Michigan regional promotion KOP's future in jeopardy after promoters racist comments go viral

[Nathanli]

Knockout Promotions is a promotion out of Grand Rapids, Michigan that has been growing exponentially the last couple years. They had only been doing amateur shows up until the beginning of 2016. They added pro's to their ranks and helped turn UFC prospect Cody Stamann into a big star in West Michigan where he's from. At KOP 48, Stamann fought in front of about 6000 people at KOP 48 at the Deltaplex in Grand Rapids against former Titan Champion Farkhad Sharipov which is unheard of numbers for a regional show. Since then, their shows have averaged 2500-4000 people which is still incredible numbers.

Yesterday, the matchmaker and president decided to step down from his position after no longer being able to tolerate the owners and financiers racist remarks against several of his fighters. There's much more to this story and the owners reputation has been poor for a while, but the internet blew up yesterday after some of his comments were posted on Facebook. Here is the resignation from the matchmaker.

Here is a response from 27 fight MMA veteran Dequan Townsend after seeing some of the comments made about him.

Here are some comments he made about Heavyweight prospect Brett Martin

This is one of the biggest examples of a burgeoning MMA promotion crashing and burning overnight. This is also a glimpse into how much some of these local guys are fighting for. A lot of the promotions biggest stars have been minorities and KOP's fanbase and the fighters have turned their backs on the promotion and owner overnight. It's going to leave a big hole in the Michigan MMA scene and other local promotions have been showing solidarity with the fighters and matchmaking. The owner of KOP has essentially been blackballed from the industry. LFA needs to put on a show here because there's a lot of talent and one less place to showcase it.

 

[Thesnake101]

Holy shit, this egregious stuff. Can't believe how much of a piece of shit the guy is. This sucks for the Michigan scene though, KOP was a good way for prospects to get their name out there. Hopefully a new org pops up or something, preferably one that doesn't have such a cunt of an owner.

Thanks for making the thread.

 

[MMALOPEZ]

Wow! What a piece of shit

 

[lsa]

Damn .
But maybe he is 3% black like Mike Perry so its okay for him to use that word?

 

[The Reed]

Damn, I'd hate to see the response if my online convos ever got out.

 

[Hellhammer84]

Not only is he an idiot for being such a close minded bigot but hes also an idiot for mentioning it in a messsage that was easily screenshot. Dude shot himself in the foot with that one

 

[europe1]

he an idiot for being such a close minded bigot but hes also an idiot for mentioning it in a messsage that was easily screenshot

Well, the two tend to synergize.

 

[Paul L]

That's some serious bullshit. I'm glad the president/matchmaker had the morals to put an end to that toxicity. Hopefully fighters avoid that guy from now on. War only in the ring, peace on earth.

 

[kse08]

I'm alnost always against people who whine about supposed racism but this guy is a true racist piece of shit.

 

[SakuWandyCop]

I hate racist morons. We are all humans but some like to discriminate others just because they don't look alike.

 

[dembones22]

Lol, pretty sure Josh Medly listens to RAP music.

I gotta hear this shit every day from asian and even white cats that think they're black around my way. Latinos calling everybody na as well.



<{CMPALM}> Cringe culture.

 

[ryanrandy]

I'm alnost always against people who whine about supposed racism but this guy is a true racist piece of shit.

Same here. People seem to blow things related to race out of proportion, this is not one of those times. Dude is a loser piece of shit.

 

[Pliny Pete]

Wow 6000 people is an insane number for an indy promotion
I know several promoters that would kill to regularly draw 2500-4000 too

 

[Hellhammer84]

Well, the two tend to synergize.

Yeah. Good point.

 

[Hellhammer84]

Same here. People seem to blow things related to race out of proportion, this is not one of those times. Dude is a loser piece of shit.

Definately. He's got people of so many ethnic backgrounds going in there, putting their bodies and health at risk to make his pockets fat and thats how he repays them

 

[OverCoronavirus Pressure]

Those texts read like the person who wrote them doesn't like the coloreds in that there promo

 

[Kingz]

Never heard of this org but looks like they do pretty good attendance numbers for a regional. He could probably just sell it now. Who’s the group buying up all those regionals right now?

 

[Staph infection]

How do you keep using that term and think it is normal. The only people I have ever seen use the word more is the Cubans that cut my hair. They use it with each other and to talk about others in the barber shop. The wildest thing about it is they drop the word constantly no matter if there are woman, children or black peoples in the shop. No one ever says anything so I guess they get a pass.