Earlier this year, following his win over Casey Kenney at UFC 259, former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz made headlines by calling out Monster Energy business development representative Hans Molenkamp. Monster is a longtime sponsor of the UFC and several of its fighters and Cruz went on to explain that his beef with Molenkamp was based on Molenkamp allegedly making unreasonable demands on fighters backed by the threat of withholding sponsorship money. Ultimately, the two buried the hatchet with Cruz saying last week that things are all good, but now Cruz may have another party to make amends with.

Jessica-Rose Clark is another Monster-sponsored UFC fighter, currently competing in the women’s bantamweight division, and though Cruz and Molenkamp have kissed and made up, Clark says she still takes issue with Cruz’s outburst.

“His whole argument was that Hans is a clout chaser but Hans isn’t using Dom’s name for f—king anything,” Clark told Drake Riggs of MyMMANews. “Dom’s the one who brought him up in that interview and was all, ‘Ah, I’ll still fight him for charity.’ Who’s clout chasing now, Dominick Cruz?

“I don’t know, that whole thing pissed me off because one, I’ve been friends with Hans since before I was ever on the Monster team. He was one of the very first friends I made when I moved to the U.S. His kids call me ‘Auntie Jessy,’ I’m super close with his wife. He’s such a f*cking great man and he goes out of his way to help everyone that he can. And for Dom to turn around and do that because I don’t know what his reason was, he was still contracted by Monster, he was still getting paid by them every month. I don’t know what created that.”

Following Cruz’s public airing of grievances, Cruz’s teammate Angela Hill spoke out about Molenkamp and former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping also backed up some of Cruz’s allegations. Then there was San Diego-based photographer Courtney Henderson who claimed that Molenkamp had him black-balled from working with Monster-sponsored fighters. But even though Cruz wasn’t the only person to speak out against Molenkamp, merely the first, Clark blames Cruz for the backlash that ultimately didn’t just affect him, but nearly cost her the sponsorship as well.

“He put all of us on the chopping block,” Clark said. “I nearly lost my job, we all almost lost our jobs because of him. Because he was f*cking selfish. I’m glad that they’ve worked stuff out because I don’t care about Dominick Cruz at all. But I’m glad for Hans’ sake that they’ve worked it out because it put so much stress on him because him and Dom have been friends for years. That was heartbreaking to have someone that you thought was a friend call you out publicly like that when you hadn’t done anything to them. That was f*cked up, that was a dick move.

“I’m glad that it’s kind of washed away now because I don’t know that many people understand how much damage Dominick did, not just to Hans but to all of us, every single person on the Monster team. He jeopardized all of our jobs and I’ll forever be angry at him about that.”

Clark is set to compete this weekend at when she takes on Joselyne Edwards on the main card of UFC Vegas 41.

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TOP STORIES

Changes. Paulo Costa, Marvin Vettori verbally agree to 195-pound catchweight fight at UFC Vegas 41.

Charges. Italian DJ files charges against Conor McGregor following alleged assault: ‘He is dangerous, he needs to be stopped’.

Chances. Fedor Emelianenko says there is ‘a chance’ that Bellator 269 will be last fight.

Feud. Jan Blachowicz doubles down on Corey Anderson: ‘He’s just a coward and quitter’.

Suspension. UFC’s Kevin Lee gets temporary suspension for positive test for banned stimulant.

Escape. Afghan promoter, MMA fighters flee country with help of UFC, Save Our Allies after Taliban takeover.

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VIDEO STEW

The MMA Hour.

Best finishes of Fedor Emelianenko and Timothy Johnson in Bellator.

Daniel Cormier interview Kamaru Usman.

Free fights.

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LISTEN UP

We Got Next. Interviews with Jake Hadley and Joseph Holmes.

Heavy Hands. Discussing UFC Vegas 41, Bellator, and ONE Championship.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Reaction.

Corey Anderson.

Prospect exchange.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Jonathan Martinez (13-4) vs. Zviad Lazishvili (12-0); UFC Vegas 41, Oct. 23.

Sergio Pettis (21-5) vs. Kyoji Horiguchi (29-3); Bellator 272, Dec. 3.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow.

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EXIT POLL

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