Evans: Nobody was paid to join the Blackzilians
Rashad Evans: “Glenn is the type of guy who makes sure that his fighters – that they’re not in a situation where they have to worry about money.”
If you have watched the first couple episodes of the Ultimate Fighter this season, you will quickly realize that American Top Team owner Dan Lambert and Blackzilians owner Glenn Robinson had a deep hatred for each other. Lambert accuses Robinson of poaching athletes from his team by paying them to join is, but according to Blackzilian and former UFC champion Rashad Evans, that just isn’t the case:
There was no signing bonus at all, Evans said. Me leaving Jervis Cole was more of a business decision for me where I felt like I needed to take my career to another level. I never received any money and I don’t know anybody else who has received any money. Glenn is the type of guy who makes sure that his fighters – that they’re not in a situation where they have to worry about money.
If paying for a fighter means, ‘Yeah, I’m going to put you up in this hotel.’ Or, ‘I’ll put you up in this apartment and help you get on your feet and you go from there,’ he has done that. But (American Top Team co-founder) Dan Lambert has done that as well. One thing I think that any good management team, when it comes to fighters – you have to understand, at some point you’re going to help these fighters out. Fighters don’t have money. I’ve done that myself. I’ve had a few fighters come and live at my house and I give them a car to drive and stuff like that – help pay for their things in order to help them get on their feet. That’s what I call paying it forward to the game.
