Both Reebok and the UFC have been under siege since the ousting of popular cutman Jacob "Stitch" Duran, who was let go following remarks he made about the exclusive sponsorship deal between the promotion and the apparel giant.
A UFC staple for 14 years, Duran, who had a separate sponsorship deal with Bad Boy, was upset the Reebok-UFC pact would be taking money out of his pockets and had hoped the cutmen would be compensated accordingly.
Despite the backlash, UFC president Dana White is standing by the decision.
"'Stitch' Duran needs to learn what the meaning of the word friend is," White told FOX Sports 1, according to MMAFighting.com's Marc Raimondi. "'Stitch' Duran and I were never friends. We were work associates. We came up together in the boxing world and when we hired cutmen he was one of the guys I brought in here. Friends are people you call on the phone, hang out with, you talk to all the time. Don House, who's one of our cutmen, he and I were very close and still are. 'Stitch' Duran was never my friend."
According to White, the promotion has more than enough cutmen, and won't be giving Duran another shot, despite the latter's willingness to let bygones be bygones.
"He won't be coming back," White said. ... "You realize we have 10 cutmen who work here at the UFC? We have 10 cutmen."
