Keith Jardine tells his side of “Nemisis: Global Invasion” farce

“I was out in a real, little small town in Canada for a month before the fight, just running on a treadmill to train. I was taking a harbor plane once a week to fly over to Zugec Ultimate Martial Arts on Victoria Island to train over there, so I was getting one good session a week in.

I was sitting on the stage, watching the first fight happen, just to see how it would go. First of all, there’s nobody in the backstage to tell the fighters to come out,” said Jardine. “So, the fight goes on. The round goes. The round seems to go forever. It seems like it went too long. I guess there was some scrambling by the cage — they didn’t have a bell for the fights. So, after that, they found a whistle and just started using whistles to determine the end of the round.

I had a conversation with myself as I’m sitting there. I’m like, ‘Well, I don’t really know if I’m gonna get paid here or not. This thing’s a mess.’ I didn’t have gloves to fight in. I don’t even know if there’s a doctor for the fight, this and that,” Jardine said. “I mean, it’s about the love of fighting. It’s not about the business of the sport. At that point, I’m sure everybody had the same thought, and they went out and fought their hearts out. And that’s a beautiful thing.”

Former UFC Fighter Keith “The Dean of Mean” Jardine was among several former big league fighters on last week’s Nemisis: Global Invasion card who reported that they were given cheques that bounced. Other noteables included Kerry Schall and Paul Buenetello. Fighters spoke about the lacklustre conditions of the event held in the Dominican Republic. It was also later reported that there was no doctor present, no judges, or even a timekeeper (rounds were timed on a mobile phone).

The event was originally set for December 10th, but postponed till the 13th due to weather conditions. Jardine is simply the latest to come forward with details of what can only be described as a total farce. This is the type of event that gives local shows a bad name. Despite Nemesis promising to pay for fighters flights, accommodation and even pay packets similar to their UFC wages, nothing materialized. The crowd size was estimated to be somewhere between 50 and 100 people.

Source: Sherdog.com