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The official twitter account of '
Blackzilians' MMA team- home to a number of high profile
UFC fighters- has denied rumours spreading throughout MMA forums and blogs that the gym is set to close.
The twitter page of 'The Blackzilians' denied rumours of their demise when they were quizzed about it on the social media site yesterday. MMA blog
Smackhisface recently posted an anonymous interview with a purported member of the gym, claiming that the facility was set to shut up shop, largely as a consequence of the financial difficulties of founder Glenn Robinson.
The alleged fighter at the gym told the blog:
"... things have been going down hill for a little while now, management has been trying to keep it quiet but eventually everything will come out. From what I know, Glenn is trying to sell Jaco and the assets of his tool company, because he owes most of the trainers money still.”
He went on to elaborate that, among other issues, the new UFC Reebok deal had badly affected the turnover of the company due to a drop in sales and sponsorship on their 'Jaco' clothing brand:
“Jaco, Jaco seems like the biggest reason, that was the money maker. Man I was hearing all kinds of shit about how much money Jaco was making. We had a few guys literally retire from fighting and solely work on the Jaco business side.
The big problem was the Reebok deal. That kind of fucked them cause before that, Jaco was on a fighter in almost every UFC fight. That was their market, since the Reebok takeover you haven’t seen Jaco anywhere, and I mean anywhere, Bellator, World Series, nothing. That was a big blow."
This was the response from the gym's twitter feed:
The Blackzilians were formed in 2011 as the 'Jaco Hybrid Training Centre', but soon adopted their nickname of 'The Blackzilians' as the overwhelming majority of the initial fighters and trainers were either black or Brazilian. Since then a number of top fighters have trained there including Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort and Eddie Alvarez.
Smackhisface have subsequently rejected The Blackzilians rebuttal and have stood by their source and their story.
