Police force dumps UFC fighter “Pimp Daddy”
Published On Wed Dec 15 2010
http://media.thestar.topscms.com/ima...924990291.jpeg
A photo of MMA fighter Sean Pierson, when he was known as Sean "Pimp Daddy" Pierson. Taken from
www.seanpierson.com.
Technically Sean Pierson stopped being “Pimp Daddy” a couple of years ago. But it’s a title that’s hard to shake.
Remnants of the 34-year-old mixed martial arts fighter’s former persona still linger online, in fan blogs and websites dedicated to the sport. It was given to Pierson by a Montreal promoter in 1999, when he was a young fighter trying to make a name for himself.
On Saturday, Pierson realized a dream by winning a match at UFC 124 in Montreal, after he was called in to replace an injured fighter.
On Monday, his other dream collapsed.
Toronto Police informed him that his conditional offer of employment was revoked pending further investigation because, in part, he had failed to deal with concerns about his “Pimp Daddy” persona as a fighter.
Pierson received the conditional offer in October. He was supposed to become a cadet-in-training on Tuesday.
Police spokesman Mark Pugash said the decision had nothing do to with the fact that Pierson had been in a UFC fight.
“In this case, it wasn’t what he was doing. It’s that you have a name that I think most people would agree is not appropriate for a police officer.”
According to urbandictionary.com a “pimp daddy” is: “The head and master pimp, but nowadays known as a guy who gets a lot of girls.”
“I’ve been with my wife for nine years,” said Pierson, who used to enter fights to 50 Cent’s steel-drum beating ditty “P.I.M.P”.
“I’m the furthest thing from it.”
When Pierson first began his application to become a police officer, he says he informed them he was a professional mixed martial arts fighter and had fought under the “Pimp Daddy” nickname.
“I tried to distance myself from that name the best that I could,” Pierson said.
But unfortunately, not far enough.
“We raised ‘Pimp Daddy’ with him more than a year ago,” Pugash said. “Those concerns have not been addressed satisfactorily.”
In a photo still posted on his website, Pierson is wearing a white track suit, white fedora, sunglasses and a cane. (The website is under construction.)
“That picture is seven or eight years old,” he said. “That’s all over the Internet. To me it’s the way I used to dress for my fights. . . . I didn’t even think about it.”
Pierson said the term “Pimp Daddy” was used as frequently as others, like “player” or “hustler”—“Not that they’re any better.”
“I was a 23-year-old kid just out to have a good time,” he said. “I didn’t mean any disrespect to anybody by doing that.”
Along with the obvious nickname conundrum — which he was no longer using when he applied to the force — Toronto Police also raised concerns about the time commitment required to be a professional fighter.
“It’s the concern that it requires a level of commitment that takes away from his ability to be a proper police officer,” said Pugash, noting Pierson would face similar scrutiny if he wanted to be an accountant or an electrician as a secondary job to being an officer.
Pierson said he holds no resentment toward the force. He plans to reapply in three or four years.
For now, he has decided to chase his mixed martial arts dream, and hopes to fight in UFC 131 in Toronto on April 30.
In the meantime, he hopes youngsters aspiring to be fighters/police officers learn from his “Pimp Daddy” tale of woe.
“Especially in the digital age,” he said. “The decisions you make now do affect you in the future.”