Stitch Duran no longer working for the UFC
UFC officials declined to comment when contacted by MMAjunkie, but someone familiar with the situation confirmed that Stitch will not be working shows moving forward.
Cutmen are like ninjas – when they do their work right, you don’t notice them. There has been considerable fighter feedback on The Reebok Deal, but little has been heard from cutmen.
However, Jacob ‘Stitch’ Duran recently said on his social network that he is feeling the loss of his sponsors too, and it could drive him back to boxing.
InMyMMAOpinion @InMyMMAOpinion
did cutpeople lose their sponsors as well?
Jacob Stitch Duran @StitchDuran
We did!
InMyMMAOpinion @InMyMMAOpinion
You were told no sponsors could be worn and you will not be compensated for your loss? Did you lose sponsors?
Jacob Stitch Duran @StitchDuran
Brother, I lost everything regarding sponsors from pay to a nice vest!
Now I have no fees and a generic vest.
John S. Nash reached out to Stitch, for BE.
JSN: So did you and the other cutmen know that you wouldn’t be able to keep your sponsors with the Reebok deal or were you caught off guard?
JSD: We were given sufficient warning but they basically told us we weren’t part of the negotiations of that Reebok deal. That was only going to involve the fighters.
I don’t think [Reebok} did this out of malice. Not at all. Really, what I think is we might be doing too good of job where they just maybe forgot about us. I also don’t think they thought about or understood what kind of value we could give them.
I understand why my old sponsors used to come to me, because I gave them exposure. Before a fighter entered the cage or between rounds you’d see me and my vest on camera. No reason Reebok couldn’t be getting that exposure now. I wonder if Reebok realizes they are missing a nice piece of real estate.
We told our concerns to our higher ups (in the UFC) who brought them to their higher ups but we were informed it’s a no-go. We were told there’s nothing left in the kitty for us so there wasn’t much we could do.
I really love working the MMA circuit. I really love working with the fighters and the UFC, but I also have a family to support. So do I start focusing more on seminars? Do I start giving my business card more to boxers?
Now Duran has posted that he no longer works for the UFC.
Jacob Stitch Duran @StitchDuran
@daej81 You will be the first to know that the UFC just let me go because I spoke out about the Reebok deal. Got to look for a new job!
UFC officials declined to comment when contacted by MMAjunkie, but someone familiar with the situation confirmed that Duran will not be working shows moving forward.
In an extended interview with Sherdog, Duran expanded on what happened. Although he did not provide exact numbers, he said his sponsorship income exceeded what he was paid by the UFC, and with the advent of the Reebok deal, all the sponsorship revenue dried up.
I was shopping at Costco when I got a text from someone at the UFC asking if I could talk, said Duran to Mike Sloan in an exclusive interview. When I called them, they said… ‘They don’t want you to work for the UFC anymore because of the article you did on the Reebok deal.’ At that point, you know I’m not going to kiss anybody’s ass and try to argue with them so, yeah, it was that quick.
I’m going to have to go back and read the article again, because I think all I said was when I was asked about what I thought of the new uniforms, I was hones. I told [the interviewer] that I had just done three shows in, like, four days and none of the fighters in the dressing rooms liked [the Reebok uniforms]. When I was asked about the cutmen, I told him we had to wear the Reebok gear and all they gave us was this generic jacket, but there was no compensation for us. We lost all of our sponsors. So, that created a firestorm.
They wanted us cutmen to be a part of the Reebok deal, to wear the gear, but we weren’t going to get compensated. In my book, that’s not right. I spoke up for the cutmen, and with my character, I had to speak out about it.
I know business. I know how it works. I’ve been with companies like Tapout, One More Round, Xyience… They all saw value in me and our other cutmen, and I’ve been with these companies from the beginning. We gave these companies great exposure. So, now I’m getting penalized for speaking the truth about something that needed to be said.
I’m a sensible man, and marketing is something I understand. If they were smart, they would listen to all these comments about how nobody likes the new designs, and they should re-tweak it. They’ve invested all this money into it, so re-tweak it and get some opinions from people that understand the game. Listen to the fans. Listen to the fighters. They all said it looked generic. But I spoke the truth, and I guess the truth hurt. I’m the one who took the bullet for the cutmen.
The way this machine has been working, something had to be done. We were the forgotten soldiers. On the battlefield, we were left behind. Dana, being the general, left us in the trenches. They never really appreciated the work we did. The fighters did, of course, and I worked my ass off for these guys. If I was assigned five guys, I did eight or nine, because everybody wanted me to wrap their hands, too. I always did it, because I love the fighters and I love the game. [UFC] never respected us.