WSOF 11 Competitor Dustin Holyko Fought Without A License On July 5
WSOF 11 went down this past Saturday (July 5, 2014) and was met by mixed reviews. Lacking a truly star studded line up, the show hobbled on after a catastrophic weigh-ins, where more guys were overweight than were on the limit. The head of the card was the lightweight title scrap between Nick Newell and Justin Gaethje.
Jon Fitch also featured on the afternoon NBC card, but this story is about Dustin Holyko; an alleged ‘white pride’ racist, he lost by submission to Neiman Gracie in a 175-pound catchweight bout. Holyko has several alarming domestic abuse charges to his credit, and has served several prison terms. WSOF executive Ali Abdel-Aziz had this to say on the shady circumstances:
“Honestly, we were not aware of Dustin Holyko’s criminal record or any potentially offensive tattoos prior to him competing at WSOF 11. He was licensed by the Florida commission prior to the fight, and it was his third professional fight under their jurisdiction”
So that all seems above board, right? Wrong. On top of the fact that World Series Of Fighting allowed a convicted woman beater, with racist tattoos to fight on their card, he did so WITHOUT A LICENSE from the Florida State Boxing Commission. What the hell is going on over at WSOF right now?
The promotion was never going to gain as much legitimacy as their rivals in the UFC, or even a Coker-run Bellator, but this is just ridiculous. Communications director for the FSBC said the following, in a snippet from the Daytona Beach Journal:
“We know that there are discrepancies in the processes and procedures that should have been taken by the Florida State Boxing Commission. All I can say at this time is we don’t have (a license application) on the record.”
The report also went on to site the reasons for the blip as an “administrative oversight,” and that a result of a thorough investigation should yield answers in the next few days. Whatever the case, this will play havoc for the PR team, and president Ray Sefo. The organization was already a small fish in big waters, and now it appears they may also be a racist, unlicensed fish. You get what I mean.
WSOF has obviously cut all ties with Holyko following the uncovering of his murky past and unlicensed present, but is it too little too late? Or is the boxing commission that sanctioned the fight more at fault than the promotion?
