Putting on a Professional Mixed Martial Arts event is a huge gamble. Whether you look at the UFC or the smallest event in England the story is the same. The promoters of these events stake vast amounts of their own money on the success of their event and hold their breath until they have broken even. If the event is a success the promoter gains notoriety, respect and profit but if it is not he could face losing everything down to the shirt off of his back. Just like in roulette, the show can just as easily end up in the red as the black, and you still have to pay up if you lose! That is the nature of the game and if you are not willing to play that game by it’s rules, then be warned and stay well away.

This is not just a precautionary tale for would be promoters but also for fighters. Although ninety nine percent of promoters out there are legitimate and trustworthy, the remainder of that statistic will cut and run if things go bad and leave the fighters to pay for their mistakes. I witnessed the very worst example of this at the Action Night event held in Zurich, Switzerland.

I had been invited to attend the event as an official representative for MMA Universe and write an event report for this magazine. All set, I joined English MMA fighter, Dave McLaughlin and his management team, Dale Adams and Laura Richards to fly over to Zurich on Saturday 25^th September 2004.

Dave McLaughlin had earned his number one contender status for the Pro Shido -65kg World Title by battling his way through a tough four-man grand prix eliminator at Fists of Fury 2 in Germany. Having swept his opponents aside in the qualifiers only one man now stood between him and the World Title he desired, German Top Team’s number one man at -65kg, Daniel Ackerman. This would be an interesting match up. Daniel Ackerman is reputed to be in a league of his own at ground fighting but Dave McLaughlin would be fighting in his twentieth bout so would have a heap more experience than his opponent. The English team were quietly confident.

After a three hour drive and a two hour flight we had arrived in Switzerland, land of cheese, banks and cuckoo clocks. Zurich is perched around the north edge of the Zurichesee, a lake so vast and calm it is difficult to take it all in. The city itself has a kind of vibe about it, an interesting mix of immense financial wealth blended with a laid back bohemian buzz. The German influence in the country ensures that everything runs with the characteristic German efficiency, but because of this no one rushes anywhere. Being on the border with France and Italy adds the element of style and late night café culture. All of this does not come cheap though. Expect to pay £5 ($10) for a half litre of beer, but it is good beer.

We were all looking forward to a top weekend. A good event was promised at the packed out 3,000 seater MAAG Eventhall, a huge purpose built concert venue. There was going to be a casting for the new ‘Tough Guy’ movie. I didn’t fancy my chances but was going to enter anyway. This would be followed by a gig performed by “Switzerland’s biggest Rock band.” Putting our Eurovision Song Contest prejudices aside, we were all well up for it. All of this topped off with five Mixed Martial Arts World Title bouts and a K1 Super-fight. This was going to be a fantastic show!

Having touched down in Zurich, we collected our bags, made it past worryingly disinterested customs officials and we waited for our lift to the hotel… and we waited and waited and waited but it never came. We were not that surprised that it did not show because the Promoters of the event had seemed extremely slack with the arrangements for our travel. So slack, they asked us to book our own flights only two days before the event. The promoter had promised to reimburse the minute we arrived.

Because we suspected that the organisation of the event was a bit shoddy we had brought all of our documents with us including directions to the hotel, directions to the venue and all of our e-mail correspondents with the promoters (a very good tip for fighters competing abroad.) We hailed a Taxi, which took us to the Hotel Allegra.

After checking in at reception we made our way up to the rooms. Just as the lift doors were closing to take us to the third floor, three guys came running up shouting something about a fight. we held the lift doors open and they got in.  They asked us if we were here for the Mixed Martial Arts event. Yes, we replied. The taller member of the group told us that the event’s promoters had gone bankrupt and most of the other fighters had already gone home.

The guys introduced themselves as Brian Talarek, Promoter of Viking Fight in Denmark, Iran Mascarenhas Brian’s fighter, a BJJ Blackbelt from Brazil and Richard Trammell a Shidokan Chief Instructor from Atlanta in the USA. We listened in disbelief as we heard several accounts of what had been going down in the days leading up to the event. Details were hazy, Brian Talarek told us “They (the events promoters) didn’t understand how to promote a show and because they spent so much money some of their backers had dropped out and took their money with them.” He then went on to say “They (the event’s promoters) knew this five days ago but they did not tell anyone, they didn’t call the fighters in their home countries to let them know. They let us come here with the expectation that they would still make the show go on.”

Many other stories were being bandied around among the different teams. Word had it that The German Top Team, who had comprised half of the MMA fight-card, had gone back home to Germany that morning and the French Team had followed suit. Two of the K1 fighters had allegedly tested positive for cocaine and steroids, WWE style Pro Wrestling bouts may have to be arranged to pass for MMA fights and some even said that the event had been cancelled full stop. All of the event’s fighters were keen to get to the bottom of this mystery because every single one had also paid for all of their travel expenses up front, and understandably were beginning to feel like they had been duped.

Phone calls to the event’s organisers only seemed to confuse things further. We were told that “everything was fine and going ahead as planned” and we would “be picked up from the hotel in twenty minutes.” Twenty minutes came and went with no sign of our lift. With the dawning feeling that we were deliberately being stood up, the teams from England, Denmark and America made their way to the venue to get some answers.

The Taxi driver got us to the MAAG Eventhall in about twenty minutes. The whole journey was spent wondering, would there be anybody at the venue when we got there, would the event be going ahead and why had the German Top Team all gone home so prematurely? We arrived at The MAAG Eventhall by about six O’clock. It was cold, wet and by that time we had four very hungry and pissed off fighters in tow.

