DREAM US rep doesn’t know why Goodridge hasn’t been paid
The U.S. representative of Japan’s Fighting and Entertainment Group, which is the parent company of the DREAM mixed-martial-arts promotion, has…
The U.S. representative of Japan’s Fighting and Entertainment Group, which is the parent company of the DREAM mixed-martial-arts promotion, has no idea why veteran fighter Gary Goodridge hasn’t been paid.
“I didn’t sign his contract, but I’m sure it doesn’t say it takes a year to get paid,” Mike Kogan today told MMAjunkie.com. “Obviously, there’s something fishy going on. I feel bad for the guy.”
“I’m going (to Japan) to find out what the hell’s going on. I can’t speculate as to why he hasn’t been paid. Other fighters have complained, so obviously he’s not the only one. But they’ve all been paid since, and he hasn’t.”
“Fortunately – and I’m not using this as an excuse – late or not, they’ve always paid people. There’s yet to be a fighter that’s been flat-out stiffed. But still, it’s terrible.”
“It’s no secret that FEG is in financial difficulties. So I think it becomes prioritizing which fighters get paid first and which don’t based on their need or how they’re been used.”
Goodridge, who fought for FEG this past New Year’s Eve at “Dynamite!! 2009” and suffered a first-round TKO loss to Gegard Mousasi, made headlines this week when he publicly called out the promotion and asked fans to lobby Kogan about the snub.
“I stayed quiet because I thought they were going to pay me, but I still haven’t seen a penny,” he posted on The Underground, a popular MMA forum. “I have bills I have to pay. I worked for the Japanese people for over a decade, and I never thought they would treat me like this.
“I was in rough shape before I took the fight against Mousasi, but they needed a fighter with only a week to go before the show, so I stepped up for the fans. Now they won’t answer my calls, and nobody will talk to me. I have had my lawyer and my manager call them, but they have not been able to get an answer.”