Tom Huggins: It wasn't the cost of plane tickets -- Bob Sapp never signed his Impact FC contract

Props: Sherdog.com

Quoteworthy:

"For three weeks, we tried to get Bob to commit to flight dates and sign a contract. He never actually signed the contract we sent him weeks ago. We needed to have this stuff taken care of weeks ago. You get on the phone with Bob, and two hours later, nothing gets accomplished. Bob is a business guy, too. He knows that sometimes things happen that make deals untenable. You can't just get three plane tickets out Sofia, especially for Bob Sapp. He's 350 pounds; he can't fly coach. Getting all the right connecting flights out of Bulgaria can't just be done last minute. The tickets were getting more expensive, but it was never a price issue. Bob was actually very reasonable about money. It was the logistics and time. None of this would've been an issue if he wasn't in Bulgaria. That made the logistics really hard: there were major visa issues for these guys coming to Australia, they had to be consulate-issued. We just weren't getting the help we needed from Bob to get it done properly."

Impact FC promoter Tom Huggins was ready to fly Bob Sapp to Australia for his "Uprising 2" fight against Soa Palelei on July 18 in Sydney -- except "The Beast" reportedly failed to sign his contract while wrapping up his role in the "Conan the Barbarian" movie remake in Bulgaria. Brad Morris will step in to replace Sapp on a card that also features Ken Shamrock vs. Pedro Rizzo. Will Sapp's absence hurt the promotion's drawing power? Or is this a blessing in disguise?