In yesterday's Muscle Gossip column (http://www.rxmuscle.com/articles/muscle-gossip/4232-muscle-gossip-34-wbff-exodus.html) I quoted then current WBFF Pro, Obi Obadike, talking about supporting Ingrid Romero's decision to switch back to the IFBB. He alluded to some drama and shady dealings going on in Paul Dillet's organiziation. Today Obi dropped the bomb that he too will attempt to make the switch to the NPC/IFBB:
After 3 years of being one of the premier faces of the WBFF I am publicly relinquishing my WBFF Pro card as of September 29th, 2011. The reason why I decided to make this public was because I continue to see my name on recent forums and blogs as a WBFF Pro and I really want to publicly disassociate myself from the organization and let people know I am not with the organization anymore. I am very proud to say that during my tenure with the organization I was responsible for helping to bring exceedingly over 60 athletes over the past 3 years to step on that stage and I was very influential in helping to build the male fitness model division to what it is now currently based on all the marketing I did as an athlete. Modestly speaking I brought a lot of credibility and exposure to that organization based on all the international covers, features, fitness expert columns all over the world and international appearances I created for myself over the past couple of years which I was proud to do while promoting the WBFF brand in those endeavors.
My reason for leaving the organization is really because of some of the unethical things that went behind the decision of the 2011 Pro male fitness model world title that led to me placing 2nd place and also other unethical things that went behind other male and female divisions within the organization at the 2011 WBFF World Championships. I had a lot of people demonize me and say some really awful things about me and my character a couple of days after the show publicly. Many of these people didn’t even have knowledge about what happened and why I was upset.
I was never upset about placing 2nd place or losing my world title as I think it’s an honor to place 2nd place to a great fitness model like James Ellis who I have a lot of respect for but it had everything to do with the deception, cover-up and deliberate manipulation in regards to that decision. I researched this issue like I was an LAPD detective for a week because I wanted to know the truth and what really happened. When I spoke to every single judge and when I received every single piece of information from these individuals it really pissed me off what I heard.
I felt really betrayed by the organization because I never thought in my wildest dreams they could do that to me who was its one of its best ambassadors. I won’t get into what was said to me from those judges but all I can say is there was a lot of unethical things that happened in regards to that decision and as well as other divisions from what many judges told me where people were supposed to place. When you hear what I heard from more than half the judges in regards to that decision you have every right to be upset and angry. I would never in my life lie about this because I honestly wholeheartedly did not want to believe what was told to me by some of the judges and I wanted to believe that the organization was telling me the truth, but the information was too overwhelming by too many judges that it was very difficult not to believe it.
I will not endorse any fitness organization nor promote it nor put my name behind it that has the intentional ability to do that to athletes and competitors that work so hard on stage that just want things fair and just want the judges to decide the show and nothing else. To my fans all over the world that follow me I really appreciate your support over the past month since the WBFF Worlds. In terms of if I will compete again the answer is I don’t know but you can never say never in this industry. All I can say right now is I am a free agent and I can do whatever I want to do which is absolutely lovely.
I really want to clear this one more thing because this has always bothered me about my supplement contract signing a year ago and how it was promoted and marketed by the organization. I want to explain the story on how it went down because it was promoted a year ago really big as the WBFF helped to land the first six figure contract for a fitness model in the industry. Maybe this will really clear things about this whole six figure contract promising to another athlete saga and about the capabilities that an organization can really do for an athlete. I don’t know if this contract made the promoter use it to entice people to compete in his organization like he had the capability to give out contracts like this but I really need to clear this up publicly.
This is the real story for people because I have to be 100 percent honest in regards to what happened. Kelechi Opara a good friend of mine said a lot of nice things about me to Josh Thiedl who is a friend Kelechi’s. Josh Theidl is very close friends to one of the owners of the company. I gave Josh my fitness zed card and pitched myself to Josh. He then proceeded to pitched me aggressively to one of the owners of the company this led to me receiving his email address and information from Josh. I then proceeded to communicate with one of the owners over the phone and he knew who I was and very impressed with the things I’ve accomplished in the industry. He then said after speaking over the phone I want to sign you and so I verbally agreed over the phone to commit to the company and he said he would get back to me in terms of negotiations.
I texted the promoter right afterwards of the WBFF and told him I just verbally agreed with the supplement company that you work with and he said I will put in a good word. I said it is not necessary it is a done deal but he said I will still put in a good word anyway. One of the owners did ask him about me and told him that they were going to sign me. The promoter said nice complimentary things about me and I was appreciative of that recommendation from him. Although I was appreciative of the recommendation; a recommendation after you verbally agreed to sign with that supplement company already doesn’t constitute to you be given a contract by that organization.
I allowed the organization to use my contract and publicly reveal personal financial information about that contract to promote their organization as if they gave the contract to me and that they landed that type of deal for me which wasn’t the case. I did that because I was very loyal to the organization and I knew that the contract would help bring so many male and female athletes to compete in the organization from a marketing standpoint so that is exactly how all of us collectively spinned it and that is the god honest truth. I landed that type of deal mainly because of the accolades I’ve attained in the industry over the past couple of years and for the record I negotiated my own deal as I would never have anybody negotiate any contract for me.
I never got to thank Kelechi Opara publicly and I am so sorry I never did this because he honestly really pitched me hard to Josh Theidl and said nice things about me that I would be a good fit for the organization. Thank You Kelechi for pitching me man and then Josh pitched me so hard to his friend. If it wasn’t for Josh and Kelechi I would never have landed the contract I have now. I really wanted to clear that up and be very transparent because I continued to still hear so many things from so many people in the industry that the WBFF got me my contract deal and that it was a direct result from competing.
Kelechi and Josh can attest to this story because they knew the whole timeline from A to Z.
I wish everybody within the organization much success in their personal endeavors and I hope the organization has the basic minimal ethics to send me the $4000 prize money they still owe me from my placing at the Worlds event but I won’t be surprised if I never receive it. I want to thank some of my friends and fans who have supported me unconditionally during the past month since the incident at the worlds. I’ve never needed any organization and I’ve never needed to compete to succeed in this industry as the majority of the stuff I’ve attained in this industry has come from me consistently hustling daily as that is all I know. I want thank everybody again for their support in my career over the past 3 years. I plan on being in this industry for a long time and hopefully continue to still to do great things and inspire and motivate to be as healthy as they can be.
Looks like my prediction was right, Obi will be on the stage with David Kemmerle in the near future. Here is one more prediction for you, dear Reader: We will see at least one more big name defect this week or next. When it rains, it pours! :)
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