From its inception in 2009, Cage Contender has seen an uncontrollable rise in popularity across the UK and Ireland. The promotion was once the home to UFC stars Gunnar Nelson, Norman Parke, and Conor McGregor, and at one point was televised to 90 countries worldwide. Their last show took place on February 23rd and featured former UFC star Paul Daley. On the surface this looked like a landmark moment for Irish MMA, but in reality, something far more sinister was transpiring behind the scenes.
Cage Contender has long been a platform for fighters to impress before making their big move to Cage Warriors and the UFC . Norman Parke, who was introduced to most American fans via The Ultimate Fighter: “The Smashes,” was the Cage Contender champion, and both Gunnar “Gunni” Nelson and Conor McGregor put on some of their most exciting early performances under the Cage Contender banner.
The last year has been more important than the 10 years previous for martial arts in the UK, and with the increased popularity amongst the general public has come deeper scrutiny of the sport, but much to the credit of clubs and promotions across the UK, they have risen to the challenge of being world class ambassadors for the sport, that is of course until now.
Last week, I spoke at length with Team Kaobon standout Chris Stringer regarding the fact that he and a number of other fighters on the February 23rd Cage Contender card had not yet been paid. This had been rumored since roughly a month before, but none of the fighters were willing to go on the record, as they were assured their payment would be settled in full within a couple of weeks. Fast forward a few weeks, with a number of the leading names in Irish MMA remaining unpaid, and Stringer finally broke the silence:
“Ok, I’ve been putting this off for ages but this has now gone past the stage of being a joke, and people are getting treated like shit! John, I like you, but business is business and people take time off work to compete and work on your show, and rely on the money they are due, so get put in a difficult spot when you dont pay.”
When asked to elaborate, he went on to say:
First off, this is regarding the Cage Contender 16 show headlined by Paul Daley on February 23rd. I was fighting on the bill, so a friend of mine asked me to get him on the card, his name is Chris McDonald, and to this day still has not been paid. Chris paid his own flights from Jamaica and the only thing that John had to pay was the hotel and fight purse like every other fighter on the card. For the past three weeks John has been telling us he has transferred the money, but there is no sign of it! I have had numerous calls and texts to John about it and he has been saying its transferred it should be there, he done it last week, etc. Both Chris and myself have texted him and he has had various excuses, saying he doesn’t sort it out until two weeks after the show. We both got told we would be paid within two weeks, it’s now been over a month!
Two weeks ago John said it was done, and I asked him, “Why did you only transfer it now when you told us last week you had done it?” His reply was, “I dont do it, someone else does.” (I have kept all texts to upload as proof.) Its now the 5th of April, and I think we’ve gave him enough time to explain himself. John told Chris he transferred X amount, which was actually £35 short, now I know £35 isnt a lot of money, but Chris took time off work in order to prepare for the event, so his actual purse didnt even cover what he lost, so even £35 off his purse is still a sly move.
According to Stringer, McDonald’s opponent John Redmond also had not been paid as of the time of our interview. “I have been talking to his coach, and he told me this morning that there is no sign of the money.”
As for himself, Stringer expressed different concerns:
I myself did get paid, however not without complication. I fought on February 23rd and was promised pay within two weeks of the event. I received a cheque dated the 10/11th, so got him to change it as that was too long, he changed it to the 2nd, I put it in the bank 2 days beforehand in order for the cheque to clear. The cheque bounced, and I rang John to tell him, he told me it was my fault I put it in two days early. I got him to transfer the money, but it was £50 short. I said about it, and he said he’d get charged for the cheque bouncing. I said it wasnt my fault, so he said he’d sort it.
Another thing that happened was John actually cost me £100 from a sponsor. I was being sponsored to walk out to a certain track, I asked in advance, “was it OK,” before I said yes, he assured me it would be. I gave the DJ my music the day before. I’m standing there about to walk out and do my lil routine for the cameras when some mad shite comes on that was nothing like my track. I said to John after, and he had told me that someone broke into the music van and cleared everything out. Now I find this hard to believe, as the DJ was still there playing music and most other fighters got theirs. My fight was on live TV, so I assume John didn’t want to pay the rights for the song to be used and gave me anything. He said he would sort me out after we sorted the pay to compensate for it….I don’t think I need to explain the rest.So in total I am £150 down, now I know its not a massive amount, but I trained full time for this fight and didn’t actually have any work before the fight, so I needed every penny in order to survive that month!
