While Marlon Vera’s status was unknown until just recently for Saturday’s UFC 239 card in Las Vegas, one fighter who definitely won’t be fighting is Drako Rodriguez.
The bantamweight prospect sits at 5-1 as a professional with four finishes coming inside the distance, but has never had a UFC fight. According to the King of the Cage bantamweight, he was offered a fill-in spot against Vera on the UFC’s marquee July pay-per-view card.
However, the 23-year-old Texas-born fighter claims his current promotion denied him entry into the UFC, citing contractual issues. KOTC officials did not respond to a request for comment from MMA Junkie.
In a post on Facebook, Rodriguez aired grievances with his current employer, KOTC, officials from which allegedly denied him entry to the big stage.
The Facebook post reads:
“Today I got the call to fight for the UFC vs Chito Vera next week from my manager. Unfortunately the organization I have faithfully been fighting for to build me to this point would not allow me out of my contract to achieve this dream. I’m heartbroken. These opportunities don’t come very often and I never thought I would have it stripped from me from the show that was supposed to be helping me to get there. I have 4 fights left on my deal for them and I will continue do my part to try to reach my goal. Thank you everyone who has supported me. This is so hard for me to swallow but I will continue on. Best of luck to Chito and whoever got the call to fill my spot.”
Rodriguez’s manager, SuckerPunch CEO Brian Butler-Au, also took to social media to call out the KOTC promotion and its owner.
“Terry (Trebilcock) at @kingofthecage decided to block Drako from achieving his dream because he is a local draw and ticket seller under contract,” Butler-Au wrote. “Drako was already in this contract when we took over managing him so we weren’t able to change it but I have never seen a regional show block someone’s career/dream like this especially for the peanuts KOTC is paying him.”
Butler-Au later cited his “12+ years” in the MMA sphere and added, “Drako was in fact the only client we have ever had with them and will be our last.”
For more on UFC 239, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
