BEWARE: LONG BEACH FIGHT NIGHT SCAM
Posted on | March 13, 2009 | 9 Comments
Please review and join the legitimate MMA Community in Southern California to boycott the April 2009 show being put on by the nefarious Long Beach Fight Night scam artists!!
Pro MMA Fighters, Managers, and Trainers, please beware of the LONG BEACH FIGHT NIGHT (LBFN) SCAM.
Contained below is a copy of our January 25, 2009 Investigative Report. Since that time, we have uncovered additional information about LBFN which the public should be aware of. This new information is:
1. Since the time of the last LBFN event, we have had 5 additional fighters from their promotion come forward to inform us that they also were victims of the Ticket Advance Scam perpetrated by Jason Delao, John Delao, and Marshall Topping, in the same fashion that fighter Phil Golff was exploited by them as outlined in the referenced report below. This scam works by the perpetrators convincing the innocent fighter to take commissions on ticket sales for the fight event in lieu of their legitimate fighter purse. They forward the fighter a large volume of tickets. Then at fight time the perpetrators refuse to take back the unsold tickets from the fighter, in direct violation of CA. State Athletic Commission Laws, and then subsequently charge the poor fighter full face value for the unsold tickets. This amounts in thousands of dollars of debt for the fighter. If the fighter doesn’t pay them, the perpetrators then attempt to litigate against the fighter, knowing that most fighters do not have the resources to afford an attorney to defend the lawsuit. As such, the scam proceeds, with the fighters in many cases actually paying off the perpetrators. With this scam in place, LBFN has found a way to financially fuel their operations.
2. Since the time of the last LBFN event, Jason Delao, John Delao, and Marshall Topping were successful in extorting money from fighter Jared Papazian. The details of this extortion are also summarized in the report below. The perpetrators extorted $1500.00 from this poor fighter.
Once again, if you have any inkling to work with LBFN, please take the time first to contact some of the victims and associates who can supply you with even more details on the nefarious workings of these guys. The fight business is plenty dirty, and the legitimate people need to stick together to try to survive the halocaust. Below are some of the contacts:
* Jared Papazian: jackhammerdeathrow@gmail.com
* Phil Golff: philgolff@yahoo.com
* Striker’s Domination: mmafighter170@gmail.com
* Justin Vasquez: chaositcage@yahoo.com
* Well Known “Anonymous Cross Town Pro MMA Fight Promoter”, Referenced in Report Below: If you don’t know who this is, CONTACT IS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST FROM US.
* Team Rabid Dog: rabiddogmma@comcast.net
——– Original Message ——–
Subject: LONG BEACH FIGHT NIGHT REPORT
Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2009 11:12:13 -0800
From: Team Rabid Dog
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
On Jan. 4, 2009, Long Beach Fight Night (LBFN) produced their third Pro MMA Fight Show. LBFN is run by Jason Delao of Topping Events, Inc. and John Delao of Delao Jiu-Jitsu of Stanton, CA. This show was held at Long Beach City College. This was Team Rabid Dog’s first involvement with this Promotion Company. We would like to offer the following observations and comments on LBFN and its operations.
VENUE:
1. The venue was held in a rundown basketball gym, smaller than many high school gyms. The old wooden seats were extremely uncomfortable, with leg room worse than what the airlines provide. Fans were crammed into spaces so small that they could hardly move around at all. To make matters worse, there were not enough restroom facilities available, with many people waiting in line so long that they missed several fights.
2. Refreshments and concessions were virtually non-existent. No alcohol was available, and a most meager supply of just a few refreshments were available, which were very difficult to obtain due to long lines once again. Many fans did not even try to get Refreshments simply due to the extreme difficulty of getting back to their seats through the crammed bench seating walkways.
