Shannon Knapp on the shady manager: ‘It’s like someone came into my house and terrorized my family’

[ads1]“You might as well have gone into a cave and poked a stick at a hibernating bear.” That’s how Inside the Cage Radio host Greg DeLong described Invicta FC president Shannon Knapp‘s response when she learned there was a manager using intimidation, manipulation and alleged sexual misconduct toward the promotion’s female fighters.

You’ve no doubt heard the stories by now; the tales of drunkenness, lewd and lascivious behavior and threats of blackballing from an MMA manager toward several ladies who either fought for Invicta or hoped to one day. Knapp had known for awhile there was some shady stuff going on, someone throwing around her and her company’s name, but did not realize the full extent of it and was surprised no one had spoken up before.”

“Where there’s smoke there’s fire,” said Knapp. “I knew there were problems, I just had no idea there were problems like that with the accusations of sexual misconduct or I would have taken care of this a long time ago.”

If you were following the story you may have wondered why Knapp kept quiet for a couple days after the story broke. She explained she needed some time to cool off. “I despise people that have that type of control and abuse it, manipulate and prey on the weaker,” Knapp said. “And to use my name or my company name to intimidate them or lure them into these situations, it’s disgusting. It’s beyond disgusting. I literally kept myself away from interviews and the computer and all that kind of stuff the past couple of days because I couldn’t begin to talk about it with any professionalism whatsoever and I knew that I needed time to calm down because I’m a hot head. And I can tell you now, I’m angry, beyond angry in this situation.”

It’s quite apparent to anyone who is familiar with Knapp and her organization that she genuinely cares about her fighters and that’s why she is taking this current situation extremely serious. “I came into this sport a huge advocate for the sport and these athletes. … These girls are important to us at Invicta,” she said. “This is who I am. It’s like somebody came into my house and terrorized my family. It’s unacceptable, it won’t be tolerated. People are going to get the message loud and clear I promise you that.”

When asked if there was any legal recourse she could take, Knapp said she has plenty of evidence. “My attorney is working on things as we speak,” she stated. “When you go out there in business and you’re using someone’s name and not in a positive way and things like that, yeah, I mean if you’re asking me if I can go out and sue this guy legally and this kind of thing, sure. Sure. Do I have the evidence to support that? Documented evidence. Absolutely I do. So I’m working on that, I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do at this moment in time with that, but I assure you when I’m done, my name is not going to come out of that person’s mouth. Not in that way.”

Listen to the complete interview with Shannon Knapp in the player below (interview starts at 30:00 mark):

Inside the Cage Radio with host Greg DeLong is part of the Pro MMA Now Radio Network and can be heard LIVE every Monday and Thursday evening at 9:30 p.m. ET (6:30 pm. PT).
[ads2]