Set to begin their deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in April, sportswear manufacturer, Venum recently seen some of their partnering apparel shared by UFC bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling and upcoming featherweight title chaser, Brian Ortega.
News of the deal between the UFC and Venum first came to light in July of last year, with the manufacturer replacing current outfitting partners, Reebok. The French company, founded in 2006, will begin its partnership with the promotion in April, with UFC president, Dana White recently detailing how an April 10 UFC Fight Night 188 card headlined by Darren Till and Marvin Vettori is expected to mark the beginning of their partnership with Venum.
Posting on his official Instagram story today, recent UFC bantamweight championship victor, Sterling displayed some of the apparel alongside the above mentioned Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu standout, number-one ranked featherweight contender, Brian Ortega.
The initial design appears to be quite minimalistic, with the manufacturer’s snake logo printed on the right-hand side of the t-shirt, and the UFC’s logo printed parallel on the left-hand side. As for the fight shorts, again, we’ve got the logos printed on both sides, with some white detailing and lines on the black shorts, and black detailing and lines on the white shorts.
Whilst Reebok is set to end it’s partnership with the UFC since it began working with the promotion back in 2015, the manufacturer is still set to remain linked to the organization, as an official footwear brand provider.
Debuting their fight kits at UFC 189 following the beginning of their partnership in 2014, the Reebok deal has received it’s fair share of criticism ever its partnership with the UFC. Most notably, former UFC heavyweight contender, turned podcast host and comedian, Brendan Schaub openly spoke of the financial repercussions that came with the deal — as fighters could no longer gain independent sponsorships on their respective fight apparel.
Whilst the deal between the UFC and Venum isn’t expected to be as lucrative or long in duration as their prior deal with Reebok, a larger portion of the financial package is expected to be split with current fighters on the promotion’s roster.