Tag: sponsorships

Rant of the Day: Nate Quarry Says the UFC ‘Cares Nothing About the Fighters’


(Quarry slugs it out with Jorge Rivera during his final Octagon appearance in March 2010. / Photo via MMAWeekly)

For five years, Nate Quarry was a reliable and entertaining presence in the UFC’s middleweight division. He fought through some incredible brawls, gave us a few laughs, and most of his fights ended in satisfyingly violent fashion, for better or worse.

Quarry retired from MMA two years ago on his own terms. There was no contract dispute, no falling out with the UFC top brass. The TUF 1 veteran stepped away quietly and respectfully, due to concerns about his own health and future. He had no axe to grind.

But on a recent UG thread about the UFC’s upcoming fighter uniforms, Quarry couldn’t hold his tongue any longer, and wrote out a long post about his own experiences with sponsorships during his time in the UFC, and the cold, impersonal way he was treated by the promotion. Whether or not you think the UFC has any obligation to support its fighters beyond their contracted fight-purses, Quarry’s note is worth reading in its entirety. Check it out below, and let us know what you think.

*********

“When I signed with the UFC this is what I was told:

We can’t pay you much but you can have any sponsors you want.

Then: We need to approve your sponsors.

Then: You can’t have any conflicting sponsors.

Then: You can’t thank your sponsors after fights.

Then: We are not approving any sponsors that we don’t like their product.

Then: Your sponsors have to pay us a fee of $50,000 for the pleasure to sponsor you.

Then: Your sponsors have to pay us a fee of $100,000 for the pleasure to sponsor you.

If a sponsor has a budget of 10k to sponsor a fighter, they are then out. If there are 5 shorts companies in the UFC you can only go to them for a sponsorship. If they have spent their budget or don’t want to support an up and coming fighter they give you shorts instead of money. If you’re fighting for $6,000 to show and fighting 3 times a year, even $500 makes a big difference. When there is no competition they don’t have to pay you. I lost And1 as a sponsor when the UFC enacted the tax.


(Quarry slugs it out with Jorge Rivera during his final Octagon appearance in March 2010. / Photo via MMAWeekly)

For five years, Nate Quarry was a reliable and entertaining presence in the UFC’s middleweight division. He fought through some incredible brawls, gave us a few laughs, and most of his fights ended in satisfyingly violent fashion, for better or worse.

Quarry retired from MMA two years ago on his own terms. There was no contract dispute, no falling out with the UFC top brass. The TUF 1 veteran stepped away quietly and respectfully, due to concerns about his own health and future. He had no axe to grind.

But on a recent UG thread about the UFC’s upcoming fighter uniforms, Quarry couldn’t hold his tongue any longer, and wrote out a long post about his own experiences with sponsorships during his time in the UFC, and the cold, impersonal way he was treated by the promotion. Whether or not you think the UFC has any obligation to support its fighters beyond their contracted fight-purses, Quarry’s note is worth reading in its entirety. Check it out below, and let us know what you think.

*********

“When I signed with the UFC this is what I was told:

We can’t pay you much but you can have any sponsors you want.

Then: We need to approve your sponsors.

Then: You can’t have any conflicting sponsors.

Then: You can’t thank your sponsors after fights.

Then: We are not approving any sponsors that we don’t like their product.

Then: Your sponsors have to pay us a fee of $50,000 for the pleasure to sponsor you.

Then: Your sponsors have to pay us a fee of $100,000 for the pleasure to sponsor you.

If a sponsor has a budget of 10k to sponsor a fighter, they are then out. If there are 5 shorts companies in the UFC you can only go to them for a sponsorship. If they have spent their budget or don’t want to support an up and coming fighter they give you shorts instead of money. If you’re fighting for $6,000 to show and fighting 3 times a year, even $500 makes a big difference. When there is no competition they don’t have to pay you. I lost And1 as a sponsor when the UFC enacted the tax.

At the UFC summit a fighter asked if he could wear his own shirt. Dana laughed and said, “Uh… we can talk about it.” I turned around and asked the UFC lawyer if I could wear my OWN shirt and he said, “Sure, give me $50,000 and we can talk about it.”

