'Mayhem' Backlash Provokes Lame Response from Venator Promoter

UFC president Dana White won his promotion a lot of attention in their fledgling years due to his outspoken nature. Through social media and making himself available for a variety of interviews, the Bostonian's no-holds-barred conversation style allowed fans and media to feel like they knew how he felt about a number of subjects surrounding the sport.

Since it's inception last year, Venator Fighting Championships have gone from a promotion based mostly around Italian fighters to one that is now boasting some of the biggest names on the European scene outside of the UFC. At Venator FC 2, the fourth event hosted by the promotion, Luke Barnatt secured their middleweight title in the main event, and the towering Brit's headline bout was supported by a number of noted European charges like Jack Mason, Karl Amoussou, Jack Hermansson, Karl Moore and Pete Queally.

The news that the Italian promotion has signed Jason 'Mayhem' Miller launched them into the mainstream stratosphere last week. Set to take on Luke Barnatt in May for his middleweight title in Milan, the MMA community sounded off on the back of the news given that Miller appears to be struggling due to a number of well-publicized brushes with the law since his last professional outing back in 2012.

The fact that Miller released a video citing an upcoming fight with UFC heavyweight Josh Barnett, instead of his real opponent, Luke Barnett, fanned the growing flames around Miller's scheduled return.

It was through the outcry of the MMA community about Venator capturing the signature of Miller that we got our first real introduction to the president of the company, Frank Merenda. When news surfaced that 'Mayhem' had been arrested on the suspicion of a DUI the weekend before his signing to Venator was announced, Merenda released a statement, which was published by MMA Junkie.

In the statement, Merenda publically backed 'Mayhem' and criticized the "disgusting" coverage of Miller signing with the promotion. He insisted that media members should be "ashamed" of themselves based on their reactions to Venator striking a deal with the former UFC middleweight.

"Indeed, I find it absolutely disgusting the some press rage against a person who is working hard in the gym to get back doing what he loves: Fighting in the cage.

"For all the poor idiots who continue to speak of the mental condition of Miller. Miller is a born actor. These days he's proving his qualities with never ending jokes on the internet and twitter. He was not "drunk" when he said Josh Barnett instead of Luke Barnatt. He is just doing with great skills his PR job, above all with no trash talk and without offending anyone as it's quite normal in modern MMA, but with subtle irony, playing the character of "mental devastated" that every stupid in this world lightly gives to him without actually knowing him.

"Jason Miller is not a saint. We do not defend what he has done wrong in the past. But we are happy and honored to give him the chance he deserves to show how the MMA can be a vehicle for the rebirth of a person.

"For all who would like to see him alone and abandoned by everyone, I only have one word for you: be ashamed of yourself. I believe in Jason Miller. I'll give this guy his chance."

Of course, as soon as the statement was made public, Merenda was critiqued on his use of the English language in a press release, even though Italian is the native tongue of the promoter. Despite the quips made at his expense, Merenda continued to his tirade on his Twitter account, where he proved to be even more outspoken than Dana White.

When MMA parody account, The Naked Gambler (now 'The Naked Venator') reached out and offered their services to help the promotion's PR department, Merenda tweeted back, "you can just suck my dick instead, won't you?"

He further outlined his feelings on how Miller has been vilified via Twitter by pointing to the previous offences of former Bellator champion Tito Ortiz, and returning light-heavyweight UFC king, Jon 'Bones' Jones.

While Merenda's approach might seem a bit heavy-handed, he has done an amazing job of gaining the attention of the MMA world. Although the masses remain skeptical about Miller's role in his scheduled bout with Barnett, everybody is going to be interested to see what version of the polarizing figure shows up in Milan.

And it's not just Miller that we have to look forward to on May 21 at PalaSesto. Today, Venator announced that Matt Hamill will take on new signee Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou on the night. Former UFC fighter Che Mills has also struck a deal with the emerging European promotion, and the British welterweight is set to face Roberto Rigamonti at the well-publicized event too.