Ian McCall opening medical marijuana dispensary
“I still love the UFC. I still have fights left in me. But if I see a golden opportunity at the end of the tunnel that has nothing to do with fighting, I’m going to take it.”
UG favorite Ian McCall appeared recently on MMA Junkie Radio, and revealed that he is co-managing a medical marijuana facility, could walk away from MMA. McCall and his partners won a lottery for one of 20 permits in Santa Ana, Calif. Application was a non refundable $1,690 to apply, and a non refundable $12,086 to go through the permitting process.
McCall has not fought since January, and made a point that he has been treated well by the UFC, and is not lashing out. But the income has not been there for him.
I am management at California’s first federally regulated marijuana dispensary, said McCall as transcribed by Steven Marrocco for MMAjunkie.
We’re totally legal; we cannot be shut down. The feds can’t come in and f— with us. The state, we’re going to be paying them a lot of taxes. And we’re going to be very by the book because we’re going to be watched by the government.
We’re going to be a beautiful wellness center, like you’d see in Malibu. It will be the nicest dispensary on the planet, guaranteed.
Our sport’s in ruin, financially. Our sport sucks. It’s not what it used to be. It’s not what it was five years ago. It’s not even what it is when I first got to the UFC. It’s horrible, as far as finances. So I’ve got to get another job, just like many other fighters. This one could take me away from MMA.
If I make enough money to where I don’t have to fight, then f— it, I’m not going to fight. I want to fight. Fighting’s my passion. I’m still going to fight because I love it, but if I’m making half a million dollars a year – one million dollars a year, whatever – why would I fight? Why wouldn’t I just train and be a martial artist at my gym and train other fighters?
It’s fun to fight on TV, and it’s fun to fight for the UFC, but they’re just so corporate. It’s just such big business now that it’s not fun, having to deal with all the other sh-t. We have to jump through all these hoops to do all this sh-t, and yet, we don’t make any money.
If you paid me a couple of million dollars a year, I’ll f—-ing do whatever you want. If I was making MLB money or NBA money, OK, sure, I’ll be your whipping boy. But you’re going to enforce all these laws on me and not pay me anything? That’s bulls—. I’m not blaming the UFC or Dana. It’s just how the sport evolved. It evolved like a big, big sport, yet we don’t make that kind of money.
What the f— are they going to do to me? You don’t pay me that much money. Nobody cares about me anyway. The UFC has never treated me poorly, and I’m not lashing out at them. This is their businesses. They run it the way they run it. That’s how it goes. Yeah, I get the short end of the stick because I’m a 125-pound fighter and I haven’t been performing to my best and whatever, but still, it sucks. I still love the UFC. I still have fights left in me. But if I see a golden opportunity at the end of the tunnel that has nothing to do with fighting, I’m going to take it.
When I came up in this sport, the one person that I saw rise to superstardom was Chuck Liddell. So obviously, as a young man, that’s what I aspired to. That as my goal. And those aren’t possible, really, at the moment. It didn’t work out. And I don’t know if it’s ever going to work out for anyone my size. Demetrious should be f—ing star, and he’s not. No one cares about Demetrious, and that’s partially his own fault and partially the UFC’s fault for not pushing harder.
There’s never just one person to blame. I’m not doing anything wrong. I can have an opinion. I’m not sitting here and calling for a union because that’s a whole other set of problems. If you see the inner-workings of the UFC on fight week, it’s beautiful. They’re such a well-oiled machine. But with certain people leaving, they’re pushing out the old and bringing in the new pencil-pushers, and that’s just how it goes.
Nothing in this world is for sure. (The dispensary) might work out, and even if it works out and I’m making a buttload of money, I still want to fight. I’m just being realistic. But on the other side, I really like beating people up for a living. So there will be more fights, unless there’s the injury thing. But a healthy me is going to fight and do other stuff. The first of the year, I’ll know more about my life.
The dispensary opens for business early in the new year. Until then McCall will be coaching at Team Oyama and working on a podcast.
