen.
Fans and fighters are starting to realize what we do is pretty important. Look at the fights at UFC 189. Less experienced people aren't going to be able to do what we did that night.
