Thompson tells about more of the chaos at Pro Elite, and Gary Shaws underhanded manuvers

Published on: 27th October, 2008

Thompson tells about more of the chaos at Pro Elite, and Gary Shaws underhanded manuvers   | read this item

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Former EliteXC executive and owner of Icon Sport T. Jay Thompson is once again spilling the beans on all the chaos that went on behind the scenes of Pro Elite, including how he felt the company was mismanaged and how he feels about Gary Shaw.

Thompson spoke with Sam Caplan of CBS sportsline and spoke about how he was disappointed with his experiences with Gary Shaw and Pro Elite.

“It started early on that I just didn’t like Gary and that I didn’t like him morally or ethically. He told CBS Sportsline. ”That’s just the reality. I was hoping I was going to come in and learn from him. I really was. I was excited to come and work with another promoter that had more big show experience than me. I didn’t find him smart, I didn’t find him engaging, (and) I didn’t find him to be compelling. I am amazed that he’s gotten where he’s gotten.”

When asked to elaborate on Shaw and instances of butting heads with him morally and ethically, Thompson spoke about how Shaw viewed fighters.

Gary Shaw

“I don’t have specific instances. It was just a sense of what was said publicly and what was said behind closed doors as far as “fighters first” and “I’m in it only for the fighters.” I didn’t get a sense of that when we were behind closed doors with him. I think he saw them as a product; strictly as an asset. And again, being in the MMA business for 15 years I didn’t see it that way.”

Thompson also spoke about Gary Shaw and Jeremy Lappen’s ongoing struggle for power, and a provision that may have been illegal in Kimbo’s contract by Shaw when Kimbo’s re-signed a new deal.

“At that point, Jeremy had pretty much everything to do with signing Kimbo in the first place and developing that relationship. And then once we got him onboard, Gary immediately took a hold of Kimbo and I think had decided that as his power in ProElite was waning that he would really try and quarantine Kimbo from anyone else. Including Jeremy Lappen, which was really frustrating to Jeremy. And when he went to sign a new contract, Gary Shaw actually put some provisions in the contract that may have been illegal – and they were certainly ill moral and unethical – that if Gary Shaw left the company that Kimbo’s contract could be re-negotiated and that Kimbo would be allowed to box outside of the company. And he put that in without Jeremy Lappen’s knowledge and Jeremy happened to catch it on the way through and it didn’t stay in the new contract.”

While Thompson has been very vocal over the last week about what happened at EliteXC and how he feels the company mismanaged funds and how he felt the company was improperly ran. Thomspon recently also spoke about the situation on Inside MMA as well and told hosts Bas Rutten and Kenny Albert how EliteXC’s offices in California were over $100,000 a month in rent. As more and more details come out we begin to see how Pro Elite and EliteXC was a mess on and off of the camera as well.

The accusations of Shaw treating fighters like a product does not come to a surprise either. Shaw was heavily criticized about how he treated the late Diego Corrales family after he died after a motorcycle accident in Las Vegas. Rumor is that Shaw allegedly held a loan against Corrales for $300,000 against the fighter if he did not sign a contract extension. At the time Corrales and his wife were in trouble of losing their house to foreclosure. Shaw also constantly lied about how much he paid Corrales in his fights claiming he made over $3 Million in 2006. The truth actually was paid $1.6 Million and only took home close to $200,000 after paying trainers and Shaw for managing him as well. None of the accusations should come as a surprise in MMA.

 Narcisist is the Co-owner of UR Dirt and is the designer, editor and author. URDirt.com is a MMA blog that covers the UFC, WEC, StrikeForce, DREAM and several other Mixed Martial Art promotions. Read more from this author

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