Count Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone among the many UFC fighters who stand to lose money on the UFC’s soon-to-be-implemented uniform plan with Reebok. According to Ryan McKinnell of Yahoo Sports, the rough-and-tumble striker is poised to lose an estimated $60,000 per fight in sponsorship money, which could take more than $200,000 out of his pocket per year on average.
“Per fight, yeah, I’m going to take a little bit of a cut…I’m going to be losing $60,000 a fight, probably,” he said Monday.
While $60,000 per fight would be a huge cut for any fighter, it is a particularly hard hit for Cerrone, one of the UFC’s most active contenders. The WEC alum has fought a whopping 17 times since joining the promotion in 2011, and he notched six fights within a 12-month span from January 2014 through January 2015.
At this time, fighters are allowed to obtain sponsors independently from the UFC and display the companies’ logos on their trunks, walk-out shirt, hat and banner. Once the UFC-Reebok deal goes into effect, the vast majority of fighters will receive a fixed amount between $2,500 and $20,000 per fight based on their tenure with Zuffa, but they will no longer be allowed to display sponsors’ logos at any official UFC functions, including weigh-ins, pressers and promotional tapings.
Cerrone is one of the many fighters who will be picking up the tab for the UFC’s Reebok deal but is one of just a few to put forward specific numbers. Brendan Schaub said the Reebok deal will bump his sponsorship money down from “six figures” per fight to $10,000. Matt Mitrione, who will also be receiving $10,000 per fight, stated earlier this year that the Reebok deal had already cost him one sponsor, which was a $30,000 hit.
Oddly, Cerrone considers himself one of the lucky ones and was optimistic regarding his future. “Budweiser, along with Fram and others are on board with the UFC and Reebok, so I kind of lucked out,” he said. “I got lucky and all my sponsors are sticking by me. We’ll figure how to make it work outside of the UFC. No, I’m not going to be making the big money on the fights like I am now, but it’s all going to work out.”
The Reebok deal is set to go into effect July 7. Hopefully, things do wind up shaking out for fighters.
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