Gary Goodridge Claims FEG Has Yet to Pay Him for Mousasi Fight

Here is yet another in a long line of stories about fighters claiming that FEG owes them money for a fight and cannot seem to get a straight answer. Gary Goodridge is up to the plate this time, claiming that his fight with Gegard Mousasi from Dynamite!! 2009 has yet to yield him the promised pay of $30,000. MMAFighting has the story direct from Goodridge;

"I'm pissed off. I'm fed up. I want my money," said the 44-year-old Goodridge. "Of course, you're like any other fighter at first, you stay quiet. You think, I stake my reputation and my whole career with these people. Of course they're gonna pay. Of course they're gonna pay, since my whole livelihood came from them in the last 13 years. Now it's eight months and it's quite obvious I'm not getting paid. So I'm going to open my mouth now."

They then go on to speak to his manager who elaborates on FEG not being responsive.

"They just won't respond to any emails," said Goodridge's manager, Steve Rusich, who stressed that he did not book this particular fight for Goodridge. "We had a lawyer contact them and they wouldn't respond to him, either. We've heard nothing. Not, 'I'll pay you later.' Not, 'Can you give us some time and I'll give you a little something to tide you over.' Nothing. Zero response," Rusich added.

Rusich acknowledged that getting paid for fights in Japan, where there are no athletic commissions to ensure that promoters make good on their promises, sometimes takes as long as 60 or even 90 days. But never before has he had a fighter who didn't get paid at all, Rusich said.

"Japan has these other rules, but they pay a little more so we accept it. I find myself fronting money to my fighters sometimes because I trust that FEG always comes through. [FEG USA representative] Mike Kogan is fantastic. He always comes through. But in Gary's case, I don't know. It's a bad deal, because he was in some hard times where he just couldn't afford to float the money, let alone not get it at all."

FEG's Mike Kogan commented that he did not handle Goodridge's contract for this fight at all, but will do some research on his own to attempt to get Goodridge his due pay.