The world of MMA was rocked after the comments on the recent Reebok deal that the UFC had signed from Jacob “Stitch” Duran went public. However what ensued was even more earth shattering as the UFC promptly cut ties with the long time cut man. Duran realizes the business and the fight game and remains with his options open and one of those coptions could be a possible return to the UFC if they come calling.
“Yeah, absolutely,” said Duran. “I’m the kind of guy, I’m not going to have hard feelings. I think it was a knee jerk response. I don’t think the UFC realized they picked on the wrong guy. I bring more to the table than just wrapping hands and working on cuts. The fans, the fighters, the trainers, even people within the organization, and commissioners, have called me. They should understand I bring a lot more. If they called me tomorrow, I’d be more than willing to sit down.”
He noted that whatever stress Dana White may have gotten from the aftermath could be settled in a split second.
“If I was a doctor, my prescription would be two words, `I’m sorry.'”
“It was pretty simple, about a year ago, we were notified that we’d be losing our sponsors, me in particular, me and four of the senior cut men,” said Duran. “We were the ones on the prime fights, and we’d be wearing Reebok gear. Throughout that year we tried to meet with UFC to see if there was any way we could be compensated and the answer was always `No.’ I did an interview the other day, the question was asked, I answered it, and I guess the UFC didn’t like it. I got a call from one of my friends, they’re all friends of mine in UFC, his voice was trembling a little and he said, `They don’t want you to work anymore UFC events because of the article you did on Reebok.'”
“Was I shocked? Yeah. When I got the call, I thought they might say, `You know what, we’re going through this Reebok deal and maybe you should tone down your comments.’ Worst case scenario, that’s what I expected. But to get told you’re not working anymore UFC events for that article, that blew me away.”
