There Was Some Shady Ish Going On at The Bob!

Let me tell you even before I begin this blog post about my relationship with Diamond World Fights.  I was contracted for 3 months to provide social media coverage to promote the “MMA Mega Mayhem 2018” event that came to the Bob Carpenter Center at the University of Delaware on Friday, October, 5th.

Most of my loyal followers know that I am an honest award-winning lifestyle blogger of fashion and fun after fifty and have come to be affectionately known as the “Delaware Blogger”.  I have never been one to write about sports because I don’t know jack – well perhaps just a little bit because our youngest son once wrestled for Appoquinimink High School which I hated but supported him nevertheless, and our oldest son participated in soccer and basketball for the Special Olympics teams when he was in elementary school.

My oldest son and hubby watch the Philadelphia Eagles play football but I don’t know the rules or regs in any of those sports – I am just a proud mom who supports her sons regardless of their sports affiliations.

Anywho, I digress.  I was offered an opportunity to step out of the box and into the cage to provide social media coverage for Diamond World Fights and I did my job.  According to my contract, I created the pages and posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram about the upcoming event including ticket information and I even added blog posts about the fighters onto the website which I also designed – don’t judge as I am not a website designer, however, I wanted to help get things off the ground.  I asked my husband, friends, family, co-workers, church and chamber members as well as our Reverend at church to support me in helping to spread the word and most of them  did.

I tacked flyers and rack cards onto bulletin boards at grocery stores and at the Farmers Market.  I left rack cards at the local restaurants, Vape Shops, Barbershops and liquor stores, it was fun and I didn’t complain about the extra work that wasn’t part of the contract because I was helping to support a fellow Delaware business owner.  I even made a U-Turn on a busy road to capture the picture of the promo on a Dart Bus to share on social!

However, there was some shady ish going on at the Bob and I was stunned at the outcome.  As not to draw out the entire saga because the truth will eventually come out, I will tell you some of what I observed and why I think there was a set-up.

You see, the promoter of Diamond World Fight is Gail Stallings-Minor, a woman whom I had met several years ago and came to respect.  She had worked with many movers and shakers in the small state of Delaware and is well known by many.  Delaware, aka, the Diamond State is small and like on the sitcom “Cheers” everyone knows your name which is why I was surprised that she wasn’t given the support I think she deserved in promoting this MMA event.

I don’t know the difference between MMA, wrestling, boxing, kickboxing or grappling and even though hubby tried to explain each of them to me by showing me YouTube videos it was still very unfamiliar and not of major interest to me.

However, I remember Gail saying during our initial meeting that this was to be a Christian organization and that it was going to be run as such which is why we either started or ended each meeting I attended holding hands and in prayer.

I attended events and posted pics on social media.  I did livestream videos and Podcasts.  I tried to get people to buy tickets or donate items for the VIP Swag Bags but it became a battle to sell many tickets with the broken Ticketmaster link or 3rd Party sites stating “EVENT CANCELLED” boldly written across the top and no clickable link to make a purchase.

I arrived early at each of the 3 pre-fight events, I answered calls on my personal cell about tickets, was asked to drive to Rite Aid and spend $7.99 for Cutter Bug Spray because the dreaded Delaware mosquitoes started biting legs at Jack’s gym, and then spent $16.00 on two Wraps so another fighter could “make weight” two hours before the official weigh in – but there was some shady ish going on at the Bob.

I met the fighters and their families, exchanged pleasantries and tried my hardest to remember their names which for me is a challenge, which is why I love name badges given at local networking events – but there was some shady ish going on at the Bob.

I was getting excited and even had hubby accompany me to Kohl’s so that I could choose just the right dress – what do you think?

I was nice to all the Ring Girls despite the fact that one was flaky – but as a boomer I often meet flaky millennials.  I was proud of the singers and of course the local fighters, however, there was some shady ish going on at the Bob.

I often teased that since I was the oldest on the Diamond World Fight team that I was due more respect especially from the younger social media manager that was brought on to assist, but it was all good because he was a previous fighter with more experience in the sport.

I was excited for fight night and started blasting posts and video clips from supporters, had finalized the list of press people and was looking forward to seeing my son who was driving up from Bowie State University to support me and every mother of a son knows how it feels when your son supports and tells you that he is proud of you!

I was so nervous because as I stood waiting for the press to arrive the fighters with their entourage were arriving and their names were not “my list” so I had to literally write down the names to verify later with the promoter.  But hey, this was the first Diamond World Fights MMA event so some hurdles were to be expected, but there was some shady ish going on at the Bob.

Weeks prior to the event I tried my best to get local media coverage, I sent out Press Releases, follow up emails, tagged and targeted sports writers on their social platforms and I finally got a few responses, but mostly crickets, but that’s okay, I did my job.

However, hours before the MMA Mega Mayhem 2018 was supposed to begin, I got this email: