Ever since Dominick Cruz called Hans Molenkamp out at UFC 259, the two have been thrust into the news.
Molenkamp works for Monster Energy, one of the major sponsors of the UFC. According to Cruz, he is the one who decides which fighters are awarded sponsorships from the energy drink company. In his UFC 259 post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, ‘The Dominator’ accused the business development representative of taking advantage of his position with fighters for personal benefits.
“Look at my face, look at my body, I get beat to death for a living,” Cruz said. “So when you [Molenkamp] try to force me and you text me if I don’t comment on your page, if I don’t give you an interview, that you’re going to take what pays my bills? What are we doing? Monster sponsors me, not you.”
Monster Energy
Without revealing further details, Monster Energy announced Tuesday that they have launched an investigation into Molenkamp’s alleged misuse of power. The company reps also reached out to Cruz to hear his side of the story, he told Fanatics View (as transcribed by MMA Fighting).
“The company has reached out to me and they were very open-minded with me at the top,” Cruz said. “…They reached out and they were very open-minded and they were hearing my side. I couldn’t really do that before.
“If you think about it, I’ve been with Monster seven-plus years and because of the person that I spoke about, if I was to talk to that person the way I did yesterday, I would have gotten a flood of text, a flood of calls like ‘What are you doing? Why are you talking to the bosses? You can’t be doing that, man, because then they start asking me questions.’ Like, why can’t I do that? So it was nice to get that call and it was nice to have that talk without hearing from that person.”
Molenkamp’s ‘Passive-Aggressive’ Response
While Molenkamp is yet to give a statement on the matter, he did contact Cruz, but in a very ‘passive-aggressive’ manner.
“That person has reached out to me but all he did was take a screenshot of our text message conversation before I did the post-fight interview,” Cruz revealed. “There was no words. It was just a screenshot of our conversation. So it was very passive-aggressive, very his way of doing things. No communication just what does that even mean? He always pretends to be my friend to my face and then does shady things.”
Charity Fight
According to Cruz, Molenkamp has often bragged about his fighting skills, and therefore, the former UFC bantamweight champion thinks a charity fight between the two would be the best way to settle their differences.
“I’m not angry at this person,” Cruz noted. “To be angry would give him a lot of power over me. There’s none of that. It’s just like, this is wrong dealings man and it’s unprofessional and it’s actually illegal in some ways, how you’re treating us, so I’m here to stand for that because if it’s happening to me, I’m positive it’s happening to other fighters…
“I didn’t expect it to blow up like this. I just wanted to get – to me it’s a win-win. He’s gonna have a problem with me so let him get it out on me if he wants and charity wins. Like, legitimately. I fight people for a living. This isn’t new to me. When I fight somebody, I’m not mad at Casey Kenney, I don’t hate him. We’re fighting, this is what it is. He brags a lot about being that so he’s in the same boat now. Let’s give you the opportunity.”
Ali Abdelaziz
The former bantamweight champion isn’t the only person critical of Molenkamp. Taking to Instagram, Ali Abdelaziz accused him of trying to steal his clients, namely Henry Cejudo, Kamaru Usman, and Cody Garbrandt.
“Monster of monster,” Abdelaziz wrote. “Today Dominick Cruz shined a light on a very sad situation in MMA. This monster sponsorship guy is like a modern day slave master. Making hall of famers, UFC champions and some people I really respect kiss his ass.
“He tried to get some of my champions to play his game but they will not do it. So for that reason he never gave them a sponsor. He tried to have other mangers steal Henry Cejudo from me to offer a monster deal to leave me. But we already that I body bag them and we already know what kind of guy Henry really is. Loyal as they come. Also, we’ve had a situation with Cody, Kamaru and they refused to sell their soul like Henry didn’t. Monster is a great brand and is great for the sport but this individual deserves an ass whopping”.
What do you make of Dominick Cruz’s allegations against Monster Energy representative, Hans Molenkamp?
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