Tag: UFC sponsorships

UFC Still Hasn’t Informed Its Champions How Much They’ll Make (Or Lose) From Reebok Sponsorship


(RIP, @XBOX mouthpiece. / Screencap via MMATKO)

When the UFC and Reebok announced their six-year uniform agreement at the beginning of this month, we could only speculate at how good or bad this would be for the UFC’s fighters, based on the few details that were available. The reported “tier system,” of paying fighters according to their official media rankings (LOL, SMDH) was still a mystery, in terms of how exactly the pie would be divvied up.

But of course, CagePotato is just a mid-level MMA blog trying to find its way in this world with zero access to Zuffa executives. The crazy part is, the UFC’s own stars are still in dark about what the sponsorship agreement will mean for their finances, two weeks after the announcement was first made.

Case in point: MMAJunkie published an interview with Demetrious Johnson yesterday, in which the long-reigning flyweight champion wondered aloud what the UFC’s new sponsorship landscape will mean for his existing sponsorship with Xbox, which is now basically deceased; Johnson will not be able to wear Xbox logos in the Octagon when the UFC/Reebox partnership officially kicks in next year. Johnson’s comments were somewhat shocking, because it seems like he knows as little about the Reebok deal’s specifics as we do. Here are some choice quotes…

A guy like Nick Diaz, for example, comes out with all his Metal Mulisha, all his sponsorships,” Johnson said. “Let’s say from those sponsorships he makes like $80,000 to go in the octagon. That’s a nice payday just for wearing sponsorships.

“Lets say the UFC says, ‘Hey man, you’ve got to wear Reebok tomorrow.’ And he says, ‘OK, that sounds good. Here are all my pay stubs and my contracts for my last fight. They’re paying me $80,000, so what’s Reebok going to pay me?’ They say, ‘You’re ranked second in the world, so we’re going to pay you $2,000 to wear Reebok.’ For me, I think that’s not necessarily fair because there’s basically $78,000 that’s unaccounted for. If UFC’s going to compensate me with the same amount, that’s fantastic. If not, that’s a big boo-boo”…


(RIP, @XBOX mouthpiece. / Screencap via MMATKO)

When the UFC and Reebok announced their six-year uniform agreement at the beginning of this month, we could only speculate at how good or bad this would be for the UFC’s fighters, based on the few details that were available. The reported “tier system,” of paying fighters according to their official media rankings (LOL, SMDH) was still a mystery, in terms of how exactly the pie would be divvied up.

But of course, CagePotato is just a mid-level MMA blog trying to find its way in this world with zero access to Zuffa executives. The crazy part is, the UFC’s own stars are still in dark about what the sponsorship agreement will mean for their finances, two weeks after the announcement was first made.

Case in point: MMAJunkie published an interview with Demetrious Johnson yesterday, in which the long-reigning flyweight champion wondered aloud what the UFC’s new sponsorship landscape will mean for his existing sponsorship with Xbox, which is now basically deceased; Johnson will not be able to wear Xbox logos in the Octagon when the UFC/Reebox partnership officially kicks in next year. Johnson’s comments were somewhat shocking, because it seems like he knows as little about the Reebok deal’s specifics as we do. Here are some choice quotes…

A guy like Nick Diaz, for example, comes out with all his Metal Mulisha, all his sponsorships,” Johnson said. “Let’s say from those sponsorships he makes like $80,000 to go in the octagon. That’s a nice payday just for wearing sponsorships.

“Lets say the UFC says, ‘Hey man, you’ve got to wear Reebok tomorrow.’ And he says, ‘OK, that sounds good. Here are all my pay stubs and my contracts for my last fight. They’re paying me $80,000, so what’s Reebok going to pay me?’ They say, ‘You’re ranked second in the world, so we’re going to pay you $2,000 to wear Reebok.’ For me, I think that’s not necessarily fair because there’s basically $78,000 that’s unaccounted for. If UFC’s going to compensate me with the same amount, that’s fantastic. If not, that’s a big boo-boo”…

“I think everyone would hope (they’re paid the same or more as before), whether they’re the champion or not,” Johnson said. “I would hope the person on the prelims card who is ranked 20th in the UFC, if they’re making $10,000 from Dynamic Fastener, I believe they have the right to be paid that. That’s just me being an honest person.

“If the person can show what they are making and this Reebok deal isn’t making the same, they should be making it right. That’s my take on it. I support the UFC, I’m happy for this deal, and I hope it helps out a lot of fighters, including myself”…

“I think it’s a good thing to where people don’t have to run out and struggle to find sponsorships and all that stuff,” Johnson said. “But at the end of the day, I just don’t want people to be stripped of what they can bring in. That’s my biggest thing about it. If a person is getting paid $80,000 for something and they’re told they can’t wear it anymore and they’re losing that money, then something needs to happen about that…We won’t know how good the deal is until we see the actual fine print.”