People have no clue from the outside what it’s like to fight for the UFC. After spending 10-15 years chasing your dream only to see that the company it’s been your dream to fight for cares nothing about the fighters and only cares about the bottom line.

When I was fighting for the UFC we got X-Mas presents like an iPod. A very bottom of the line iPod but it was still cool. Now the guys get a gift certificate to the UFC store and can use it ONE day. Any money they don’t spend on that day is forfeited.

A fighter gets to use the gym at the hotel he’s fighting at for free. The cornermen and everyone with him have to pay. So I’m helping Leben make weight the day of weigh ins and have to pay to go sit in the sauna with him. The UFC couldn’t say, “The fighter gets 3 people to go into the gym with him the week of the fight.”

That’s just nickel and dime stuff.

With every little bit they try to squeeze out of the fighters, the more the other organizations will look more attractive.

I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to fight for the UFC and everything I have besides my daughter has come from fighting. But let’s not fool ourselves. It’s not a charity. It’s a business. And they are doing everything they can to make money. The fighters are just a product to use and discard. Every up and coming fighter is the best ever. Every ex-fighter who then expresses an opinion is a coward, loser, etc, etc.

I fought for the world title for $10,000. Not a penny more. No bonus. No cut of the PPV. The gate alone was 3.5 million dollars. The third highest gate in UFC history at the time. And they must have loved the fight cuz they show the final punch at the start of EVERY UFC PPV. :-)

And that’s fine. Because it’s a business. But sooner or later the allure of fighting in the UFC will not be as attractive as fighting for an organization that takes care of you, appreciates you, will let you have sponsors to help make up the income gap, doesn’t trash you when you think for yourself, and on and on. Just like every business you work for. It’s funny to me to hear people cheer for Dana when he says things that if he was your boss and he said them about you, you would be looking for another job. [Ed. note: Oh my God, this x 1,000.] But when you’re signed to a contract, you can’t go anywhere. No matter how much you want to.

When I retired I received a form letter, EMAILED to me that said, “Should you choose to fight again you are still under contract with the UFC.” I didn’t even get a hard copy with a real signature that I could frame.

As I said, I love what the UFC has done for me and my family. And specifically what Dana has done for me.

But I also know it’s a business. And that’s the best piece of advice I can give to wanna be fighters. Fight for the love of the game. But you better treat it like a business. Because the promoter handing you a contract sure will.”

Bud Light Issues a Warning to the UFC About the Behavior of Their Fighters


(“Fine. I’m going to *respectfully* get on top of my wife, okay?”)

If there’s one thing the UFC has taught us lately, it’s that rape jokes aren’t funny, especially when delivered by people with bad taste and zero comedic ability. So it was only a matter of time before the promotion’s major sponsors started getting uncomfortable. In light of new criticism from watchdog group Alcohol Justice, Anheuser-Busch (Bud Light’s parent company) released a statement warning the UFC to crack down on their employees’ insensitivity. From Advertising Age (via MMAMania):

“We’ve communicated to the UFC our displeasure with certain remarks made by some of its fighters, and they have promised to address this. If the incidents continue, we will act,” the brewer said in a statement. A-B, which did not elaborate on potential actions, also stated that it “embraces diversity and does not condone insensitive and derogatory comments rooted in ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, etc.”


(“Fine. I’m going to *respectfully* get on top of my wife, okay?”)

If there’s one thing the UFC has taught us lately, it’s that rape jokes aren’t funny, especially when delivered by people with bad taste and zero comedic ability. So it was only a matter of time before the promotion’s major sponsors started getting uncomfortable. In light of new criticism from watchdog group Alcohol Justice, Anheuser-Busch (Bud Light’s parent company) released a statement warning the UFC to crack down on their employees’ insensitivity. From Advertising Age (via MMAMania):

“We’ve communicated to the UFC our displeasure with certain remarks made by some of its fighters, and they have promised to address this. If the incidents continue, we will act,” the brewer said in a statement. A-B, which did not elaborate on potential actions, also stated that it “embraces diversity and does not condone insensitive and derogatory comments rooted in ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, etc.”

