Jason High was released by the UFC last night following his incident at UFC Fight Night 42 over the weekend, which saw him shove referee Kevin Mulhull after he stopped the fight due to strikes.
A Bellator official told TheMMAReport.com that they are not interested in signing High and the question became, would the World Series of Fighting be interested in bringing in the now former UFC fighter.
During the World Series of Fighting 10 Media Conference Call today, TheMMAReport.com asked World Series of Fighting President Ray Sefo if his promotion would be interested in signing High and how they would handle this situation if it happened in their promotion.
“Jason High is a great fighter,” Sefo said. “I have seen him fight many times and he is a great talent. Obviously, we would give him a warning and obviously this is the kind of thing that is not tolerated, but I did not actually see the fight and if it was a light push or whatever. Obviously, I would get the guy to apologize and warn the guy if it happens again. Thank god that has never happened in our cage. I also thank our fighters for having that kind of discipline.”
“If we were to have him on the roster — obviously I have some read his apologies and at the heat of the moment he did something he should not have done and I am sure he is very sorry about it. I’m sure it will not happen again. He is a disciplined fighter and we all do silly things at certain times. Like I said, at the heat of the moment he did something he knew later on that he should not have done. I would be interested in Jason High for sure. He is a great fighter.”
After Sefo responded to the question, World Series of Fighting Vice President Ali Abdel-Aziz gave his thoughts on the situation since he was at the event. Abdel-Aziz agreed with Sefo that everyone makes a mistake and a true man admits his mistake, like High did following the event.
“I was actually at the fight and I watched the fight,” Abdel-Aziz said. “I think he was completely out of pocket. The UFC has to make a statement but like Ray said, we are all human beings and we all make mistakes. You know a true man when he admits his mistake and the guy admitted his mistake. Did the right decision get made to release him, at this point maybe yes, maybe no, I don’t know. It should not end his career and I think he really has to publicly come out and apologize, like he did.”
Sefo will go on to comment about the situation with High currently that he understands why the UFC elected to cut ties with High due to a past incident with Paul Daley. If something were to happen like this in the World Series of Fighting, the promotion would not tolerate it.
“I understand why Dana [White] cut him because of what happened with Paul Daley,” Sefo said. “There have been incidents that have happened in the UFC that obviously there were setting an example and they are not going to tolerate it and neither would we. With that being said and like both Ali and I have said, the guy has apologize and if it were to happen — and if he actually hit the referee and hurt the referee or whatever, absolutely that is a no-no.”
“At the heat of the moment, he shoved the ref and he apologized for it. He knows what he did was wrong. Again, we would not tolerate anybody putting their hands on the ref and again, voicing the fact we have a great group of guys that are well disciplined. Obviously, it will not happen again.”