Charles Jay at MMA Memories has an interesting piece on the weird relationship between Zuffa/UFC and Xyience. The part that was news to be was the info on the background of the Xyience founder:
And that is very interesting indeed, especially in light of the Fertittas’ recent lawsuit filing against Dream Stage Entertainment, the former owners of PRIDE, which the UFC purchased last year. In the complaint, the Fertittas allege that the rumored involvement of some of Dream Stage’s people with elements of the Japanese Yakuza “could have a detrimental effect upon the Purchasing Parties’ (the Fertittas’) affiliates’ gaming licenses (for the uninitiated, the Fertitta family controls Station Casinos Inc, which has about 17 properties in the United States).”
But it was okay to engage in a marketing partnership with a convicted forger and money launderer who has written bad checks to casinos, and furthermore, to literally bring him and his company into direct involvement with promotions on casino properties such as the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, where Pike should have probably been put into the Black Book (in this reporter’s opinion)? Why had THAT never seemed to bother them?
All questions worth asking, and worthy of being answered, perhaps in front of a gaming commission.
It seems as if some ominous clouds are gathering over the UFC. I sure hope there’s more smoke than fire here because the MMA boom in the U.S. could end with a whimper just like the MMA boom in Japan did if these allegations of illegal activity by promotion owners prove true.
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