UFC veteran Keith Jardine is one of at least eight fighters who was not paid by Nemesis Fighting for fighting in their MMA Global Invasion card. The promotion's checks bounced, and they have yet to attempt to rectify the situation. (Photo courtesy of Sherdog)
Nemesis Fighting’s inaugural event “MMA Global Invasion” has had its fair share of problems. Originally slated for November 13 in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, the show was postponed a full month due to an impending tropical storm. After yet another rescheduling as well as a venue change, the card finally took place this past weekend and was slated to air last night on Pay-Per-View. That didn’t happen, either. According to the promotion’s website, the event has been “rescheduled” with the “date to be announced soon”. If only this were what all the current fuss is about.
MMAWeekly.com confirmed with at least eight of the fighters on the card that they were not paid by Nemesis Fighting – or rather, the checks were distributed but bounced due to insufficient funds in promotion’s bank account. Every single one of them bounced.
The card featured a handful of UFC veterans such as “The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine (14-9-1), “The Headhunter” Paul Buentello (28-13), “Fire” Eliot Marshall (9-2), “The Boogeyman” Dean Lister (11-7), “The Wrecking Ball” Marcus Hicks (12-4), and Terry Martin (20-8) as well as MMA Gospel Young Gun “The Professional” Chris Davis (10-2) and WEC veteran Pat Curran (12-3). The majority of the aforementioned fighters have already come forward about the matter, and understandably are disgruntled about not being paid by the promotion.
Coach Mike Winkeljohn, who trains Jardine and is a lead coach alongside Greg Jackson at Team Jackson/Winkeljohn in New Mexico, told MMA Weekly Radio last night, “As far as I know none of the fighters got paid. I believe they all got handed checks, but the checking account bounced those checks. It did not have any money in it, so [there is] a lot of fraud involved and it’s real upsetting. It’s a black eye to the sport. They promise these guys one thing and do the other.”
He further told MMA Weekly Radio that he is aware of a particular person allegedly involved in the Nemesis Fighting promotion that has a rather shoddy reputation in the industry. He named the potential culprit as Tim Fields, saying, “he’s been involved in some shady deals in the past, and other businesses that we’ve known about.” Winklejohn additionally describes Fields as “a scam artist” that fighters and promoters need to steer clear of.
MMAWeekly.com confirmed with several fighters and managers that the Nemesis Fighting payment checks they attempted to cash were returned, and there has yet to be any contact or effort by the promoter to make amends and issue new checks. The site also attempted to directly contact Nemesis Fighting and Tim Fields, and have yet to get any response as of this afternoon.
MMA Gospel will post updates as more information becomes available.
