Mousasi rep to Makdessi: Ignorance is not a legal defense

Gegard Mousasi has filed a lawsuit against UFC lightweight John Makdessi, and Fear the Fighter, for non payment of agreed upon sponsorship revenue. The suit, filed on Jan. 23 in Quebec, seeks payment of a contracted $25,800, plus $15,100 for lost sponsorship opportunities and moral damages, plus interest. The sponsorship was in connection with three events, UFC Fight Night 36, UFC Fight Night 41 and UFC Fight Night 50.

Makdessi spoke with Steven Marrocco for MMAJunkie, and said he learned about the owed money on the Internet, and had not seen a copy of the litigation. Further, he said that that despite being the president of record of Fear the Fighter, his brother David ran the company, and his sole role in it was as a sponsored athlete.

Unfortunately, my name was on the piece of paper as president, said Makdessi. I never knew it was going to come to this point. There’s so many things that I knew of, but I was never a part of the business aspect.

I never benefited from Fear the Fighter. All these deals with the fighters, everything went through managers and lawyers. I never spoke to anybody; I never signed a piece of paper. I was the inspiration behind Fear the Fighter, and I was a sponsored athlete. My brother was helping me in my career and helping me with the business side so I can focus on the fighting.

Stuff happened with the company. What I was told was there is going to be a new administration, everything is going to be taken care of in the near future. Of course, it’s going to take some time, but with any type of business, there’s a lot of negotiation, and it takes time.

“I hold myself responsible for not being aware. I had no idea the title meant so much, being the president. My sole focus was helping my brother and helping myself as far as being a sponsored athlete.

It’s very unfortunate because I am a fighter, and I know how these guys are feeling. I’m in a very tough situation. But people need to understand, who are these people accusing? Not even the fighters probably know the truth because the managers and the lawyers take care of the negotiations. How many times did you hear a manager not telling the truth to the fighter?

This is business. It’s he said, she said. I had no clue what was involved with these fighters. I had no idea what was going on. My name was on a piece of paper – I didn’t think about it. That’s my fault. I had no idea when everything went to s—, people were going to start looking at me.

Mousasi’s representative, Nima Safapour, was wholly unmoved by Makdessi’s protestations.

As we are in a pending litigation, we are limited in how much we can discuss the case,” he said to MMAjunkie. “Nor do we care do go back and forth publicly. Therefore, Mr. Mousasi plans on focusing on the litigation ahead unless Fear the Fighter and John Makdessi do, in fact, pay the outstanding debt they owe. With that being said, we filed our lawsuit on or about January 2015, and have yet to receive any notification from the alleged new owners or the opposing council that payment is pending and/or forthcoming.

John Makdessi has made some statements that are inconsistent at best. First and foremost, ignorance is not a legal defense. The laws within the legal system are based on the reasonable standards of society. It is unreasonable for an adult to claim that they should not be held responsible for willingly signing a legal and binding document. The reason for such a standard is that if ignorance was a legal defense then no contract would be enforceable because whenever anyone would want to breach an agreement they could simply claim they did not read or understand the document they signed. The result would be catastrophic because a contract or legal document would become a meaningless instrument in our society that would NOT protect the interests of the parties engaged in said situation.

John Makdessi is holding a foolish position that it is reasonable for him to have invested in Fear The Fighter in order to create a benefit for himself, but he is unwilling to assume the liability associated with his intentional involvement with the company.

Our focus now is to proceed forward with the legal process at hand, and it is up to the courts in Canada to correct the injustices that Mr. Mousasi has endured as a result of being associated with Fear The Fighter. We stand behind the facts, and are prepared to place our case in the hands of the legal system.

Sponsorship disputes of this nature will hopefully diminish enormously when the Reebok Deal starts the week of July 6, 2015, coinciding with International Fight Week in Las Vegas, NV. Kit Cope offered a sobering reminder of the scope of the problem.

“If I had half the money that sponsors owe me, I would be watching these fights from my new pool!” he tweeted.

Makdessi fights Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone at UFC 187 on May 23, 2015 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. And Mousasi’s management give every indication of continuing the fight, until the revenue owed to the athlete is forthcoming.