MMA manager Mike Kogan received an unexpected phone call from UFC President Dana White.
One day before, he had sent an email to Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker and CC'd a high-ranking Zuffa executive.
The email, he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com), acknowledged Zuffa's matching rights on Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal and laid out the terms of an offer recently submitted by Bellator Fighting Championships. It said that unless the company wanted to match Bellator's offer, Kogan would consider Lawal a free agent after 15 business days.
"I got a phone call from Dana saying, 'What the f--k is going on? Why don't you guys just wait and then we'll work it out in September (2012)?'" Kogan said. "I said, 'I'm in the middle of a negotiation. I can't just stop everything. You guys have a contract that says if you want to keep Mo, just match the terms.'"
White persisted.
"'There's so many options. He'll be a free agent,'" said Kogan of White's response. "I'm like, 'What other options? Who's the other option?' Then we had a private conversation. Finally, he said, 'Whatever. You guys do whatever you've got to do. I guess it is what it is.'"
With White's unsuccessful plea, Lawal, who in late March was cut from the UFC after he lashed out at a female member of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, officially became a Bellator fighter on May 10. Kogan said the announcement came exactly 15 business days after he submitted the tournament-based promotion's offer to the parent company of Strikeforce and UFC.
It was Bellator that had alerted him to the matching period in the first place.
"We got all the way through discussions, and (Bellator CEO) Bjorn (Rebney) asked me, 'Are you sure you're clear to talk about this?'" Kogan said. "I was like, 'Yeah, why wouldn't we be? We've just been terminated.' He goes, 'You might want to reread your contracts just to make sure.'"
In MMA promotions Strikeforce, UFC and Bellator, promotional agreements, otherwise known as the contract that binds a fighter to a particular fight-maker, contain clauses that give the companies the right to match offers to fighters after they are released. That means, in theory, that they can reacquire a fighter if he or she suddenly becomes a commodity in MMA's competitive talent marketplace. The UFC's matching term is believed to be six months while Bellator's extends for 18.
The issue wasn't widely reported until bantamweight Tyson Nam made public his struggles with Bellator, which threatened to sue him for breach of contract when he received offers from other promoters while still under his matching period.
Bellator officials say the matching rights protect a promoter's investment and ultimately provide an opportunity for a fighter to make more money when demand drives up fight purses. They also say they are a necessity with two major promotions competing for talent.
White has nonetheless blasted Bellator for enforcing the matching clause in fighter contracts while saying the UFC has never exercised them.
"There is a perception that we somehow release fighters and look to retain our matching rights and the UFC does not," Rebney said. "Dana's comments were very hypocritical. We follow the exact same process that Zuffa followed with us with 'King Mo' Lawal."
Meanwhile, Bellator has widely been criticized by fans for holding back the careers of Nam and others who have competed for the tournament-based promotion.
Kogan and Lawal, however, question why the matching clause is present at all in UFC deals if it's not used. After being tipped off, Kogan reread both Lawal's contract, which contained the clause, and his release letter, which stated that all the survivable portions of the contract remained in effect. The decision to inform Zuffa of the Bellator offer was a no-brainer, Kogan said.
Lawal, who was shelved for nine months this past December when he was suspended for failing a post-fight drug test in Strikeforce, said today that most major organizations have matching clauses. And in the case of his terminated Strikeforce contract, he figured it was better safe than sorry.
"I just chose to follow through with it because you never know what's going to happen," Lawal said. "Say I were to sign, and the UFC got mad – they could sue me or something. I played the safe route. If they weren't going to enforce it, why would they put it in their contract?"
"Some people have to open their eyes up and pay attention. A lot of this UFC groupie-ness is a joke. If the UFC does it, turn your head. But if Bellator or somebody else does it, all eyes are focused on them, (and) it's negative. How can anybody say it's bad for Bellator to do it and not bad for the UFC to do it when they all do it? It is what it is. It's in the contracts. Let it go."
UFC Chief Legal Counsel Lawrence Epstein countered that Lawal's situation bears no resemblance to those with Nam or Roger Hollett, who was stricken from a recent UFC card when Bellator asserted matching rights. (Hollett was later reinstated after Bellator declined to match the UFC's offer.)
"What happened with 'King Mo' was, we got rid of him," Epstein said. "We cut him because he had made some comments about our Nevada commissioners that were inappropriate. He went and signed a deal with Bellator, and his management or the fighter himself contacted one of our guys and said, 'Hey, do you want to match this contract?' And we said no.
"It was completely different scenario that occurred with the few fighters in Bellator, where literally they cut these guys, we signed them, and then [Bellator] sent out letters saying, 'No, no, you can't sign these guys. We have matching rights.' It's not like we cut 'King Mo,' heard he was signed by Bellator, and then sent a letter to Bellator saying, 'You can't sign 'King Mo' (because) we have matching rights. The two situations are completely different."
Epstein said the presence of the matching clause is one of many that survive the termination of a promotional agreement, though other clauses, such as broadcast rights, are the UFC's primary interest.
"There's a whole variety of stuff, the most important stuff being, we captured you on video, and we have the rights to use what we captured on video in any way we want," he said. "That's the most important part of that survivability provision. I don't want anyone being confused that if we terminate the agreement, now we longer have the right to use video of you.
"Those are very, very standard provisions that are in all sorts of sports entertainment-type agreements, and they do live on after the agreements themselves, related to fights, have been terminated or expired."
Lawal, who spoke to reporters about his dual MMA and pro-wrestling contract with Bellator and TNA Wrestling, said the chance to participate in both activities trumped the dollar amount offered to him following his release. But back then, he was still a little angry that White had criticized his response to the NSAC commissioner. (White later clarified his remarks and said there was nothing personal between the two.)
At the time, White's call came too late.
"Dana wanted me to wait until September (2012)," he said. "Wait for what? Wait for uncertainty? I don't know Dana, and Dana doesn't know me. He doesn't owe me anything, and I don't owe him anything. Really, when I was thinking about it, he went out of his way to bash me a few times in interviews when he doesn't know me and he hasn't talked to me before. Why should I sit around and wait for a guy that's quick to bash me and doesn't even know me?
"He's quick to bash me, but then he flew me out to Las Vegas to speak with me. That shows something there. Maybe he needs to talk with more people in Strikeforce and his own organization before he goes out and bashes him. I'm off in a better place right now … with Bjorn. He shows me respect. He's a cool dude, quiet, and respectful of all his fighters."
Source: 'King Mo' sees hypocrisy with reaction to UFC and Bellator's matching rights