Disclaimer: Demetrious Johnson doesn’t know how much money Nick Diaz actually receives from Metal Mulisha, or how much a prelim fighter makes from Dynamic Fastener, and even we’re not pessimistic enough to think that #2-ranked UFC fighters will only earn $2,000 per fight from Reebok. Essentially, this is just nervous chatter from someone who has no idea what’s going on.

The problem is, that “someone” is a UFC champion and frequent headliner. Having Demetrious Johnson voice these concerns in the media is a public relations black eye for the UFC, and it could have been avoided if the promotion actually explained to its fighters what impact this would have on their income, preferably before the Reebok deal was even announced.

The UFC’s lack of communication and transparency on this issue tells us all we need to know. If the promotion’s top stars stood to earn a lot more money from Reebok than they were earning from their existing sponsorships, the UFC would be pushing that narrative as hard as possible. Instead, they’re silent — and champions like Demetrious Johnson have every reason to be nervous.

UFC/Reebok Uniform Deal Reportedly Worth $70 Million Over Six Years


(From L-R: Reebok president Matt O’Toole, UFC chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, UFC social media intern Dana White. / Photo via Business Wire)

Yesterday, the UFC and Reebok laid out the broad strokes of a new partnership that would make Reebok the official uniform provider and commercial apparel producer for the world’s leading MMA promotion. In short: It’s a six-year agreement that will kick off on July 6th of next year, “every dime” of the revenue goes to the fighters — or at least “the vast majority” of it — and payouts will be based on a tier-system determined by a fighter rankings, which are themselves determined by a random and often unqualified assortment of approved media members.

There are a lot of questions about the deal that still need to be answered. But if a new report on The Telegraph is accurate, we now know how much Reebok is paying the UFC, in total. According to Gareth A. Davies, the partnership is “is understood to be worth $70 million over a six-year period.” So let’s break this thing down…

– $70 million over six years is about $11.67 million per year.

– There are approximately 550 fighters currently under contract with the UFC. That figure comes from UFC president Dana White, who said this yesterday: “I couldn’t call all 550 fighters, but I’ve been calling fighters over the last few days and pretty much all the men and women that I talked to are pretty excited about it.” Pretty much! Pretty excited! Nate Diaz was one of the dissenting votes, I guess.

– $11.67 million divided by 550 fighters = an average of $21,212 per fighter per year. Keep in mind that we still don’t exactly know how the tiered payout system will operate. But $21,212 is the number we’re starting with.


(From L-R: Reebok president Matt O’Toole, UFC chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, UFC social media intern Dana White. / Photo via Business Wire)

Yesterday, the UFC and Reebok laid out the broad strokes of a new partnership that would make Reebok the official uniform provider and commercial apparel producer for the world’s leading MMA promotion. In short: It’s a six-year agreement that will kick off on July 6th of next year, “every dime” of the revenue goes to the fighters — or at least “the vast majority” of it — and payouts will be based on a tier-system determined by a fighter rankings, which are themselves determined by a random and often unqualified assortment of approved media members.

There are a lot of questions about the deal that still need to be answered. But if a new report on The Telegraph is accurate, we now know how much Reebok is paying the UFC, in total. According to Gareth A. Davies, the partnership is “is understood to be worth $70 million over a six-year period.” So let’s break this thing down…

– $70 million over six years is about $11.67 million per year.

– There are approximately 550 fighters currently under contract with the UFC. That figure comes from UFC president Dana White, who said this yesterday: “I couldn’t call all 550 fighters, but I’ve been calling fighters over the last few days and pretty much all the men and women that I talked to are pretty excited about it.” Pretty much! Pretty excited! Nate Diaz was one of the dissenting votes, I guess.

– $11.67 million divided by 550 fighters = an average of $21,212 per fighter per year. Keep in mind that we still don’t exactly know how the tiered payout system will operate. But $21,212 is the number we’re starting with.

– Let’s assume that the UFC continues to run about 45 events a year, with 11 or 12 fights per event. That’s 22-24 available spots per event. Multiply that by 45, and you get a range of 990-1,080 — the total number of fights available to UFC fighters in a calendar year. We’ll just take the midway point and say 1,035.

– 1,035 available fights divided by 550 fighters = 1.88. Huh. So on average, each contracted UFC fighter is only fighting about twice a year.

– $21,212 divided by two = $10,606 per fight in sponsorship revenue for each fighter, on average. Of course, that’s if the fighters are literally getting “every dime” of this deal, which again, might not be completely accurate.

Okay, I understand that the vast majority (there’s that phrase again) of the UFC’s unranked masses will be getting a small slice of the sponsorship pie compared to the ranked contenders and champions — and if Johnny Fight Pass gets three grand in Reebok money every fight without having to hustle sponsors for it, that doesn’t sound like a terrible arrangement for him, does it?