3. Gear and Promotional Vendors and Supplier Booths were few in numbers. These poor Booth Exhibitors were stuck outside the building in the cold weather, and as such, obtained almost no sales or revenue for themselves. In fact, it is our understanding that the Booth Exhibitors paid LBFN in advance for an indoor space, and then when they arrived to set-up for the show, they were forced outside into the cold, which was essentially isolated from the main body of fans. In fact, one horror story that was relayed to us came from Gear Supplier, Striker’s Domination. When they arrived to set up their display booth on fight night, after paying LBFN well in advance, they were then forced to buy ridiculously priced parking from LBFN. Next, LBFN would not allow them to come inside the building at all unless they bought a ticket. And finally, LBFN informed them that they would have to set up outside the building, as opposed to inside as the Exhibitor had contracted and paid LBFN for. In total frustration, Striker’s Domination decided to not exhibit at the event and drove all the way back home from Long Beach to Simi Valley.
FIGHTERS:
1. The Weigh-In for this MMA event was held the day before. Without question, considering 140+ MMA events that we have participated in from Florida to Minnesota to British Columbia to California, this was the most unorganized. None of the LBFN staff had any familiarity with Athletic Commission procedures. In addition to mass confusion, this is the only event we’ve ever been to that did not offer refreshments to the athletes after the weigh-in process.
2. Scheduled Fighter Vince Ortiz from Antonio McKee’s Camp suffered greatly from the lack of experience and questionable ethics on the part of LBFN. His opponent suffered a last minute injury. Team Rabid Dog helped them to find a last minute replacement with the help of Justin Vasquez, Owner of Chaos In The Cage, and [Anonymous Crosstown MMA Promoter, Name Available Upon Request]. But either due to LBFN’s lack of knowledge on how to get the Athletic Commission’s approval for injury replacements, or more likely, based on the fact that LBFN had already sold all the tickets they were going to sell, LBFN decided to scratch the fight to save having to produce one more fight and the related purse expenditures, with no regard for what had been represented to the fans and with no regard for the excruciating training efforts of Vince Ortiz. Obviously this does not speak well of LBFN’s consideration of the well-being of the fighters.
3. Fighter Anthony Ferguson, despite his request for a specific cornerman and the appropriately provided documentation on the part of his CA. licensed cornerman, he was refused the accommodation to have this specific cornerman, not by the Athletic Commission, but by LBFN. According to the Athletic Commission Rules, this interference with the Fighter’s Rights on the part of LBFN constitutes a violation of the California Business and Professions Statutes.
4. The quality of the Fight Card and the Matchups for this event were uniformly perceived by the fans as poor. Most fans complained of either mis-matches or too many entry level fighters, which culminated with the overall perception that most of the fights were very boring to watch.
5. The question for fighters who are thinking about fighting for LBFN would be this: “Do you want to be a fighter or a ticket salesman?” The fighter purses offered by LBFN are the lowest we have ever heard of anywhere for Pro MMA. Nearly half of the fighters on this event walked away with total compensation less than $150. All of the fighters had to sell great volumes of tickets in order to make any money, even at the lowest levels by comparison to other competitive events. Most training camps balk at these terms of compensation, since their fighters are continually nagged by LBFN to sell tickets and as such, the fighters are continually distracted from their real profession, Fighting. Obviously LBFN does not yet have the ability to sell sufficient levels of tickets on their own.
LBFN PERSONNEL:
1. Jason Delao works for Topping Events, Inc., the company which holds the CA. Promoters’ License. They produce events such as Swap Meets, Entry Level Band Bookings, Skateboard Contests, etc., in addition to Long Beach Fight Night. Jason has no prior experience in martial arts whatsoever prior to the first edition of LBFN.
2. John Delao is the owner of the fledging martial arts school, Delao Jiu-Jitsu in Stanton, CA. John claims to be a legitimate Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt. Our research, including the scanning of the archives of the well-respected BJJ.ORG Data Base, indicates that John Delao is yet another in the endless parade of falsely advertised BJJ Black Belts. In addition, in watching his instructional classes and individual performance, anyone can easily tell that his claims of this certification are illegitimate.
