Matt Lindland Explains UFC's Refusal To Sign Him
Posted by Dustin James on 02.15.2008
Why won't the UFC offer him a contract...
Top ranked Middleweight Matt Lindland recently had an interview with TAGG Radio where he explained the current situation regarding Lindland signing with the UFC:
On UFC contract negotiations:
"I made it very clear to Dana (White), and he's the final decision-maker on all that stuff, I made it very clear that I was looking for them to make me an offer. I said, ‘Make me an offer, and let's talk. Let's do business.' I got back a, ‘We're not going to make you any kind of an offer' response."
On who told Lindland the UFC wouldn't sign him:
"Joe (Silva, UFC matchmaker) actually responded back to me and said, ‘Dana is not going to make you an offer of any kind."
On why he was fired from the UFC sometime ago:
(Note: It is said that the UFC fired Lindland for wearing an unapproved sponsor's t-shirt during weigh-ins.)
"There's a lot of other people that had similar sponsors, or unapproved sponsors, (and they) weren't suspended, They didn't fire me for doing that. They fired me the next day after I fought. You know, I didn't wear the sponsor into the ring. There's guys that have worn similar sponsors — or even the same company — into the ring that didn't get fired. I didn't wear it into the ring. I wore it at the weigh-ins.
On what happened with him & BodogFights and why he has been inactive for almost a year:
"It was because I had a contract with (BodogFIGHT) that they were in breach of. They failed to fulfill their obligation to me to get me my other two fights… I'll probably never see that money. They set themselves up as a shell company. BodogFIGHT is not the same as Bodog, the billion-dollar Internet gaming company."
On his current IFL team he coaches:
"We have a team fighting the 29th of this month at Las Vegas, You want to call us the (Portland) Wolfpack? That's the theme you want to go with? That's fine. I always thought that we should be Team Quest."
Matt Lindland may be best known as one of the founders of Team Quest in Portland, Oregon along with Randy Couture. Lindland also currently owns the Portland-based "Sportfight" organization.
