Interview with Wad Alameddine

Wad Alameddine may or may not be a name you're familiar with but this man manages some of the best and biggest UK fighters there are. Representing the likes of Paul Daley, Ross Pearson, Andre Winner, Dean Amasinger, Jimi Manuwa and Tim Radcliffe to name just a few, he puts in some serious hours at the office on behalf of his fighters. MMA Prospects UK spoke with Wad to find out some more about fighter management within MMA.

How did you become involved with MMA in the beginning?

About 12 years ago while I was at University I was scouting around in HMV to find something to watch and spotted 4 VHS Video’s labelled UFC 1, 2, 3 & 4. Obviously this was about 5 years after they had happened, but at the time I didn’t know that, and after watching them with a very close friend of mine (Dean Amasinger) it didn’t matter we were hooked.

6 or 7 years later after the sport had grown and entered the UK I decided to try my hand at some Amateur MMA whilst my boy Dean was at University in Nottingham, at which time he also began training with Team Rough House.

Following this Dean decided to compete professionally as an MMA Fighter, and asked me to manage him. My initial response was “no” as I knew nothing about the business end of MMA and the industry behind the sport I loved, and I wanted the best for Dean and for him to have all the best opportunities and I felt poorly positioned to give him that at the time. But as you’ll see from the way he fights, Dean is a persistent chap, and in the end I said I’d give it a go, but insisted if I wasn’t doing a good job either I would tell him, or he would tell me.

From there I met the man we all know as Semtex and the rest as they say is history, present and future for me and the guys.

Can you tell me a little bit about the creation of Team Rough House and how it came about?

I must confess I am uncertain how the name came about exactly, however I can tell you what the team is. In essence it’s a team of very talented individuals. They have no head coach for the team, they mostly have different coaches and simply come together for squad sparring sessions to push one another and ensure they’re all progressing. The team was started by Paul Daley and Dan Hardy many years ago now and has some of the biggest names in the UK as part of the team, including; Paul Daley, Dan Hardy, Andre Winner, Ross Pearson, Dean Amasinger and Jimmy Wallhead.

Who else was involved with its conception?

Just Dan and Paul as far as I’m aware.

Are you involved in any martial arts yourself and if so what?

I used to do Judo at a reasonable level, but that was many years ago now when I was a much younger (and thinner) man. About 6-7 years ago I had a couple of Amateur MMA fights just to test myself a bit as a Judoka, both went to a decision, and back in those days there were no judges so they were both draws, very exciting hahahaha.

These days I still do some BJJ and NoGi Grappling with Nova Forca under the expert tutelage of Ricardo Da Silva and Tim Radcliffe. If anyone’s interested in coming down I would highly recommend this very friendly club that offer grappling to all levels of experience from first timers to BJJ Black Belts. So if you’re in or near to Epsom, Surrey then head over, it’s great fun!

Which fighters do you currently manage?

I manage 15 guys at the moment, ranging from international stars like Paul Daley, Ross Pearson and Andre Winner. Domestic stars like Dean Amasinger, Jimi Manuwa and Tim Radcliffe. And potential stars of tomorrow like Jack Marshman, Joe Clarke and Wendle Lewis.

The important thing for me is that I’m working with guys I really like as people, and guys I really like to watch myself. It’s actually not as much a business decision as it is a personal one, I feel to manage a person (fighter or otherwise) you need to believe in them and truly want what is best for them which is a personal thing for me as well as a business thing.

Managing such big names within MMA must bring with it a lot of media attention and sometimes unscrupulous press; in what way do you normally deal with this to protect the fighters?

To be honest I generally like the press and most of them have been good to me, I simply treat the press (and everyone else for that matter) in the manner in which I’d like them to treat me, I have always been like this and it seems to be something they appreciate.

Can you give us a ‘day in the life’ example of what being a fight manager is like – what are your responsibilities?

Wow! Man this was only supposed to be a short interview so I can’t really give you a whole day of what I get up to hahaha. It’s difficult for anyone that hasn’t done this before or hasn’t dealt with an athlete to explain what I do, the time I spend and stress involved, in fact Dean (Amasinger) had to do a couple of bits that are similar to what I get up to, but he had to do something that really only represent 5% of what I do, and only for a single day, and he literally said “Wad I don’t know how you do what you do, I only had this one little thing to get done and it took me the entire day, and the people I had to deal with were an unbelievable nightmare!”

Anyway, here’s a brief look at things just to provide a general idea. I generally start work at 10am (I know what everyone is thinking reading this “lazy sod!”) but I work throughout the whole day taking off a couple of hours in the evening to spend time with my wife, and on and off an occasional 10-15mins with my baby boy Jacob. I work through to about 3am-4ameach day (including weekends) so you can now see why I don’t start until 10am.

The main reason for this is the work I need to do with the USA and Japan, as the industry is still very US orientated so I communicate with the US every single day.

My responsibilities for my athletes includes;
 
    § Sponsorship (both MMA and corporate).
 
    § Reviewing and negotiating contracts in all areas.
 
    § Finding and negotiating fights for my athletes (Dan Amarasinghe who works with me handles a 

     lot of the domestic fights).
 
    § Media & PR (which I have Neil Kirwan who works with me, as well as Halo PR).
 
    § Seminars and appearances (which my wife Debs handles for the guys)
 
    § General admin for the guys, work on visa and travel arrangements, chasing payments for

     sponsorship, appearance expenses, etc.
 
    § Guidance and advice in all areas, not just MMA, some of these lads need life advice etc. as 

     well.
 
    §  Watching the guys compete.
 
