Dodson recalls promoter, manager horror stories
John Dodson: “It was so sketchy and so weird and it was coming from a trusted source that we were going to be okay and be perfectly fine and they just killed it.”
Mixed martial arts is now a mainstream sport, with the UFC sale to WME-IMG the largest in sports history. But every fighter has a story of being done so wrong on the way up that it’s criminal.
In 2010 UFC flyweight John Dodson fought for an outfit called Nemesis Fighting, along with a number of UFC vets including Dodson’s opponent John Moraga, plus Keith Jardine, Eliot Marshall, and Paul Buentello. The event was in the Dominican Republic. There were no doctors, no refulation, and no doctors. And no pay.
The funny thing is that dude is out in Florida, I think, and he didn’t pay nobody,” said Dodson to Damon Martin for MMA Weekly. “Just skimmed on by, not even in jail because it was outside the U.S.”
It was so sketchy and so weird and it was coming from a trusted source that we were going to be okay and be perfectly fine and they just killed it. That literally was the worst experience of my entire life.
That fight got him into The Ultimate Fighter 14, and he’s been there ever since. However, the shady dealing didn’t disappear. Heading into a 2013 title shot vs. Demetrious Johnson, a former manager said he had a six-figure sponsorship. Then Dodson lost. Then he found out the six figures were barely four.
“Remember Pop Rocks?” began Dodson. “I never had a real sponsorship, my ex-manager just made up a bogus one. At the time, I had [the manager] who made it seem like I had this big Pop Rocks sponsorship for the first fight with Demetrious Johnson and he promised me six figures when I become the champion.
Then I lose after a hard-fought fight, I thought I won, everyone saw me put Demetrious down and I had my head held high. He came in the back and said, ‘you ruined it, we were going to get six figures, now you don’t get nothing.’ He gave me like $3,000 and I was devastated. I was basically crying.
Two weeks later, I tried to get a hold of him, sent him an email and then I contacted [Pop Rocks] headquarters and found out they’re in Spain. They’re not even an English company. They threatened to sue me.
Dodson fights Pedro Munhoz at UFC Fight Night 125 on Saturday in Belem, Brazil. He’ll get paid his show money, and if he wins, his win money. And