According to Stringer, even non-fighters had not been paid, including David Jones, one of the referees, who got a cheque which bounced, and was told it would be done as a bank transfer, but has still not been paid. Joe Clifford, the man who wrapped fighters’ hands, his cut team, and the announcer Barry Oglesby have all gone unpaid. Stringer characterized the situation as “beyond a joke,” stating, “I can safely say I will never fight on another Cage Contender card again in my life.”
When asked for final words, he added, “To add insult to injury, John is now promoting his next show, yet still hasn’t settled his debts from his last one. Just thought the UKMMA should know this.”
John Ferguson, Cage Contender’s founder and owner, has remained quiet since Stringer’s statement, apart from a brief statement earlier this week:
Hello Everyone,
As many of you have asked for me to personally comment on the current mess I think it’s only right that I do.
Firstly I want to begin by apologising to all those who are waiting for any monies from Ferguson Sports Group, we have messed up in a monumental way and as the person who runs the company I take full responsibility for the situation. It should never have happened and was caused by bad business management by me.
As Tom set out yesterday this is a cash flow issue, we will work through it and get every person waiting for payments settled as a matter of urgency. We are due monies with ourselves over the next 2 weeks which should see us in the position that everyone is paid and cleared up.
Reaction to this situation has been muted. Ferguson is so influential in the UK martial arts scene that a number of members of the UK martial arts community felt that if they were to publicly speak out against Ferguson, the owner would threaten to end their involvement in Irish MMA. I can speak from experience, as I have received a similar threat from Mr. Ferguson in the past. However, I asked two of the pioneers of MMA in Ireland for their views on the situation: Andy Ryan, head coach of “Team Ryano” and BJJ Black belt under the world renowned Rodrigo Medeiros, and Stewart Dollery, owner of “The MMA Clinic Ireland,” which is home to many of Ireland’s future greats. Ryan stated:
“The only comment I have is if small promotions can pay bills there is no excuse for the bigger ones and I think we need to look at the whole picture not just the last show.For example Mark Connor has not been paid, has Claire not been paid last year for her design work the list keeps getting bigger.
I know Neil Seery would never fight on their promotion after the way he was treated.”
Dollery also spoke in a similar vein :
“I think there is no place for this behaviour in Irish MMA and shows a massive amount of disrespect to the Irish MMA community, and we will continue to ban our fighters from fighting on Cage Contender events.”
I also reached out to Paul Daley on the situation and he said, “I was paid in full within the two weeks, and treated kindly by John.” It seems he was one of the lucky ones.
In my opinion, even though John Ferguson has done a lot for the sport of mixed martial arts in the UK, he has done it purely out of greed. He got involved in MMA purely for financial gain, and has time and time again shown a lack of respect for fighters, coaches and fans of this sport. At this level it’s hard for professional fighters to make a living, and I find it utterly despicable that an owner can on multiple occasions fail to pay fighters and officials.
The future of Cage Contender remains uncertain, but one thing’s for sure: this latest predicament has left the company in an unenviable position, as most of Ireland’s most talent-filled gyms have refused to work with Cage Contender again. It is this journalist’s opinion that the rest of the big UK gyms need to follow suit and ban their fighters from fighting for a promotion with such disdain for its “employees.” Despite the recent buzz surrounding Conor McGregor and Gunnar Nelson, and the possibility for breakout success, European MMA is in a precarious position in regards to mainstream acceptance, and having a promoter who cares solely about his own wallet rather than the betterment of the sport as a whole is truly detrimental to the sport. Luckily the UK and Ireland have a number of great smaller promotions that always pay their fighters on time, and it is now their time to step out to the foreground and make MMA a profitable profession for the fighters. Otherwise, future Conor McGregors won’t get their chance to develop in the way that they need, and put themselves in a position to shine under the bright lights of the Octagon.
