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24-08-2009, 18:10
Don Frye breaks silence on "M-1 Breakthrough" withdrawal, blames organization for change (http://www.mixfight.nl/news/15946/don-frye-breaks-silence-on-m-1-breakthrough-withdrawal-blames-organization-for-change.mma)
by John Morgan on Aug 23, 2009 at 2:00 pm ET
While the executives of M-1 Global are no strangers to controversy and criticism, the organization's upcoming "M-1 Global presents Breakthrough" took a hit when original headliner Don Frye backed out of his fight with Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal.
While M-1 Global CEO Joost Raimond immediately went on the offensive, issuing a press release that questioned Frye's motives for backing out, "The Predator" remained relatively silent on the subject.
That is, until now.
"I didn't drop out; I walked away," Frye recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio (http://mmajunkie.com/radio) (MMAjunkie.com Radio | MMAjunkie.com
(http://www.mmajunkie.com/radio)). "I didn't want to talk to anybody about this, but I'll talk to you fellas because you're my amigos.
"This is business that should be conducted between me and Joost, or Roost, whatever his name is. But he got on the internet and did a Dana White/Perez Hilton internet blog and started talking [expletive]."
Raimond's statements suggested Frye may have simply been looking for a way out of the fight with Lawal, and that he used the seemingly simple relocation of the Aug. 28 event from Los Angeles to Kansas City, Kan., as his ticket out of the event.
Frye insists that's not an accurate representation of what happened.
"Here's the deal: [The event] didn't just move from L.A.," Frye said. "It went from the Staples Center to the L.A. Convention Center. From the L.A. convention center to the Hilton in Las Vegas. From the Hilton in Las Vegas to an Indian casino on the Oklahoma-Texas border. From the Indian casino on the Oklahoma-Texas border to an Indian casino up in Tulsa, which is North Oklahoma. And from there up to Kansas City, Mo.
"So you know, after four or five times changing the venue, and then we asked [Raimond] 'Hey, what are you doing for advertising? Are you sending a photographer out to Don's house?' He says, 'No, we're just going to use stock photos off the Internet.'"
With a complete lack of faith in the promoter, Frye said he made the difficult decision to walk away.
"So they don't know where the hell they're going to have it," Frye said. "They're not putting any money into advertising. So at that point we said, 'You know what? You just ain't got your [expletive] together. We're walking away.'"
Frye said he would have been happy keeping quiet about the entire situation, but Raimond's release forced him to speak.
"That's something that's between me and Joost, but he had to go and get on the [expletive] Internet and pull this [expletive], so then it opened it up to the whole [expletive] world," Frye said. "That's his fault, not mine.
"The position of douchebag fight promoter, who thinks he's tough because he hangs out with fighters and insults fighters – that position's already taken. We don't need that, OK?"
After walking away from the M-1 Global event, Frye will instead face Dave "Pee Wee" Herman in the main event of "Shark Fights 6: Stars & Stripes" on Sept. 12 in Amarillo, Texas.
"Geez, Louise, this guy's 6-foot-4, 240 (pounds)," Frye said. "(He's) 14-1. Who signed me up for this son-of-a-bitch?
"I may have to reach up and punch him in the kneecap."
Bron: http://mmajunkie.com/news/15946/don-frye-breaks-silence-on-m-1-breakthrough-withdrawal-blames-organization-for-change.mma
by John Morgan on Aug 23, 2009 at 2:00 pm ET
While the executives of M-1 Global are no strangers to controversy and criticism, the organization's upcoming "M-1 Global presents Breakthrough" took a hit when original headliner Don Frye backed out of his fight with Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal.
While M-1 Global CEO Joost Raimond immediately went on the offensive, issuing a press release that questioned Frye's motives for backing out, "The Predator" remained relatively silent on the subject.
That is, until now.
"I didn't drop out; I walked away," Frye recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio (http://mmajunkie.com/radio) (MMAjunkie.com Radio | MMAjunkie.com
(http://www.mmajunkie.com/radio)). "I didn't want to talk to anybody about this, but I'll talk to you fellas because you're my amigos.
"This is business that should be conducted between me and Joost, or Roost, whatever his name is. But he got on the internet and did a Dana White/Perez Hilton internet blog and started talking [expletive]."
Raimond's statements suggested Frye may have simply been looking for a way out of the fight with Lawal, and that he used the seemingly simple relocation of the Aug. 28 event from Los Angeles to Kansas City, Kan., as his ticket out of the event.
Frye insists that's not an accurate representation of what happened.
"Here's the deal: [The event] didn't just move from L.A.," Frye said. "It went from the Staples Center to the L.A. Convention Center. From the L.A. convention center to the Hilton in Las Vegas. From the Hilton in Las Vegas to an Indian casino on the Oklahoma-Texas border. From the Indian casino on the Oklahoma-Texas border to an Indian casino up in Tulsa, which is North Oklahoma. And from there up to Kansas City, Mo.
"So you know, after four or five times changing the venue, and then we asked [Raimond] 'Hey, what are you doing for advertising? Are you sending a photographer out to Don's house?' He says, 'No, we're just going to use stock photos off the Internet.'"
With a complete lack of faith in the promoter, Frye said he made the difficult decision to walk away.
"So they don't know where the hell they're going to have it," Frye said. "They're not putting any money into advertising. So at that point we said, 'You know what? You just ain't got your [expletive] together. We're walking away.'"
Frye said he would have been happy keeping quiet about the entire situation, but Raimond's release forced him to speak.
"That's something that's between me and Joost, but he had to go and get on the [expletive] Internet and pull this [expletive], so then it opened it up to the whole [expletive] world," Frye said. "That's his fault, not mine.
"The position of douchebag fight promoter, who thinks he's tough because he hangs out with fighters and insults fighters – that position's already taken. We don't need that, OK?"
After walking away from the M-1 Global event, Frye will instead face Dave "Pee Wee" Herman in the main event of "Shark Fights 6: Stars & Stripes" on Sept. 12 in Amarillo, Texas.
"Geez, Louise, this guy's 6-foot-4, 240 (pounds)," Frye said. "(He's) 14-1. Who signed me up for this son-of-a-bitch?
"I may have to reach up and punch him in the kneecap."
Bron: http://mmajunkie.com/news/15946/don-frye-breaks-silence-on-m-1-breakthrough-withdrawal-blames-organization-for-change.mma