MMA Junkie reports on the latest developments involving Roy Nelson. Dana White announced that Nelson was pulled off the January 1st card as a result of a contractual issue with Roy Jones’ promotion company. Nelson will not fight for the UFC until those issues are cleared up.
Via MMA Junkie:
Nelson headlined a MMA/boxing hybrid card Jones Jr. promoted in March 2009 entitled “March Badness” and was defeated by former UFC heavyweight contender Jeff Monson via unanimous decision. According to the Florida State Boxing Commission, Nelson earned $30,000 for his efforts.
A few months after the loss to Monson, Nelson joined the cast of “The Ultimate Fighter 10” and bested four opponents to win the reality show tournament. The heavyweight then knocked out rising prospect Stefan Struve in March but fell short in an August title eliminator bout against the red-hot Junior Dos Santos.
The dispute revolves around a lawsuit filed earlier this year. Our own Fight Lawyer had the summary. The case has a trial date for January 2012.
Bloody Elbow chimes in:
In sum, it appears that Nelson took $30,000 to fight Jeff Monson for Roy Jones, Jr.’s Square Ring promotion and apparently didn’t realize that contract gave Square Ring the option to match any future contracts Nelson was offered.
I’m surprised that Nelson fought for the UFC twice since the suit was originally filed and I’m curious as to what has changed to make Zuffa unwilling to book Nelson for further fights.
Payout Perspective:
I agree with Bloody Elbow’s opinion here. It is surprising that Nelson fought twice for the UFC, with the UFC knowing that there was potential litigation out there. It may be that there was a recent threat of an injunction on the horizon which made the UFC go public with its reasoning for keeping Nelson off of UFC cards.
There will definitely be more on this in the future. As for Nelson, his tweets show his frustration with the dispute.
Personally I think it has more to do with Zuffa wants the cash cow to have a safe but not completely BS fight against Mir. But the damn fans want Nelson which might be able to pull it out. If they can rehabilitate Lesnars image if not his career, one fight is worth more than all the fights Roy will do in the UFC. From a money stand point it makes sense to throw Roy under the bus and then go “Gee we couldn’t find any one else but Mir”.
Not sure how detailed MMAJunkies coverage of this matter is, but Rob Joyner and our own Justin Klein have covered it very well when no one in the media paid any attention to it months ago:
http://www.mmafa.tv/home/blogs/rjjs-square-ring-inc-sues-zuffa-roy-nelson.html
http://www.mmafa.tv/home/blogs/zuffa-responds-to-rjj-lawsuit-seek-indemnification-against-big-country/
http://www.fightlawyerblog.com/2010/08/roy-nelson-could-be-liable-for-zuffas.html
It also appears that Roy Nelson is thinking about jumping over to the WWE due to the legal battle that he faces:
http://www.cagesideseats.com/2010/11/14/1814121/roy-nelsons-management-is-dumb-if-they-think-wwe-is-the-solution-to
A lot of information will come out soon here, but basically Roy signed some boxing contracts when he fought Monson for Roy Jones Jr promotion, who has not held a show since. Interestingly enough, Bellator is also suing the UFC in a similar claim for a TUF participant for this season (Brookings).
I have to give props to Justin Klein. He has shed a lot of light on the legal matters of MMA including the definitive write up on the Nelson law suite over on his blog.
http://www.fightlawyerblog.com/search/label/Roy%20Nelson
Any chance you could ask him to do a search on PACER and give us an update on the M1 vs Zuffa law suite?
This straight from Twitter: @Roynelsonmma:@Jason_MMA Not everything on the net is complete truth, but sometimes close. Good thing justice is Blind, and it doesn’t take rocket science