Victor Let Go By MD - or was he?

[OneMoreRep]

I like Victor.

He is a very mellow guy and a nice person to train with.

That said, I believe he needs to find better ways to make money, as I feel that his time is almost done in this industry.

This happens to every professional bodybuilder in the industry. Unless you can provide other services (Bob Chick hosting events for example) or write actual columns (not have a ghost writer), there is no reason for these magazines to keep these guys on board once they become less and less relevant.

"1"

[Joe Pietaro]

I stand by this story one hundred percent. Gregg received this info first hand from Victor Martinez on 7/11/15. Whatever scrambling and damage control that MD did after we spoke about it on our podcast on Monday and then posted the article a day later is unbeknownst to us.

Ron Harris's MD post at 10:17 AM today:

Please check Victor's most recent post on his IG, ifbbvictormartinez . Also, Steve B will be responding on this thread later today.

Bottom line, this story was spread by Joe Pietaro and Gregg Valentino. Both were let go by MD and are very bitter about that, and used Victor to serve their own agenda. All I can add to this is that Victor will continue to work with MD. He is part of the MD family.

Victor's IG post is conflicting to what he said to Valentino and that obviously is something that transpired since Saturday (or more likely, Monday after we spoke about the conversation).

And if I had the ability to post on MD, I would gladly respond to Ron by stating that we are certainly bitter about getting fired by MD, but more importantly now that we have an established magazine that is growing by the day, MD is our direct competition.

Our agenda is to not 'use' anyone, but rather put out a good product and be transparent about things like this. The exact opposite is what MD does, and Martinez's status with them has been a mystery for a month or so now.

The same situation occurred recently with both Evan Centopani and Jose Raymond with MD and regardless of whatever Blechy did to try and make our report appear like irresponsible journalism, it didn't work. Our story was accurate at the time it was reported; conference room meetings with red pens were pursuant to that.

And "continue to work with MD" and being a "part of the MD family" are not committing to an exclusive contract with Martinez. Fine choice of words by MD's senior writer, but I, for one, saw right through them.

*waiting with bated breath for the statement by Blechy*

[SquidVicious]

Continue working with is code for having Victor continue to pretend to be a paid contributor until he can find something else to save face.

[Juruth]

I stand by this story one hundred percent. Gregg received this info first hand from Victor Martinez on 7/11/15. Whatever scrambling and damage control that MD did after we spoke about it on our podcast on Monday and then posted the article a day later is unbeknownst to us.

Ron Harris's MD post at 10:17 AM today:

Please check Victor's most recent post on his IG, ifbbvictormartinez . Also, Steve B will be responding on this thread later today.

Bottom line, this story was spread by Joe Pietaro and Gregg Valentino. Both were let go by MD and are very bitter about that, and used Victor to serve their own agenda. All I can add to this is that Victor will continue to work with MD. He is part of the MD family.

Victor's IG post is conflicting to what he said to Valentino and that obviously is something that transpired since Saturday (or more likely, Monday after we spoke about the conversation).

And if I had the ability to post on MD, I would gladly respond to Ron by stating that we are certainly bitter about getting fired by MD, but more importantly now that we have an established magazine that is growing by the day, MD is our direct competition.

Our agenda is to not 'use' anyone, but rather put out a good product and be transparent about things like this. The exact opposite is what MD does, and Martinez's status with them has been a mystery for a month or so now.

The same situation occurred recently with both Evan Centopani and Jose Raymond with MD and regardless of whatever Blechy did to try and make our report appear like irresponsible journalism, it didn't work. Our story was accurate at the time it was reported; conference room meetings with red pens were pursuant to that.

And "continue to work with MD" and being a "part of the MD family" are not committing to an exclusive contract with Martinez. Fine choice of words by MD's senior writer, but I, for one, saw right through them.

*waiting with bated breath for the statement by Blechy*

[Joe Pietaro]

Continue working with is code for having Victor continue to pretend to be a paid contributor until he can find something else to save face.

