'Ruthless' Free in Days, Says Manager
Former EliteXC middleweight king “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler could be a free man in a matter of days, says his manager Monte Cox.
Cox, who represents a slew of top-ranked fighters in nearly every active weight division, said the collapse of Pro Elite Inc. last Monday sent the wheels in motion to place the hard-hitting slugger with another promotion.
Under his lawyer’s recommendation, Cox filed a breach of contract notice last Wednesday with Pro Elite -- parent company to EliteXC, Icon Sport and Cage Rage -- prior to the company’s pending bankruptcy filing and the closing of its Los Angeles offices on Friday. Cox said the letter was received by Jeremy Lappen, head of fighter operations for EliteXC, and passed on to the appropriate parties.
“There’s a warranty clause in the contract that you can challenge if they have enough money to fulfill the contract,” Cox said. “Obviously, right now, they do not. I notified them of what I considered to be breach of contract and they have 30 days to respond. They have to prove they can fulfill it or we’re a free agent.”
In a contract passage obtained by Sherdog.com, the “warranty clause” stipulates that “EliteXC Live is able to perform its promotional and payment obligations arising under this Agreement or any extension thereof, and there are no legal or professional proceedings, arbitration, mediation, or litigation pending or threatened that would affect EliteXC Live or that would or could interfere with EliteXC Live’s full and complete performance.”
A second paragraph states that the fighter can give notice for breach of contract, and if “EliteXC Live fails to cure the alleged material breach within thirty (30) days of receipt of Fighter’s written notice, then Fighter may seek to terminate this Agreement or any extension thereof and seek redress for any outstanding compensation owed to Fighter hereunder.”
Last Wednesday, Pro Elite CEO Chuck Champion notified the Nevada State Athletic Commission that the company had yet to apply for bankruptcy, though the move seemed imminent.
Pro Elite’s demise has left debt of more than $55 million in its wake, at least $6.5 million of that owed to broadcasting partner Showtime, which also had a 20 percent stake in the promotion. It has been speculated that Showtime, a subsidiary of media conglomerate CBS, might attempt to collect on the unpaid loans, using the fighters contracts as collateral.
Sherdog.com has received early indication that both Showtime and CBS wish to pursue future MMA programming on their channels, but will not launch a promotion of their own to fill the void and would not be in need of the contracts themselves. With outlets like Affliction Entertainment and Strikeforce said to be under consideration for the coveted slot, lengthy asset sales auctions only slow down getting marketable fighters, which could include Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson and Gina Carano, back into circulation on TV screens.
“We’ve done everything we can do,” said Cox. “Now, they may fight [the claim of breach of contract], but we can’t do anything at the moment. Right now, there’s no one at Elite to even talk to us. If I wanted to ask, there’s nobody there.”
Calls to Showtime and CBS for comment were not immediately returned.
Not one to sit by the wayside, both Cox and Lawler (16-4) attended last weekend’s UFC 90 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. Lawler -- who was discovered by UFC President Dana White seven years ago at an event in Hawaii -- fought for the promotion seven times between 2002-2004 and collected wins over Chris Lytle and Aaron Riley before losing to Nick Diaz by knockout and the late Evan Tanner via triangle choke.
The 26-year-old Iowa native has flourished outside the Octagon’s gates since, however, racking up two key victories in Icon Sport before gaining national exposure on two of EliteXC’s three “Saturday Night Fight” installments on CBS, which netted over 8 million viewers for Lawler’s fights alone.
But before visions of Lawler and yet-to-be-tested UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva trading leather-wrapped gifts between each other start to dance through fans’ heads, Cox said he had no talks, informal or otherwise, with UFC matchmaker Joe Silva over the weekend due to time restrictions. Though the pair have a strong working relationship, Cox is mindful that the UFC might not want to pay Lawler’s price tag, which was $100,000 for his July win over Scott Smith, not including the $80,000 Lawler received in sponsorship monies.
“Unfortunately -- and I don’t know if this is the case or not -- the UFC has tons of stars,” said Cox. “There are a lot of organizations that don’t have any stars. A guy like Lawler might be worth a lot more money to someone else other than the UFC. It’s supply and demand.”
Cox said a Japanese associate has reached out to the nation’s two upper-echelon promotions –- Fighting and Entertainment Group’s Dream and World Victory Road’s Sengoku. Stateside, Affliction Entertainment was also named as a possibility. Cox said salary numbers wouldn’t be discussed until EliteXC gets its 30 days to reply.
“Right now, it would be hard to get people to want to talk numbers anyway,” said Cox. “If I were the other groups, I’d want to wait the 30 days too.”
The hard-nosed Lawler, who took up shop with former Miletich Martial Arts teammate and two-time UFC champion Matt Hughes at his H.I.T. Squad gym in Illinois earlier this year, hasn’t voiced any preferences to where he might want to nest in the future.
“He never does that,” said Cox, who calls Lawler and Jens Pulver two of his most easy-going clients. “He called and asked ‘What’s going on? Where we going?’ I told him we we’re shopping around and he said ‘Alright.’”
