(Note to RACJ: Don’t make David angry. You won’t like him when he’s angry.)

David Loiseau contacted CagePotato.com today to inform us that he has been granted his fighter’s license by the The Régie des Alcools, des Courses et des Jeux (Regulators of Alcohol, Racing and Gaming), but says it’s too little too late for him to make it back onto the card for UFC 113 May 8.

Loiseau was slated to fight opposite John Salter at the Montreal show in a week and a half, but was informed by the UFC that he had been replaced by Jason MacDonald yesterday due to his inability to obtain his license, stemming from a baseless claim by the RACJ that the Canadian MMA pioneer had ties to organized crime.

According to the 30-year-old Montreal native, several months after he sold off his minority share of his Quebec-based XMMA promotion, following an extensive police investigation, its new owners were allegedly found to have ties to organized crime in the province. Loiseau was questioned by police and it was determined that he did not have any knowledge of the criminal involvement of the individuals he sold his stake in the organization to.


“It’s ridiculous how they came up with this reasoning that I’m somehow involved with organized crime. It would be like me selling a car and the guy I sell it to is a criminal and he uses it to do a crime. Would I be held responsible for that or be investigated by the police because of it? Absolutely not,” an emotional Loiseau told CagePotato today. “They knew I wasn’t involved with those guys, but they were trying to prove a point that they were going to be tough on guys like this. They tried to make me out to look like Wesley Snipes from New Jack City. I don’t drink, have never so much as smoked a cigarette or done drugs and I’ve never even been in a street fight in my life and now I’m made out to be some gangster. It’s crazy.”

The impetus for the extended inquiry and subsequent fighting ban, Loiseau learned, was a simple handshake.

“Apparently someone [from the RACJ] saw me shaking hands with the wrong person at one of the shows. I had no idea who these guys were,” Loiseau explained. “It’s my job to greet my fans and to represent the sport no matter if the people who want a picture and an autograph are white, yellow, black, brown, male, female, adult, child – I don’t care who you are; I’m not going to ask people what group they’re from or if they have any criminal affiliation when they want to shake my hand or take a photo. Show me one other athlete would do that?”

Loiseau says that although he is happy that commission officials finally saw the error in their ways and reinstated his license, the damage to his reputation, not to mention the loss of income he would have earned from his sponsorships and fight purse, have left a bitter taste in his mouth.

“Man, I honestly can’t believe this happened. It was humiliating. I haven’t slept in three days. I’ve been cutting weight because I was confident this would get sorted out. Now, even though it’s been proven that I’m innocent, my reputation and credibility has been damaged. I’m trying to decide what to do next, but taking legal action against the commission is definitely something I’m looking at,” said Loiseau, who recently inked a four-fight deal with the UFC. “I’ve done so much to build this sport in Quebec. I was the first fighter from here to fight in the UFC, which opened the door for guys like Patrick Cote, Jonathan Goulet and GSP to fight in there. I try to give back to the community and the sport as much as I can. This was such a huge slap in the face that I’m actually still kind of in shock.”