WSOF Headliner Brian Foster Opens Up About His Departure From The UFC: ‘They Owe Me An Apology’ – Exclusive

Two former UFC fighters will meet in the cage this Saturday, Jan. 17, at World Series of Fighting 17. One time UFC title challenger Jake Shields will face off against the dangerous and well-rounded Brian Foster in the nights main event. BJPENN.COM was able to talk to both fighters before they clash in Las Vegas, check out the Shields interview from BJPENN.COM Radio HERE. As for Foster, he had plenty to say about Mr. Shields and how he sees the fight going, but also discussed his past, in particular, his departure from the UFC.

Foster went 3-2 in his 5 fight stint with the UFC, with his last fight, in 2010, being a submission win over now top ranked welterweight Matt Brown. So, why was that Foster’s last fight with the promotion, especially considering he was on a two fight win streak and had won 6 of his last 8 fights, including wins in a previous promotion. That’s where things get a little messy and where a lot of anger on the part of Foster comes from.

After the Brown fight Foster was scheduled to fight Sean Pierson, but a pre-fight physical revealed that he had suffered a brain hemorrhage. This of course sidelined Foster while he sought treatment and underwent brain surgery. So all was healed up and good right? Not quite. According to Foster, the UFC refused to let him fight, even after a successful surgery.

“They still see it as a high risk, even though everyone has said I stand no more of a chance of getting injured than the next guy in there. It’s on them, they’re protecting their own asses I guess, which I don’t blame them, whatever, they tend to not really give a fuck about other people’s dreams, as much as they do their own political fucking reasons.”

Say Foster beats Shields this Saturday, the UFC could very well change their mind and offer Foster a second chance. The thing is, Foster doesn’t care, saying, “I don’t think the UFC could pay me enough o bring me back.”

“It’s not about the money, it’s not about the performance, it’s about the apology that they fucking owe me. That’s what it’s about. I’m a grown ass man with a dream and for you to shit on my dream–you owe me an apology, then we’ll talk about money.”

Foster apologized several times throughout the interview for getting worked up about his dealing with the UFC, but admitted that it’s a sore topic for him and something that highlights what he considers the worst side of the sport, the politics.

“For athletes like myself to bust my ass to go and be the best and to break my body down for a sport I love and I’m passionate about–and for them to give me the opportunity to fight and be the best and then to write me off because of an injury, without any kind of help whatsoever. Yeah, that kind of rubbed me wrong. And then to do everything that they asked me to do, go to every doctor, waste all my own money, all my own money that I made through them–I wasted to get cleared for them, and for that to still not be enough. So yes, I think they own me an apology.”

Foster isn’t holding his breath waiting for that apology from the UFC. He knows as well as most that in a big super promotion like the UFC fighters get overlooked all the time and he finds it hard to understand why certain fighters, who proclaim to not even enjoy fighting, get more attention than those who do it for the love of the sport and for more than a paycheck.

“They [the UFC] don’t care. They’ve got badass talent that they overlook all the time. I’m easily overlooked. I just feel like, if some one cares about something as much as I do, I think that it should get a little more attention than someone who doesn’t. Nick Diaz stated several times that he doesn’t like to fight, he only does it for the paycheck. Well I do it for more than just the paycheck, I do it for the glory of it. I do it for the benefit of raising my last name to a different kind of bar, for my son’s sake.”

“The political side of this game is pissing me off really really bad.”

Check back to BJPENN.COM to read more from Foster’s interview, where he breaks down his upcoming fight with Shields.

By: Ryan C. Miller | Twitter