Luke Zachrich speaks about Marcus Reynolds
Former TUF competitor Luke Zachrich tells his side on the recent Marcus Reynolds controversy
On Saturday May 9th, in front of a good crowd in Columbus, OH and HDNET cameras, Marcus Reynolds called out Luke Zachrich. Reynolds not only called him out but proceeded to mock him by pulling out a pair of pink panties and asking the crowd if Luke forgot them there. It stunned the crowd, Jorge Gurgel and anyone else who has heard it since. Why would Reynolds’ take this approach? Did Luke truly back out? Find out the true story from Luke himself.
SD- Talk about the reasoning you decided not to fight Marcus Reynolds?
LZ- You know what it’s a funny thing. I don’t know if Shine Fights are mad at me or what but they are trying to make it sound like it was a last minute thing. Truth be told there was never a contract signed for the fight. I told them a month prior to the fight that I wasn’t going to fight for them. We went back and forth on it. I originally said that I was interested in fighting for them. Dorian Price went out and found someone. He told me it was Marcus Reynolds so I said sure. I knew who he was because I was supposed to fight him a couple of years ago but something happened on his end. I talked to Dorian and they knew I had a fight with ICF prior to their event. I said let me wait till after that fight and see where we are at. I got a little banged up and was a little burnt out. I needed a little break before I jumped right back into camp. Plus I already had a fight scheduled for the next ICF a week after Shine Fights. I was having some trouble with training partners; Jorge Gurel was supposed to be gone, Rich Franklin was going training. We also couldn’t find any film on the kid. I’m in a situation where Joe Silva (UFC Matchmaker) told me to go out and get three wins. We are trying to pick smart fights and at that point I just didn’t feel like training. I didn’t know if I could stay in shape and be ready to go plus I didn’t want to have two fights in two weeks. We talked to the Shine people and voiced our concerns and asked if we could get some video on the kid. There were so many things leading up to it; not being able to find video, not getting enough time between fights from the previous ICF fight and fighting two fights in two weeks. I didn’t think it was a big deal pulling out a month before hand. Truthfully, you cannot even consider it a pull out as I didn’t sign a contract. I think they were counting on me and were upset because they know I have a huge following in Columbus, OH. My family leaves there. Pretty much everybody I knew in high school has migrated to there. The same thing with all my college friends. My brother owns a restaurant/bar there which creates a good following. So I think they were really counting on me in terms of bringing in a crowd. I guess the guys at Shine are mad at me because I didn’t end up fighting. I think the Shine guys had a lot to do with what went on with Marcus Reynolds. After speaking to a few guys I think that calling me out after the fight was kind of pushed on him. I looked at Shine Fights website yesterday (May 25 th) and they had something posted that they had 24 hour notice that I cancelled. Honest to God I really don’t know what the deal is and why they are trying to make it look bad on me. In Marcus’ situation, I have a big name in the sport, not that it is a big name by any means, but I have some recognition from being on The Ultimate Fighter and I think he is trying to use that to make a name for himself. Is it a big deal to me, I guess not but I don’t like for anybody to talk bad about me like that. I didn’t want to fight for Shine after the way they handled this so I contacted Steve Stanton (ICF promoter) about getting a fight with Marcus and me. The Shine Fights event was on Saturday; Steve was on the phone with Marcus’ manager on Monday. The kid is asking for ridiculous amounts of money, basically doing anything he can to not take the fight. We went out looking for the fight so who knows what will happen. I don’t plan on being a free agent for much longer anyway. I would love to fight the kid if I’m still available.
> Check out the newly-expanded selection of MMA merchandise available including Sullen clothing & hats online through Pro Fighting Fans!
SD- What was going through you mind when you heard about him bringing pink panties in the cage saying you forgot them and how all that made it to HDNET?
LZ- I was actually in Columbus that night. The fight was the night before Mother’s Day and I was up there visiting family. There were a bunch of guys from my gym up there that night. All of a sudden my phone starts blowing up. I was like you have to be *@^#&$ kidding me. I was pretty pissed off. I consider that an insult on my character and everything I’ve done in the sport. This kid is virtually a nobody. He was 5-4 going into that fight. The kid got beat by somebody that I knocked out in 35 seconds. There is no reason I would be afraid to fight the kid. I was with my dad when I found out. I hopped in my car and called Dorian Price asking him if I could get into the arena. I was going to go down there and knock the kid out in the back locker room. Jorge (Gurgel) found out about it and told me not to come down there. He gave me the whole spiel that it will happen in time. I was pretty heated about it right off the bat but I’m pretty cool about it right now. It was easy for him to say all that stuff when no one is there to defend themselves. It looks good for the cameras of HDNET. Would he say it to my face? Who knows but he has a fight on the table if he wants to take it.
Stay tuned for more information on future fights for Luke and the verbal spar between Luke and Marcus Reynolds.
By Scott Dryden
ProFighting-fans.com Editor-in-Chief