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FIGHT ODDS

Ready for Cage Rage, Lindland Opens Up

Mike SloanNov 30, 2005

Sherdog.com: What exactly happened with the UFC, or are you not allowed to talk? You told me a while ago that it was because of the whole Sportsbook.com thing you wore at the weigh-in. Is there more to the story or is that basically what they told you?

Lindland: That’s the story. You know, I wore … I showed up at the weigh-ins with a T-shirt on from Sportsbook.com. I was there an hour and a half before the weigh-in started. Nobody mentioned that, you know, “hey, you can’t wear that shirt to the weigh-in.” I talked to Lorenzo (Fertitta, UFC co-owner). I talked to Dana (White, UFC president). You know, I didn’t go change my shirt and secretly put on a different shirt, you know. I just got done on the scale and I threw on a dry shirt out of my bag. Before the weigh-ins I knew what my sponsor restrictions were for the fight and going into the Octagon and inside the Octagon and, you know, Sportsbook.com wasn’t one of my listed sponsors, so I didn’t wear them. I wore some other sponsors. I wore Sprawl Gear and Cobb 28 clothing and Bench Made Knives, but Sportsbook.com wasn’t on my fight trunks. They weren’t on my clothes going into the ring. You know I thought if somebody would’ve had a problem with me wearing a specific T-shirt to the weigh-in they would’ve told me in the hour and a half that I was there, before I got on the scale. And then the fact is that they allowed me to fight the next night. If they truly had a problem with it, I would have thought they would’ve pulled my fight.

Sherdog.com: It’s funny because I have seen at least one fighter sporting Sportsbook.com gear on when he walked into the Octagon to fight.

Lindland: No. Fighters have worn that gear in the ring before and you know, this is a new policy that they did make mention in the contract that said you know, we could not wear Sportsbook.com before the fight started in the ring or in the post-fight interview. So going to the ring, in the ring, or in the post-fight interview. No mention of the weigh-ins was in my contract whatsoever.

Sherdog.com: See, this makes no sense. Why Sportsbook.com? What’s the big deal?

Lindland: Well, apparently the problem is that they have an agreement with the casinos. The UFC has an agreement with the casinos that they will not promote gambling sponsors, and so I guess that carries over to their fighters.

Sherdog.com: See that doesn’t add up because a lot of boxers for a couple years wore Goldenpalace.com stuff on their back and the casinos and the commission tried fighting that, but Goldenpalace.com and the fighters won a lawsuit because it was freedom to wear stuff on their back because they wanted to get paid extra money. So if Goldenpalace.com was able to win the case and fighters could still wear the stuff, it doesn’t make sense in regards to the whole Sportsbook.com thing. Of course, that is boxing and this is MMA, but it’s the same difference.

Lindland: It doesn’t make sense to me either, Mike. But you know they cut my contract because of it.

Sherdog.com: Do you think it’s because the alleged comment you made after the fight?

Lindland: What did I say after my fight?

Sherdog.com: Allegedly Zuffa didn’t like the comment you said about “new TV stars.”

Lindland: It’s not that at all.

Sherdog.com: You didn’t attack any of the fighters, but I heard rumblings that someone at Zuffa took what you said the wrong way thinking you were attacking the reality show. What did you say or does any of this make any sense to you?

Lindland: Well I can paraphrase. I don’t remember exactly either, but that’s not what I said. What I said specifically was, “I’m looking forward to getting my title shot. It’s gonna be a real honor to fight Rich Franklin (Pictures), especially now he’s a big superstar for being on a TV show.” That’s what I said. I didn’t even imply [anything against TUF.] I implied that Rich Franklin (Pictures) was a big star now that he was on the TV show. If they got mad at that, well …

Sherdog.com: Again, that was just hearsay.

Lindland: (Laughs) I know. But no, I never said anything against the reality series or any of the fighters.