Yep. And Blechman's statement on it is now supposed to happen tomorrow morning. It will be one of two things:

*Victor's not exclusive, but will continue to be in MD on a regular or semi-regular basis (pay-per-shoot type of deal)

-or-

*MD re-signs Victor to an exclusive contract & says that it was always their intention to do so and there may have been some miscommunication.

I put my money on the former, judging by the way Ron Harris chose his words. But what's funny is that when this was first posted on MD, Ron, Peter McGough and WisconsinBB all chimed in on the thread and didn't refute any of the claims about Victor. Only the next day did Ron post about it.

[Hurricane Beef !]

THE BEEF is with Joe. Had there been nothing to this Steve Blechman would have squelched to rumor with a post the moment it popped up.

THE BEEF

[Joe Pietaro]

THE BEEF is with Joe. Had there been nothing to this Steve Blechman would have squelched to rumor with a post the moment it popped up.

THE BEEF

Exactly.

So this is what took Blechy an extra day to put out? It says nothing and is totally ambiguous in so many ways:

*You can’t believe everything you read online. - Sure you can, when the source (MuscleSport Magazine) received it directly from the subject in question (Victor Martinez).

*We have had a long standing relationship with Victor, which began in 2003, and continue to do so. - Yes, Martinez had a long standing EXCLUSIVE contract with MD since 2003, but failed to notify him if it was going to be renewed or not, hence the questions being asked a month ago on their own site by their readers if he was coming back or not. OK, so Victor appears to be back with MD in some capacity after we posted our story and they took flak for it. But is that an exclusive deal?

*The dynamics of exclusive agreements have certainly changed, but we will continue to work with the athletes with continued exposure in the industry. - I suppose that this answers the above question. So if FLEX or RX Muscle approach Victor for an interview, shoot or video, is he permitted to do so without breaking his agreement? Does he even have an agreement? (Transparency by MD would go a long way in making those questions a moot point.)

*Victor also knows this changing dynamic and is now putting on his first bb show August 22, 2015. We are excited to partner up with him to help promote this show, and we know with Victor’s vision, it will be a complete success! - Is this the extent of their relationship at this point? Again, sketchy & carefully crafted words by Blechy leave their readers and Victor's fans scratching their heads and still wondering what role - if any - he has with the actual publication. And Victor himself deserved better than to have to go out of his way to defend MD and show loyalty, only to have this meager paragraph to base his future on.

[ritch]

That photoshoped pic of that little homo makes me laugh every time. Knock it off Steve, you're not fooling anybody with that shit you skinny little runt.

[Hurricane Beef !]

Exactly.

So this is what took Blechy an extra day to put out? It says nothing and is totally ambiguous in so many ways:

*You can’t believe everything you read online. - Sure you can, when the source (MuscleSport Magazine) received it directly from the subject in question (Victor Martinez).

*We have had a long standing relationship with Victor, which began in 2003, and continue to do so. - Yes, Martinez had a long standing EXCLUSIVE contract with MD since 2003, but failed to notify him if it was going to be renewed or not, hence the questions being asked a month ago on their own site by their readers if he was coming back or not. OK, so Victor appears to be back with MD in some capacity after we posted our story and they took flak for it. But is that an exclusive deal?

*The dynamics of exclusive agreements have certainly changed, but we will continue to work with the athletes with continued exposure in the industry. - I suppose that this answers the above question. So if FLEX or RX Muscle approach Victor for an interview, shoot or video, is he permitted to do so without breaking his agreement? Does he even have an agreement? (Transparency by MD would go a long way in making those questions a moot point.)

*Victor also knows this changing dynamic and is now putting on his first bb show August 22, 2015. We are excited to partner up with him to help promote this show, and we know with Victor’s vision, it will be a complete success! - Is this the extent of their relationship at this point? Again, sketchy & carefully crafted words by Blechy leave their readers and Victor's fans scratching their heads and still wondering what role - if any - he has with the actual publication. And Victor himself deserved better than to have to go out of his way to defend MD and show loyalty, only to have this meager paragraph to base his future on.

Written by a lawyer.

THE BEEF