Kos sues “p—-” Bonnar over tshirt, Bonnar wants to fight
One day Stephan Bonnar invented a line of parody tshirts, based on a line of cards from an 80s gross…
One day Stephan Bonnar invented a line of parody tshirts, based on a line of cards from an 80s gross out phenomenon called Garbage Pail Kids.
Now one of the shirt in the line is:
Due to his unauthorized depiction in the Trash Talkin’ Kids t-shirt line, UFC star Josh Koscheck is suing NGAUGE, the MMA artwork and apparel company co-founded by Stephan Bonnar. NGAUGE was officially served with notice of the lawsuit yesterday morning.
Though a source at NGAUGE told us that reaction from the other fighters depicted in the shirt series (including Georges St. Pierre and Brock Lesnar) has been uniformly positive, Koscheck apparently didn’t see the humor in being associated with a brand of children’s overalls. Which is too bad, because that shit is kind of hilarious.
In an odd side-note to the story, Koshcheck’s legal representation in the case will be Christian Wellisch, a retired heavyweight fighter who you might remember as Shane Carwin’s first knockout victim in the UFC, back in May 2008. Following that fight, Wellisch was briefly fired during the mass-bloodletting over AKA’s refusal to sign away their likenesses for UFC Undisputed, then fired for real when he dropped a split-decision to Jake O’Brien in his next outing. These days, he runs a law practice near San Jose.
Bonnar is not amused at Koscheck’s suit, and in an interview with fiveknuckles.com, says he would cherish the opportunity to drop weight and beat the tar Koscheck.
“Not in my division, but overall probably Koscheck,” Bonnar said when asked who rubbed him the wrong way. “Mainly because I started a new t-shirt line called Trash Talking Kids, kinda a parody of the old Garbage Pail Kids from the 80’s except with UFC fighters. He actually inspired the idea, he talks so much s— in the Daley fight and after the fight. The whole time I see Koscheck talking s— to him on the ground, I thought it was hilarious and I was carrying on about it.
“Then sure I knew he was gonna get to Daley. Turns out afterward that he was saying terrible things about Daley’s mom and all that. Well it’s kinda understandable that Daley tried to punch him afterwards and sure enough he got to Daley. Daley lost his cool and punched him afterwards. I thought it was the funniest thing, like he is just a trash talking kid at heart.
“Since then we made a whole bunch more. He got wind of it and he didn’t like it and I tried to explain it to him firsthand. ‘Like, look we’re doing them for all the fighters. It’s kinda a joke, just cartoon versions of the fighters.’ His version is called Josh Koshbygosh and he kinda looks like a Cabbage Patch doll, because he really does. Anyway, so he didn’t like it. Turns out we won’t be able to sell his but we will be able to sell the other ones. I didn’t think his was gonna sell too much anyway. We’re getting hit up his lawyers at the moment, it’s been a pain in the ass. So if anyone rubs me the wrong way, it’ll be Koscheck for siccing his lawyers on me.
“I would drop a lot of weight to fight him.”
Listen to entire interview:
Now Josh Koscheck details why he is bringing suit, in an interview with MiddleEasy.com
This situation is very black and white,” Koscheck said. “There’s a side of right and a side of wrong and I’m on the side of right. Stephan Bonnar and his company are on the side of wrong. I have an exclusive deal that is a conflict to use my image, to use my likeness, and to use my name.”
“I spoke to Stephan Bonnar about a year ago and I’ve had my existing contract for about two years now and I spoke to him about a year ago at AKA, regarding this situation and he was understanding of the fact that there is an existing agreement with a prior apparel company with myself.”
“He spoke with myself and my manager Bob Cook at AKA when he was filming something for SpikeTV, he was in agreement and in an understanding that they would stop producing and making the shirt. Because I was about to get sued from my preexisting exclusive deal that I’ve had signed for two-years.”
“So, he was putting me in breach of this contract by producing this shirt. Now, with that being said, he was fine with that and was fine with everything after meeting at AKA and he continued to produce the shirt.”
“I was about 30 days away from getting sued by my preexisting company, so he put me to where my back is against the wall. So, what does he expect me to do? I’m getting a lot of heat over this and guess what, they (fans) can be on Stephan Bonnar’s side and that’s fine with me.”
