Undefeated bantamweight Tariq Ismail alleges he’s being unfairly held under contract by Canadian MMA promotion TKO, the launching pad for several UFC stars including Georges St-Pierre. 

Ismail, who said he gave up a $120,000 salary as a sales manager to pursue MMA full time, accuses TKO front man Stephane Patry of “playing dirty tricks” over a three-fight contract he signed in early 2018. 

The self-managed Ismail claims the longtime manager and promoter turned on him after he refused a short-notice title fight. Since then, he said he’s endured verbal abuse and the extension of his contract after refusing “unmatchable” fights.

The 28-year-old fighter now wants to be released so he can continue his career with another promoter, calling Patry a “vindictive” businessman who’s preyed on other fighters in the promotion. 

“A lot of fighters don’t talk about it because they fear if they talk about it, they’re going to be blacklisted,” he told MMAjunkie. “I want to shed light on this part of the sport.”

In a written statement provided to MMAjunkie, Patry admits his relationship with the bantamweight has “not always been smooth to say the least,” but called Ismail’s contract claims “the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

Patry, who managed St-Pierre’s early career and has worked with Kevin Lee and Patrick Cote, among others, said he’s already released Ismail from contract and would announce it on social media. As of Tuesday afternoon, no announcement had been made, and Ismail said he’d received no notice of his release. 

“I’m a really easygoing individual,” Ismail said. “I get along with everybody. But when I feel disrespected, as most fighters do, our ego comes out and we fight back.” 

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Once named by UFC President Dana White as the “mecca of MMA,” Canada has seen several regional promotions come and go as the sport has continued to grow in popularity. There are far fewer professional events held in the country, leaving fewer opportunities for up-and-coming fighters. 

TKO is Canada’s longest-running promotion and has launched the careers of UFC stars such as St-Pierre, Patrick Cote and Mark Hominick. The promotion’s longevity hasn’t been immune to market forces, however, and it was forced to close its doors for eight years between 2008 and 2016. 

A longtime MMA manager and industry veteran, Patry said he treats TKO athletes with “the utmost respect,” but added Ismail “has been so disrespectful of myself, of the organisation and of some of my staff that it makes it very hard to have respect for him.”

Ismail, meanwhile, blasts Patry for trying to bully fighters who don’t have the resources or leverage to say no when unfair offers hit the table. 

When he signed with the promotion, Ismail’s career had stalled. An attempt to sign with ONE Championship failed. Patry offered a sympathetic ear and a contract to build his resume. He called their initial relationship “lovely” and had no issues.

But after a successful debut this past March, he said, things went south. Patry offered a title fight on short notice against TKO champ Jesse Arnett. With one week to train, Ismail said he had 30 pounds to cut and asked for a fight purse of $10,000. When Patry countered with $5,000, he said he wished the promotion well, only to receive abusive text messages about his refusal and willingness to fight. 

“He got really, really upset,” Ismail said. “He started sending me messages, ‘Oh, can you believe another guy from the states with the same record is willing to take the fight?’ I said, ‘No problem, I wish you the best of luck and hope you make a lot of money. Can you come to finding me a fight?’ And he just jerked me around.”

In his statement, Patry questioned why Ismail was able to take the fight for $10,000 and not $5,000 and said the promotion found another opponent. 

According to Ismail, the relationship only deteriorated further as he pressed Patry to get him another fight. He said Patry stalled on opponents and failed to return messages. 

Patry, he said, claimed to book a bout with a veteran fighter. He began to train, only to find out directly from the fighter that he had no knowledge of it. Patry counters that the fighter’s management accepted the bout, but he’d already decided to retire.

Eager to stay active, Ismail accepted an offer to compete in a boxing tournament held in Jamaica. He claims Patry approved fights outside Canada, only to react angrily upon learning of the bout and declare his contract to be exclusive. 

A bout on Aug. 2 at TKO Fight Night 1 marked Ismail’s return to the promotional fold and ended in a win over Manny Alfaro. But he said it didn’t come without drama. He claims he received the fight on three weeks’ notice and begged Patry to put him in future shows to lessen the hit from withdrawing from the boxing tournament. 

Patry called Ismail’s win “arguably the most boring fight in TKO’s history” and “actually named worst fight of the year in a year-end internet poll on two Canadian MMA news sites,” he wrote. But he nonetheless booked Ismail against then-champ Arnett, whom he’d called out in a post-fight interview. 

Patry points to the title bout as a turning point. He claims Ismail turned down an offer to face Arnett this past December, saying the ex-champ needed to work his way back up the ladder to get the fight. 

“He asked for a certain opponent, we offered him the fight with a full camp, and he turned it down,” Patry wrote. “As a promotion, we invest in our fighters’ individual brands and we aim to protect that investment. There is indeed a clause in our standard contract that allows to extend it should the fighter turn down a fight or suffer an injury. That provision has only been applied three times since TKO’s inception almost 20 years ago: once due to an injury, twice due to turning down a fight with a full camp.”

Patry indicated he no longer wants to be in business with Ismail. 

“I don’t want to get into a war of words with him in the media over this, as it will do neither of us any good,” he wrote. “But we are certainly done working with this loose cannon that doesn’t care about anyone else but himself. Just as we learned about his boxing match on social media, he will also learn on social media that he has been released by TKO and that we will never do business with him again.”

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On Tuesday morning, Ismail said he’s got an offer from the Asia-based Brave MMA. He’d hoped to receive his release so that he could sign without worrying about a claim from Patry. 

Since the breakdown with TKO, Ismail said he’s looking seriously into getting a manager. Although suspicious of reps who take a cut of his purse, he indicated it might be a worthwhile tradeoff to avoid situations like this. 

“When I left my company, I thought I would have the ability to get fights at a very rapid pace and continue to move up the ladder,” he said. “But it’s proving to be very difficult.”

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