Once inside the venue, one thing struck us all. This was is a far cry from the one shown on the event’s press release. The Press release had boasted that the venue was a “state of the art venue with about 3,000 seats for the spectators.” At this venue the ring was set up in a modest sized hall with flat level seating for about seven hundred and fifty spectators.

The International teams quickly collared Albert Salemi, the head of Shidokan Switzerland and demanded to know what was going on. Salemi told us that the event was not run or funded by the Shidokan organisation as the previous three were. We found out that Shidokan was the umbrella organisation which lent it’s name to one part of the larger event, which was called Action Night. Shidokan only helped out with sanctioning and contacts for fighters. The driving force behind the event was a company called Swiss Budo. Having worked closely with the Shidokan organisation before, the Combat Sports Promotions team had no qualms about paying upfront for any expenses because they believed the event was promoted by Shidokan, who are a steadfastly honourable organisation and good friends of the English team. It was becoming apparent that over nine hundred pounds of our money was in the hands of a man we had never met, had no affiliation with and who was desperately trying to stay out of our way.

Patrick Gűntensperger, the event’s promoter, looked extremely sheepish as he was brought out to speak with us. Not surprising considering one of his Japanese backers had allegedly just offered to settle the whole matter “the Japanese way.” According to one fighter, who was present at the time, Patrick Gűntensperger was given the offer “The finger off and we will pay all of your debts but we have to take the finger first?” Gűntensperger allegedly declined this generous offer “because he wasn’t sure if his other backers would want everything paid off”

Patrick Gűntensperger also met us with the same excuses. First of all, he tried to deny that he was the Promoter of the event at all. A fact everyone there knew was false because his own right hand man had just pointed the finger at him (pun not intended). Eventually he conceded and said that yes he was indeed the Promoter of the event and the event was his responsibility. We had started getting somewhere so then Dale Adams’ next question was “We are very sorry to hear your event has gone under but we paid for ourselves to get here under your instruction, so when will you give us our money back?” Patrick said everyone would get their money if they fought and he would pay all of us back from the money taken on the door. By now no one trusted this man, Brian Talarek gave Patrick his final offer “Pay us back our travel expenses before the show and we will fight” Patrick’s reply came in the negative so Brian Talarek then asked “At least give us some proof that you intend to pay us back because it seems as though you owe a lot of people a lot of money.” Gűntensperger continued squirming trying to avoid the issue by taking imaginary calls on his mobile. After a further grilling, Gűntensperger admitted there was no money for the International fighters. , Gűntensperger suggested that everyone fight and help him out of his situation. Looking at the man who had been deceiving them for weeks, not one of the fighters fancied doing him any more favours. Patrick Gűntensperger turned and escaped back inside the venue.

Swiss Budo’s seven International guests stood in the rain waiting for a taxi to take them back to the hotel, each one absorbed in their own thoughts. We had travelled all the way to Switzerland, been forgotten about, let down, stood up and ripped off.  It just didn’t seem real. It was not until later when all the International teams were sat around a big table in the hotel restaurant that it all began to sink in. Over some good food and a few beers everyone took turns to tell their own story and some of them were unbelievable.


Now for the first time anywhere in the world, we publish the full exclusive interviews that MMA Universe conducted with the Jilted Action Night Fighters.

Please see “Swiss Budo Go Bust – The Fighter’s Story” in the Interviews Section

The positive side of all of this is, we met some great people and made friends who, one day, will be able to look back with us and laugh at the whole story.

Action Night was not just a disaster for the fighters and the organisers but the fans too. One spectator reported that the event was “a complete wash out.” It appears that the organisers didn’t just rip the fighters off, they also cheated the fans. In a last-ditch attempt to claw some money back the organisers let the show go ahead with a couple of amateur fights hastily matched between local Martial Arts students and couple of demonstrations to pad the evening out before the remaining K1 ‘Prestige fight.’

Word also has it that the K1 fight ‘Prestige Fight’ was allegedly allowed to go on far longer than would have been safe for the fighters, simply to make the event go on a bit longer. It is said that one of the competitors was knocked down at least nine times before he was knocked out. According to another source, the spectators were furious when they were told, that’s all folks, now go home.

The biggest joke is that in Swiss Budo’s own event report proclaimed “The organisers, Swiss Budo and Shidokan Switzerland, rate the attempt as a full success”

Even a year after the events, the Action Night fighters are still no further towards being compensated for their troubles. Despite Swiss Budo telling everyone involved in the event that they would be declaring bankruptcy (to our knowledge) they still have not. No doubt they have managed to pull the wool over many more people’s eyes than was originally thought.

Thankfully this is an extremely rare case. The vast majority of promoters out there are honourable, trustworthy and working harder than you could imagine to further Mixed Martial Arts. However, the Action Night fighters learned the hard way that there are still one or two bad apples in this fine sport. But these bad apples will be weeded out.


Images
1,   Breakfast on the move
2,   At Luton Airport
3,   Picturesque Zurich. Image Copyright www.iswc.ethz.ch
4,   The English Team arrives at the hotel and meets Brian Gassaway's Cornerman, Richard Trammell.
5,   The International Fighters make their way to the venue to get some answers
6,   The fighters arrive to find a near empty venue.
7,   The International teams track down the event's co-promoter, Albert Salemi.
8,   Salemi make a phone call to his business partener, Patrick Gűntensperger.
9,   Gűntensperger meets the teams outside and tells them that there will be no, fights, no pay and no reimbursement.
10, The International teams are left with no other option but to head back for home.

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