It’s not unusual for MMA shows to become infamous for the wrong reasons. YAMMA’s promise of a revolutionary fighting surface ended in fighters comically falling down a raised slope at the base of the chain-link fence. WARGODS featured four announcements of fight cancellations, fighters issuing open challenges, Tonya Evinger trying to bait her (canceled) opponent into a “sexy posedown,” and Ken Shamrock submitting a man who died at the hands of a heart attack less than 8 months later. Oh, and Tank Abbott TKOing some guy after blatant punches to the back of the head.
Last weekend’s “Nemesis: Global Invasion” show has become infamous in its own right. But where YAMMA and WARGODS gained notoriety for an almost innocent disorganization and general campiness, Nemesis entrance into the MMA consciousness has been much more sinister. We first heard reports of fighters receiving bad checks on December 14th. Two days later, Paul Buentello and Eliot Marshall came forward with a litany of complaints from shoddy weigh-ins to makeshift timekeepers to an absence of medical personnel on hand.
But that’s not all! Keith Jardine and other fighters spoke to Chris Nelson at Sherdog:
“I was out in a real, little small town in Canada for a month before the fight, just running on a treadmill to train,” Jardine told Sherdog.com. “I was taking a harbor plane once a week to fly over to [Zugec Ultimate Martial Arts] on Victoria Island to train over there, so I was getting one good session a week in.”
When the new date rolled around, “The Dean of Mean” departed for the Dominican. Even before he arrived, Jardine sensed all was not well. Despite being one of the headliners, he had done no interviews or press for the show. When he arrived, the promoters took him to the venue so he could see the event posters on display; there were none.
“They just acted like it was no big deal,” Jardine said.
In a shocking turn of events, estimates placed attendance anywhere between 20 and 100. That’s a poor number for a local show in the States. That’s an especially poor number for a promotion promising airfare, hotel accommodations, and UFC-like paydays. Without any significant ticket revenue, it’s no surprise that fighters were left empty-handed.