ATTEMPTED EXTORTION:
1. Pro MMA Fighter Jared Papazian is currently the victim of an attempted Extortion Scheme being perpetrated by LBFN. In an attempt to help LBFN to solve the last minute injury replacement for Vince Ortiz referenced earlier in this report, Jared Papazian tried to fill-in the injured opponent on the day of the weigh-in. His ability to do this was based on gaining permission from the Promoter at another event who already had Jared Papazian on contract for a fight later in the month. This was made very clear to LBFN by the Promoter from the other event, by Jared Papazian, and by Jared’s Manager. LBFN even admitted this as recently as today. While these pre-fight discussions for the necessary permission were in progress, LBFN concurrently asked Jared, when his Manager was not present, to start processing the paperwork and contracts in case the fight would get approved. LBFN agreed in front of 4 witnesses to void these contracts and paperwork if the other Promoter or Jared’s manager were unable to approve this last minute fight booking. Jared, just a fighter, not an attorney, thought he was helping them out. Little did he know that he was being set up in an Extortion Scheme. Unfortunately this fight did not get approved, and everybody moved on, or so they thought. Two weeks later, when Jared Papazian is close to his originally contracted Title Fight at the end of January, LBFN resurfaces and informs Jared that his contract with LBFN remains in force, and that they will not allow him to fight on the originally scheduled event, which was contracted first, unless of course Jared pays them $3000.00 in this Extortion Scheme. (Note to Young Fighters: When your Manager tells you not to negotiate directly with the Promoters, this is an example of what can happen). This poor kid, with the best fight of his young career in front him, now will be scratched from the end of January Fight Card as a result of him trying to help LBFN out of a bind. Obviously LBFN is desperate for funding by having to stoop to attempted Extortion to gain revenue. This behavior speaks for itself in terms of LBFN’s respect for the fighters, respect for other Promoters, and especially in terms of taking advantage of the fighter and the other Promoter when they tried to help them out of a bind on an injury replacement.
2. Pro MMA Fighter, Phil Golff, was booked to fight on this LBFN event. The night before weigh-in, he sprained his ankle and was unsure if he would be able to fight. His team decided to attend the weigh-in and let the CSAC Doctor make the decision as to his status. After evaluation, it was determined that Phil would not be able to fight. Like all of the fighters booked on LBFN events, Phil was forced to take a lot a advance tickets to try and sell as part of his purse payment. At the weigh-in, Phil tried to return the unsold tickets in line with CSAC rules, but LBFN refused to accept them, instead insisting only on receiving cash at full face ticket value. After the fight event, LBFN then sent Phil a demand letter stating that he must pay them $3,250.00 for the unsold tickets, in yet another twisted Extortion Scheme.
SAFETY RESPONSIBILITIES:
1. The fact that John Delao has cancer and has been undergoing ChemoTherapy and Radiation Treatments certainly warrants a sympathetic ear. However, John Delao has a responsibility to his students on the mat. Cancer has perplexed the Medical Community longer than any other illness known to man. After decades of research, we still today know relatively little about this disease, i.e., how to cure it, how it works, how to stop its alarming spread, how to slow down the increasing number of new cases and new types, in short, how to deal with it on all fronts. Although more and more people are effectively fighting their battles with cancer, concurrently new types and permutations of existing types of this disease continue to frustrate the Medical Community. An extremely small number of cancer victims to date have won their battles with this killer. In light of how little Doctors actually know about this illness, one category of questions most frequently posed are those which address which types of cancer are contagious, and more importantly, do the Doctors really know for sure if a form of cancer is contagious or not. And, what about extremely high levels of exposure to radiation? Doctors do know that cell-killing doses of Radiation exposure are contagious, as the case histories in nuclear power plants are conclusive on that. And, what about cell-killing levels of the deadly chemicals used in ChemoTherapy? Are the effects of this contagious? How many times have Doctors come back and reversed their positions on the theories of Medicine? And most importantly, is a person willing to bet their life on the current theories of how the Doctors think the mechanisms of cancer work. In summary, John Delao has an obligation to his students on the mat to disclose these conditions, especially since he is in close intimate contact with them, as is inherent in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and especially since there is direct contact with respect to bodily fluids. John Delao has hidden these facts from his students, which makes a statement as to his concern for them and his responsibilities to them.
In conclusion, if you are thinking about attending a LBFN event, fighting for LBFN, or training at Delao Jiu-Jitsu, and would like to talk with any of the people referenced in this report before you do so, please feel free to write us for their contact information.