“You don’t go to Tiger Woods and use his image on a shirt and sell it without Tiger Woods’ attorneys coming to you, Nike would be on you in two-seconds. Who’s Stephan Bonnar to benefit off of fighters and try to use somebody else’s image to build a company and make money?”
“Where’s the respect? There’s no consent, he’s never given any papers on any of those fighters as far as I’m concerned and I’m sure I’m not going to be the only fighter suing him. I know there’s other shirts, such as Georges St. Pierre, Brock Lesnar, there’s other shirts so I’m sure I’m not going to be the only one suing him.”
Now, Stephan Bonnar is calling me out and it’s absurd, that p—- really needs to think about who he’s calling out because when he becomes a B level fighter, then I’ll take him serious. But right now, he’s not even a B level fighter so I’m not taking him serious.”
“If he does want to fight me and run his mouth and continue to run his mouth personally, then we can settle this. I’ll fight him at 185 for the fans, because I know there’s a lot of people out there right now that this is a big deal and I’ll make that my comeback fight hopefully in October.
That’d be a nice, easy comeback fight. I’d like to have a nice warmup fight and Stephan Bonnar would be that fight.
I belong at 170, that’s where I want to go, but I’ve always told the media, the UFC, and everybody, I’m not afraid to fight anybody, anytime, anyplace. If I have to go up even higher, I’ll go up even higher, but this guy’s going to say he wants to fight me and he’ll cut weight.”
“Well – he’s the one who said he’ll cut weight, so come on down Stephan, you’re the one who opened your mouth up. My attorneys will handle everything with the lawsuit and everything with that aspect and get it cleared up, so that I’m not at breach with my existing contract and if the UFC and the UFC fans want to rally behind us and make it a grudge match, we’ll do it.”
“It’s probably also a publicity stunt for Stephan, because nobody knows who the hell he is and he hasn’t won any fights in a long time, so he’s probably just trying to get some media attention.
Basically, it’s a slap in my face like ‘Hey F you, I don’t really care, I don’t respect you.’”
“Guess what? I’ve got money and I’ve been very fortunate to put myself around the right people and I’ve been very well taken care of by the Zinkin family and Zinkin Entertainment.”
“So, I’m not concerned to go out there and spend a couple dollars in protecting what I’ve built over the last 7 years fighting and earning my way up the ladder. I’m not afraid to go out there and spend some money to protect my investment. Josh Koscheck is my business, when I file my taxes (it says) professional fighter, I built my empire, I built my business.”
“I’ve worked hard to build my business, I’ve worked hard to create my image, I’ve worked hard to create everything I have in my gyms and I’ve worked hard to create a name for myself and I don’t want anyone else benefiting off of it.”
“This guy’s out here selling shirts and I’ve never seen one-dollar off of it, I’ve never seen anything and he’s acting mad at me. What have I done in the situation? What have I done wrong? Going back to it, there’s always two sides to every story, there’s a side of right and a side of wrong, and I’m on the side of right.
Now Bonnar has retorted via Twitter:
It is official. The “JoshKoshMgosh” @TrashTalkinKids shirt is now officially illegal to possess or distribute. Violators will be prosecuted!
Anyone caught possessing/distributing “JoshKoshMgosh” @TrashTalkinKids shirts will serve 5 years in prison & fined $100k. Burn ur Mgoshes!
Yeah, my cousin in Texas just got arrested for slanging Mgosh’s. The poor bastard’s getting the chair!
The @TrashTalkinKids line is available @LVFIGHTSHOP @ Miracle mile. We got Brocked n Loadeds..we got Gentlemen Georges..we don’t got Mgoshes
c’mon @joshkoscheck .we’re season 1 homies #ufc. How bout I give u $$ from all 7 jkm’goshes @TrashTalkinKids we’ve sold? #don’tbeadickdude!
Kos is full of shit. @TrashTalkinKids is a line of UFC merchandise. We can make shirts 4 any fighter who signs the merch agreement w the ufc
any merchandise the ufc sells with a fighters image/likeness including @TrashTalkinKids shirts, gives 10% of profits to that fighter
so yes, Kos does get paid on each shirt we’ve sold (which isn’t that many)
To buy a Trash Talkin Kids tshirt, got to ngaugeinc.com.