The XFC announced earlier today that lightweight champion had been stripped of his title after he would not defend the title at XFC 24 against Scott Holtzman.
Newell has released a statement on his Facebook page and gave his side of the story
“EVERYBODY CALM DOWN,” Newell wrote on Facebook. “First of I AM NOT UNDER CONTRACT WITH THE XFC. XFC promoted a fight that didn’t exist yet.”
“The headlines are misleading and imply that I was stripped of my title because I refused to fight when in fact I just chose not to renew my contract with the XFC. I am not scared to fight anybody. I have been through too much in my life to be scared of any man. All you have to do is look at one of my fights to see my heart & my fearless style. This has nothing to do with me being scared. It is more so just an attempt to bully me into a contract.”
“XFC trash talking me and trying to slander my name upsets me more then anything but they are promoters. XFC is promoting, thats what they do. They have to try and make their guys look as good as possible and I’m not one of their guys so it is at my expense.”
“Even though Scott is bad mouthing me as well, I have no ill will towards him. I consider myself to be a professional and as a professional I choose to stay away from negative talk towards other fighters, but I understand that he is an unfortunate victim of circumstance. Definitely not scared just have my eyes on bigger pastures.”
After Newell released his statement, his current management team talked with MMAWeekly.com and confirmed that their fighter still has one fight left on his contract.
“Nick only has one fight left on his contract, so immediately following Nick’s last fight we started contract negotiations,” Angelo Bodetti of Hero Sports Management told MMA Weekly. “Obviously, they’re not going to let Nick fight unless he’s under a long-term contract. So it really has nothing to do with the opponent, and everything to do with the direction his career is heading.”
The undefeated lightweight fighter has always maintained that his ultimate goal is to be a UFC fighter and he has his sights set on that goal. Newell is currently fielding offers from other MMA organizations and it’s unknown if he will finish out his contract with the XFC in his next fight or if his next fight will be in a new organization.