Former two-time bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz made a strange call-out following his UFC 259 win over Casey Kenney on Saturday. “The Dominator” Monster Energy business development representative Hans Molenkamp.
Cruz challenged Molenkamp, a mixed martial arts practitioner himself, to a charity fight and accused Molenkamp of using his position with Monster Energy to gain personal favors from fighters.
On Monday, Monster responded to the allegations through a spokesperson to MMAfighting.com. “We take any such allegations seriously and are looking into it at this time.”
Monster Energy provided no other comments on the matter.
“Look at my face, look at my body, I get beat to death for a living,” Cruz said at the UFC 259 press conference. “So when you try to force me and you text me if I don’t comment on your page, if I don’t give you an interview, that you’re going to take what pays my bills? What are we doing? Monster sponsors me, not you.”
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Cruz claimed that other fighters have voiced similar complaints about Molenkamp. UFC president Dana White and Molenkamp briefly got into a disagreement in 2019 on social media after Molenkamp stated that he introduced White to former pro skateboarder Rob Dyrdek.
White was asked about the comments made by Cruz and Molenkamp during the UFC 259 post-fight press conference. “Is Hans a goofy dude? Yeah, he’s a very goofy dude,” White said. “But they’re a sponsor. These guys are a sponsor, they’re great sponsors, [and] they pay these guys a lot of money. … It’s a privilege to get money from a sponsor. So if you don’t like the way they do business, don’t do business with them.”
Monster looking into Dominick Cruz allegations against Hans Molenkamp
