Even more bad news for Enfusion Live fans looking forward to more Mohammed Jaraya fights in the Enfusion League: he’s out. It’s official, as Edin van Os, the promotion’s owner, confirmed it in an interview with Combat Point (see below with subtitles). At least sort of. Van Os claimed that there would be a punishment handed down to Jaraya and that they’d have to work around the suspension, but that he will not compete in the final tournament in Abu Dabi as punishment.
MMAPlus has a part of the transcript from the above interview where van Os talks about a blow to the Enfusion Live image considering how much they’ve promoted Jaraya and relied on him as one of the promotion’s stars.
“The reactions of Jaraya and the Fighting Talents Den Bosch team are inexcusable and can’t be ignored,” van Os stated. “The last couple of years we’ve done a lot to promote Mohammed. He’s an example for a lot of people, but didn’t realise it at that moment. After we talked, he has realised it and apologised to the FOG.”
Van Os confirms that the suspension should allow for Jaraya to fight in other parts of the world, but due to the FOG’s agreements in a few European countries — such as Belgium where they had scheduled Jaraya to participate in a fight there — that it would be wise to remove him from the league. The decision to remove him from the league was the promotion’s, claims van Os, as further fights would happen outside of FOG’s reach. That being said, for a promotion that wishes to continue running shows in the FOG’s jurisdiction, defying them seems like a bad idea. Other suspensions include the upcoming -85kg league fighter Hicham el Gaoui, who is serving a six-month suspension.
It’s unclear if Jaraya will take place in the scheduled bout in Belgium or not. There are those saying that he will, while other sources are claiming that to do so would put the promotion’s ability to run shows in the Netherlands in jeopardy.
In other FOG news, Nordin Ben Moh was denied his appeal from his fight with Tayfun Ozcan for an illegal blow, but Enfusion has decided to take matters into their own hands and award Ben Moh another point in the league, making things even stranger.
Bottom line: Do not attack an official. Ever.