Promoters respond to Whiteford tweeting he wants out of ACB contract

Scottish featherweight Robert ‘The Hammer’ Whiteford left the UFC with a 2-3 record and signed with ACB. He fought at the end of 2016, once in 2017, and on May 19, winning all; two of them were main events. Now Whiteford has mounted an adamant campaign on the social network to be released from his contract.

ACB is in a state of marked decline following a period of remarkable growth. From 2012 to 2015 there were two ACB shows outside of the promotion’s home nation of Russia. In 2016 there were four international events. And in 2017 there were 17. This year the promotion canceled four international events.

Whiteford says he turned down fights at two of the international events, knowing they would be canceled. 

What would have happened if I didn’t have that information? I would’ve put a lot of money into a camp and then I’d have nothing to show for it,” said the fighter to Peter Carroll for MMA Fighting. “It’s f***ing bulls*** and I’m so sick of the situation, it’s unbelievable.

I’m signed to a six-fight deal. At the time, I didn’t want to sign for the six fights, but [ACB] were adamant that everything was fine, so I signed. And don’t get me wrong, up until this had happened, it was going well. I’ve fought on three ACB shows, I was main event for two of them and they’ve paid me good money.”

The only thing is they signed me for these six fights, specifically for a European schedule and now the European schedule is not happening. Even though that’s all off, they’re trying to keep me in the deal and make me fight in Russia, which was something that was never discussed.

Things have completely changed on their end of the deal, and now it’s f***ing me over. What am I supposed to do? Sit quiet while everyone else makes money and pretend everything is fine? Hold my tongue in case I offend someone? It’s f***ing shocking, honestly.

The morning after I put out that tweet, [ACB] said they would release me for one fight, but [ACB] would have to agree to the fight. What promotion is going to get behind me for one fight when they know I have to go back to ACB and they have to basically agree to who I fight? A full release is what I want, what else can I do?

I’ve been dealing with [ACB contacts] Carl Prince and Bryan Lacey, but trying to have any communication with them is as bad as trying to talk to the guys in Russia. They haven’t given me any clarity on the situation and it wasn’t until I sent out a tweet that Carl Prince … came on and said, ‘We’ve offered you a fight this morning’.”

Two weeks ago, when I signed with [new representation] Heavy Duty Management, I told them I was going to Ibiza in three weeks’ time. The same morning I told them I was going on holiday, I sent out the tweet about my situation. [ACB] came back with a fight offer for when I was in Ibiza and I would’ve been taking it on two weeks’ notice…and it was in Russia. How the f*** is that a fight offer? 

I’ve done nothing wrong to any of these people. They’re playing puppet master with my career now and it’s shocking. If the promotion was still going the way it was, this wouldn’t be a problem, but that’s not the case. Why try to f*** a fighter over and hold him ransom?

ACB responded in a statement to Carroll; it tells a different story. They say no one ever informed them of vacation plans, and that the contract he signed does not specify that fights have to be in Western Europe. Whiteford signed a contract that he acknowledges is excellent, with a Russian promotion, and is being offered a fight in Russia. And ACB said he asked for the release on the social network, which if true is doing it wrong.

Nowhere in any discussion or contract has it ever been agreed that Robert Whiteford would only fight for ACB in Europe,” read the statement. “Russia being the biggest country in Europe.”

Robert Whiteford did not make any contact (yet alone multiple attempts) with either Carl Prince or Bryan Lacey regarding him asking for his release. They received no direct message from him to this effect on this subject.”

Carl Prince has been in contact with Robert Whiteford’s new manager. This contact was made when Robert was offered a fight for ACB at ACB 89 on September 8th. This fight offer was turned down and it was at this point his manager asked about the chance of releasing him from his contract. We responded that his contract still stands but we could look at a single fight release as this year’s schedule for ACB has been reduced. It was AFTER this contact that Whiteford posted his status on Twitter. Following Carl Prince making direct contact with Robert, Carl received an email from Robert Whiteford with an apology about the status saying he posted it under instruction from his new management.

With the change in schedule for ACB this year we are open to agreeing fight releases for our contracted athletes (As discussed with Robert Whiteford manager already). We also know that Robert’s new manager has another deal on the table from another promotion for Robert and is trying to leverage out of this contract so they can sign the new one. ACB see Robert as a big part of our featherweight picture and wish to keep him on board moving forward and to the conclusion of his contract. We have always been fair with Robert and we have invested a large amount, not just financially but promotionally, in him already including making him main event in two of our UK events. For his current contract we also met his terms when he asked that his purse be a flat fee per fight not under the usual ‘show and win’ model. This is not our usual practice but we value Robert and believe he can play a big part in the promotion going forward so we were happy to agree on this to secure his signature.

We are disappointed that this has been made a public discussion but we appreciate the chance to reply to the above statements. The beauty of this sport is that the athletes engage so well with their fans via social media but there is always more to a story than the characters allow on a Twitter post.

We also appreciate, that with the well documented issues that ACB has had over the last few months, that people, including our fighters, may have questions about the stability of the promotion moving forward. We hope that the strength of the two events we are delivering for the rest of the year (on September 8th in Krasnodar and November 10th in Moscow) will show that we are still very much alive and kicking. We are already planning our 2019 schedule, which we will release news on in the near future.