    §  Organising banners, shorts and t-shirts are printed and ready for the fight with the correct 

     specifications for the sponsors.
 
    §  Scouting new potential talent.
 
    §  Scouting opponents for my fighters.

This is just off the top of my head, it’s very difficult to describe and categorise everything that I and my team do. As you can see from the above it is a team effort these days. I want the absolute best for my guys as we are like a family, so I do delegate jobs to people I trust like Dan who is one of my oldest friends, Neil Kirwan who is now working as part of the FML team, and Halo PR who have been doing a great job for all the guys so far since we began working together in January. I don’t mind spending money so long as I’m providing the best service I possibly can for my athletes and making sure they have every opportunity available for them to succeed.

How much influence do you have over what your clients want to do/get involved in and do you have the ultimate say in professional matters that concern the integrity of their public image?

 I think of myself as a guide and advisor to them, I am not into creating some corporate clone or an athlete that always does and says the right thing. These are real people with real thoughts and feelings and they shouldn’t be stifled. Sometimes I do wish certain things hadn’t happened or been said, but you cannot change who people are, you can try to cover things up, but I don’t want to be that guy, this is reality for better or worse, my guys are real and that is important to them, to me, and to their fans.

Can you give us an example of a big decision you’ve had to make to protect one of your clients from the media moguls and negative press?

The biggest thing I think I’ve been through was with Paul Daley and the Josh Koscheck “incident”. Advising Paul on this was very tough as clearly he did wrong, and clearly he’d have to accept the consequences, but we had to act very quickly and had a lot of heat. I feel I did the best I could to help and advise him in this difficult situation, but yeah, that was a tough few weeks.

When looking for opponents for your fighters how do you ensure a level standard resulting in a good, fair fight?

 The sad truth of the matter is it is far more difficult than you’d ever imagine. Fighters are being told, not only by coaches and managers (not myself) to protect their records and build up a good record regardless of who you fight, but by certain promotions as well which is difficult to deal with.

A perfect example for me right now is Jack Marshman; I am having incredible difficulty finding this 21 year kid a fight. Nobody seems to want to fight this guy! He’s 7-0 and is progressing well, but every name I put to the promoter, and every name the promoter comes up with is unwilling to fight Jack. And it’s not for a lack of pay, as the promotion is a big UK promotion. All of the fights we’ve asked for are against guys who have the same or better records and experience than Jack, so no we’re attempting to offer guys below Jacks level the fight so they have an opportunity to step up, but I doubt this will then result in a “good and fair fight”. It’s sad to see what’s happening to the UK MMA scene and hope this recent trend stops.

How important is it for a fighter to have a good manager and why?

 There was a good article written recently by Alex Davis that highlights a number of the reasons why fighters should have a manager.........a good manager. There is a big difference between a good Manager and a bad Manager. A good manager can help an athlete progress (if of course the athlete listens) and a bad manager can sap a fighters potential to go anywhere in the sport. I think the main things for me are focus, time and expertise that fighters don’t have to allocate themselves. Fighters need time to rest and recover from training, time to do interviews and PR etc. if they then had to go and find sponsors, read through pages and pages of contracts etc. etc. then they’d not have time to sleep......or train! Which I think I’ve highlighted by the sheer hours I work.

Team Rough House fighters are first class and fight in the biggest promotions across the World; have you got some great prospects coming up through the ranks to continue this tradition and who are they?

 I personally have prospects from all over the UK that I’m looking to bring through, but yeah there are a few guys in the Rough House that people will know about soon enough. I’d better not name names or nobody will want to fight them, so I’ll keep those to myself hahaha.

What are your thoughts about the Zuffa purchase of Strikeforce and is it ultimately a good thing?

 Like with any corporate buyout there are some good points and some bad points which I won’t go into in any depth. I like all the staff at Zuffa and have a good relationship with many of them, some of them really do go the extra mile to help the managers and fighters out as much as humanly possible (you know who you are Burt, Joe, Gina, Michelle, Liz and Shanda!).

The biggest area it has hurt the Strikeforce fighters is in their pockets with the sponsorship tax being brought into Strikeforce, fighters earnings are now dramatically lower from sponsorship in Strikeforce. As I mentioned, the people and production value of Strikeforce has been increased which certainly is a good thing for the show and the fighters.

In your opinion how has UK MMA evolved over the last few years and what do you hope to see for the future?

 UK MMA is still growing with new things happening all the time, and it’s pleasing to see shows like BAMMA doing well and getting some recognition in the US. I’m sure new shows are going to continue coming along and hoping to do good things for the sport in the UK and I feel the sport is becoming more and more mainstream accepted. Right now I feel like the fighters are struggling a little as the American Wrestler seems to be once again on top, but I’m sure the talent we have in the UK can overcome this, but I think as a nation of MMA athletes we need to embrace the wrestling aspect of MMA more and work harder at it, even if it’s only to stifle what the US fighters do.

Finally what do you think of a social networking site dedicated primarily for Amateur MMA fighters so that they can chat, share fight/health tips and have access to expert advice?

The Amateur space in MMA is usually only a short stop gap for a fighter that’s aspiring to be professional, however I think it is of great importance to aspiring MMA fighters, because having the right advice and expectations at the start of your career can pave the way for the rest of your career, so good or bad advice as an amateur can have a lasting effect.

MMA Prospects UK would like to thank Wad for such an informative and detailed insight into MMA fighter management. We wish him and his fighters all the best for the future and look forward to more great prospects being released into full professional careers and stardom. You can check out his Fight Management website below.