Ross Nicholls is one of the UK’s biggest grappling stars and has started to become known internationally thanks to a solid ADCC performance against JT Torres, but he’s revealed today that a promotion by the name of Victory Grappling has failed to pay athletes for a previous event. The tournament in question took place over 8 months ago and was advertised as a £2,000 prize for the winner of a 16-man bracket. Ross Nicholls and fellow UK BJJ star Jed Hue won and were subsequently due their payment.
Sadly, they’ve been in contact with the organizer and despite repeated requests for payment and deadlines being missed, they are still yet to receive any money. This is sadly not the first time that this happened to a BJJ event and most likely won’t be the last either. Any promoter has a responsibility to pay the athletes competing first and foremost because without them, there would not be an event. We sincerely hope that him exposing the lack of payment from Victory Grappling will lead to both Nicholls and Hue receiving their prize money promptly.
“8 months ago Jed Hue and I won a 16 man tournament by the name of ‘Victory Grappling’ offering a £2000 prize. As you would expect this attracted some of the best no gi grapplers in Europe to compete.
Unfortunately the tournament organiser Stephen O’Keeffe has not yet paid any of the promised prize money. A number of dates have been given for payment and have passed by, with a chronic lack of communication and a whole bunch of excuses.
I really didn’t want to post about this as I am not one for drama, particularly on social media. However, I feel like I have been left with little choice other than to let the wider grappling community know about the situation.”
Ross Nicholls via The UK BJJ Underground Facebook Group
Grappling Insider has reached out to the parties involved and obtained the following comments:
Stephen O’Keeffe, head of Victory Grappling, said “Yeah I’m happy to say my bit. It’s totally my accountability and nothing that Ross wouldn’t have heard already.”
Jed Hue, the other competitor not yet paid by Victory Grappling, was able to confirm that both him and Ross have been given at least 6 different reasons as to why they have not been paid. He also revealed that he wanted to go public with this at around the 6 month mark but was willing to allow Victory Grappling another chance to meet the next deadline they’d proposed. He also confirmed that each time a deadline was set for payment, both him and Nicholls would then be unable to get hold of a representative from Victory Grappling on the day they were advised they would be paid.
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