But after looking at these numbers, I’m not as concerned with the up-and-comers taking a big hit. Now, I’m wondering if the Reebok revenue can possibly match what big stars like Jon Jones, Ronda Rousey, and Anderson Silva used to make from all of their sponsors on fight night. Because $11.67 million per year, for everybody? The pie itself is not that big, relatively speaking. Of course, none of this takes into account the 20% cut of merchandising sales that UFC fighters will also receive. But then again, only the big stars will see real money from that incentive — because who would buy a Sultan Aliev x Reebok-branded hoodie?

Damn it, we really need details about how this tier system will work. And speaking of which — are we really supposed to believe that payouts will only be based on media ranking, without any consideration of star power? I mean, I respect the egalitarian, meritocractic nature of that concept, but dude:

No disrespect to Sarah Kaufman intended. We were just using her and Anderson’s shared top 5 status to illustrate a point about how the entire world has gone insane. We’ll keep you posted on the UFC/Reebok deal as more interesting stuff comes to light.

Related: Nate Quarry gave his own constructive criticism about the Reebok deal on Reddit, and it ain’t pretty…

Yep. The UFC further continuing their stranglehold over the fighters. Why? They don’t have enough money to actually pay their athletes above welfare wages? Will the money trickle down? Has it so far? How many checks have the random fighters gotten from “official” UFC sponsors? None? No Harley Davidson checks? No checks from the supplement sponsors? “But Nate, NBA players don’t get to put random sponsors on their team jerseys.” Good point. But it’s that of a child. Please shut up and be quiet. NBA players CAN and DO make shoe deals The NBA tried to squash that, fining Michael Jordan every time he wore his Nikes. Nike paid the fines. Why didn’t Jordan get cut from the Bulls? Because he’d go to the Lakers and make just as much money. Hard to do when you’re working for a monopoly. (Fortunately some organizations are flourishing off UFC’s bad business ideals.) But here’s a better point: “Cool. You want to treat UFC athletes like NBA players? Nice. So when will the players union be put into place? I assume the minimum wage for a fighter, whether he actually competes or not, will be that of an NBA benchwarmer? Around half a million dollars? OH you just want to pick and choose dumb ass arguments that you think make your point without really thinking things through. You should run for office.”

What is really hilariously sad is they are stomping ALL OVER dollars in an attempt to get a few more nickels. Imagine a UFC with profit sharing. Where EVERY athlete’s paycheck is directly tied to the number of PPV buys. Where fighters are COMFORTABLE in the work place, not given the speech before EVERY fight that if they have a bad night they will be CUT. Where fighters have a chance to grow and build a fan base. And for you fans…. seeing a PPV where you KNOW all the fighters! Remember those days? The days of packed cards top to bottom? Now you’re lucky if you know the main event. Why is that? First off, the UFC will cut anyone at any time. Fitch, Gerald Dwayne Harris, many others. Now you have GREAT fighters that after a few years of fighting and the blinders are off their eyes they realize, I’m fighting for what? How much? With NO future at all? Let me clarify, sports are an opportunity, NOT a career. Average NFL career? Around 3 years. So about 1.5 million dollars. Not a bad opportunity. And well worth putting your body in harms way. How about the UFC? I’ve known main event fighters that fought for the UFC for many, many years, who don’t make enough money to even own their own house, put their kids through college, build anything you can in a job you know you’ll have for decades. So these athletes retire from fighting. Why? When they love it so much? Because at some point the love wanes and reality sets in. “I’m always in pain, I’m not appreciated, there’s no future in this and what I’m being paid right now isn’t allowing me to build a future.” I just read that the UFC is down in profits substantially for the year. So they do what every company does, blame the workers. Blame the customers. Even Dana is quoted as saying if you don’t like what we’re doing, don’t buy the PPVs. Wish granted.

UFC Announces Fighter Uniform Deal With Reebok


(“In the arms of an angel / fly awaaaaaay, from here…” / Photo by Paul Thatcher, Fight! Magazine)

The UFC’s long-rumored plan to institute an official uniform for its fighters has become a reality. As leaked last night by apparel company Dethrone — a longtime sponsor of MMA fighters — the UFC has partnered with Reebok for its uniform deal. UFC president Dana White and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta will be discussing the details in this video announcement, beginning at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT…

We’ll jot down the important points after the jump, as they happen.


(“In the arms of an angel / fly awaaaaaay, from here…” / Photo by Paul Thatcher, Fight! Magazine)

The UFC’s long-rumored plan to institute an official uniform for its fighters has become a reality. As leaked last night by apparel company Dethrone — a longtime sponsor of MMA fighters — the UFC has partnered with Reebok for its uniform deal. UFC president Dana White and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta will be discussing the details in this video announcement, beginning at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT…

We’ll jot down the important points after the jump, as they happen.