Anheuser-Busch’s comments were released prior to the company’s shareholders meeting in Brussels, Belgium yesterday. Earlier this month, Alcohol Justice sent an open letter to A-B shareholders, blasting the UFC and Bud Light for “delivering harmful content to millions of underage youth,” citing the “sexist, homophobic, violent and derogatory remarks” made by some of their fighters and Dana White himself. They even criticized that Bud Light Lime ad with Arianny Celeste. (Damn killjoys. What’s wrong with being sexy?)

The UFC, which renewed a multi-year sponsorship deal with Bud Light last April, responded with the following statement to Ad Age: “With over 425 athletes on our roster, there have unfortunately been instances where a couple athletes have made insensitive or inappropriate comments. We don’t condone this behavior, and in no way is it reflective of the company or its values.”

Jon Jones Will Be Officially Sponsored by the UFC for His Fight Against Rashad Evans


(“Not only am I paying Bones to wear UFC logos on his walkout gear next weekend, I also placed a $500,000 bet that he’d beat Rashad. Oh shit. I guess I shouldn’t have said that out loud.”)

After Form Athletics went out of business late last year, Jon Jones lost his primary clothing sponsor. But he’s found an unprecedented solution for his UFC 145 title match against Rashad Evans, and it underscores just how much faith the UFC has in their light-heavyweight golden boy. As Jones explained to MMAWeekly:

“I’ve had a goal of being sponsored by Nike for many, many years. Part of our strategy to try and make that happen one day is to not be a billboard, and not just be sponsored by TapouT one week, and Affliction one week, and then MusclePharm next week, and all these random companies. If you realize, I try to look for relationships with companies, long lasting relationships with companies. So a part of my brand is to keep it clean. Less is more in my opinion.

When Form Athletics went down pretty much every company in the business was looking for an opportunity to work with me, and I was really honored just to be wanted like that. I thought it was really awesome, it was a real honor. We came up with a strategy to keep it clean and be sponsored by the UFC itself. I’m glad the UFC wanted to work with me as well, and I think that they trust that I’ll never make them look bad. You never have to worry about me with a DWI or doing something crazy.


(“Not only am I paying Bones to wear UFC logos on his walkout gear next weekend, I also placed a $500,000 bet that he’d beat Rashad. Oh shit. I guess I shouldn’t have said that out loud.”)

After Form Athletics went out of business late last year, Jon Jones lost his primary clothing sponsor. But he’s found an unprecedented solution for his UFC 145 title match against Rashad Evans, and it underscores just how much faith the UFC has in their light-heavyweight golden boy. As Jones explained to MMAWeekly:

“I’ve had a goal of being sponsored by Nike for many, many years. Part of our strategy to try and make that happen one day is to not be a billboard, and not just be sponsored by TapouT one week, and Affliction one week, and then MusclePharm next week, and all these random companies. If you realize, I try to look for relationships with companies, long lasting relationships with companies. So a part of my brand is to keep it clean. Less is more in my opinion.

When Form Athletics went down pretty much every company in the business was looking for an opportunity to work with me, and I was really honored just to be wanted like that. I thought it was really awesome, it was a real honor. We came up with a strategy to keep it clean and be sponsored by the UFC itself. I’m glad the UFC wanted to work with me as well, and I think that they trust that I’ll never make them look bad. You never have to worry about me with a DWI or doing something crazy.

I think I’m a good company guy. The UFC asks me to do anything and I always do it, and I never tell them no for anything…They put in the deal that if any mainstream companies come after this win that they will let me go, and I think that’s awesome.”

As the MMAWeekly report puts it, “for his fight at UFC 145, Jones will be decked head to toe in UFC gear, pushing their brand instead of another company.” Interesting. I wonder how Rashad will feel that night, knowing he’s facing an official representative of the company. Still, I’d like to see the UFC directly sponsor more of their fighters — if only so we can get a better sense of who the promotion likes and doesn’t like.