Two former coaches and a manager of UFC fighter Taila Santos came out and accused Santos of not paying them for her last three events, per O Município de Blumenau.
One of these events includes her recent 125-pound UFC title challenge, which she lost to Valentina Shevchenko.
The 29-year-old Brazilian fighter has denied the allegations.
Her former head coach and manager Marcelo Brigadeiro is one of the people who came forward. He claims Santos didn’t fulfill their contract after they stopped training at his gym over a year ago. Additionally, he claims that he wasn’t paid his percentage of three fights. Brigadeiro plans to file a lawsuit in the next few weeks, per MMA Fighting.
Another former coach, Marcio Malko, filed a lawsuit asking for 20% of her title fight pay from this year, which would accumulate to $36,400. Malko says Santos already paid him for two of the training camps for previous fights.
The third person involved is Patricio Barbosa Farias, who is the brother of Santos’s husband. He reportedly totaled $15,000 in debt after he did not train Santos following him leaving coach Malko’s team. The two had a verbal agreement. Farias doesn’t plan to file a lawsuit, but he did file a police report for embezzlement against Santos and his brother.
According to the police report obtained by MMA Fighting, “[Farias] was invited to coach Santos and set to make 3% of her upcoming purses and eventual sponsorship deals, plus reimbursement for expenses after moving to a different city, but wasn’t paid after three months.”
Santos responded to all three situations to MMA Fighting. She previously filed a lawsuit against Brigadeiro back in Dec. 2021, in which she is asking for $4,820 after her former coach tried to book her a fight against an athlete that her coach previously managed. She claims he also turned down a different opponent without her knowing.
In regards to Malko, she claims that the two don’t even have a contract signed and the amount he’s asking for is too much.
Her brother-in-law’s police report, Santos claims, contains “false accusations.” She went on to describe that her and her husband helped him get a job at a jiu-jitsu center to work as a coach. However, Farias also helped with the construction of the center. He was paid for the construction services, but he never worked as a coach after he had disagreements with staff.