While we wait, here’s what MMASucka wrote about this announcement yesterday: “From what we are hearing, in-fight sponsorships will be done with in 2015 and fighters will have to push their merchandise in order to earn a percentage of the earnings. It’s obvious that the bigger name fighters will do well for themselves, however the up and comers will take a big hit.”

It seems speculative to say that “the up and comers will take a big hit,” since even mid-level UFC fighters have been struggling to make real money off sponsorships lately. UFC rookies and Fight Pass prelim-carders weren’t making enough sponsor money in the first place to take a “big hit,” no matter what the financial arrangement with Reebok turns out to be.

What this deal really does is take power away from the fighter-managers who earned their money by finding sponsors for their clients. Managers have suddenly become less relevant, less necessary to a fighter’s life — and maybe that was the point all along.

Reebok president Matt O’Toole kicks off the presentation, covering Reebok’s concept of “tough fitness,” and the brand’s three-sided Delta symbol, which represents the physical, mental, social sides of the fitness/active lifestyle. Blah blah blah, crossfit, blah blah, the “fitness journey.” He introduces a video with people doing MMA training in Reebok gear. “There’s a fighter in all of us — Reebok.”

O’Toole introduces Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta, whose name he butchers. (“Lorenzo Fertatta.”) Lorenzo talks about how combat sports never had an official brand like the NFL, MLB, etc., and how the UFC’s goal was to change that. The UFC aimed to be synonymous with the greatest martial artists in the world. Maybe it’s just my stream, but I swear, everybody who tries to speak on this presentation is eventually interrupted by a video.

No, it’s not just me. Anyway, we’re 26 minutes in, and we haven’t heard a single newsworthy detail about this partnership.

Dana White: “This is the largest non-broadcast deal we’ve ever done, and every penny of this goes to the fighters…and everything that sells with their name on it, they get a 20% cut in the back-end.” Matt Saccaro is highly skeptical!

Swizz Beats was just welcomed to the stage by Dana. He was the visionary behind this thing, or something? “Thank you, Swizz.”

Okay, enough of these jackasses talking. Here are some actual details via Brett Okamoto:

The UFC announced a six-year partnership with Reebok on Tuesday, naming the sports apparel company the UFC’s exclusive uniform supplier and commercial outfitter.

Financial terms of the deal, which goes into effect July 6, were not disclosed…

The deal will eliminate independent sponsorships in the UFC’s Octagon, which athletes have long relied upon to supplement fight purses.

Fighters will no longer be permitted to wear independent sponsorships during a fight or the promotion leading up to it, but can maintain sponsorships outside of events.

UFC president Dana White told ESPN.com that all initial profits from the rights agreement will go directly to the approximately 500 rostered athletes.

“There are some costs associated with running this but other than those costs, every dime of this deal goes to the fighters,” White said. “This isn’t a six-year money grab. This is a long-term relationship we’ve created with Reebok. We’re investing in the fighters, they’re investing in the sport. It makes all the sense in the world to get the fighters invested in this thing.”

The pay structure will allocate funds per-fight, based on a tiered ranking system. Champions will receive the largest payment, followed by fighters ranked Nos. 1-to-5, 6-to-10, 11-to-15 and unranked. UFC’s official rankings are voted on by media outlets and are overseen by the company...

Whoa. Please-re-read that last paragraph. In other words, the approved media (who are often morons) will be able to impact how much sponsor-money that fighters get. And remember, the UFC can always unrank you out of spite. Anyway…

In addition to per-fight payouts, UFC fighters will receive 20 percent of any merchandise sold with their name or likeness. According to Fertitta, that will include currently retired fighters who inspire customized lines.

“They will receive royalties on apparel sold,” Fertitta said. “Certainly that would include for the rest of their life, so it becomes a revenue stream for them. There are plans to bring back ‘legends of the sport’ — guys that are already retired. We will create kits for them.”

The deal will also mark the end of fighter banners in the UFC — which are traditionally carried to the Octagon by an athlete’s cornermen and hung behind them during introductions. Corners will also be required to wear Reebok.

The UFC may still negotiate event sponsors, which would receive key advertisement placement on fighter uniforms during a specific event. White stated the number of event sponsors in such capacity would never exceed one.

“The reason we’re doing this is to continue to do things and implement things to elevate the level of the sport and really take it in a place where other major league sports are,” Fertitta said.

“This is no different than any other major sport. You can’t just run onto the field or basketball court with whatever sponsors you want. It just doesn’t work that way and we’re now at that level.”

Uniforms will be mostly standardized but should allow for individualism, according to Fertitta. Reebok is expected to unveil numerous designs for fighters to choose from in the spring.