The UFC is partnering with Reebok; update: Dethrone chimes in

Apparently this was the big news the UFC wasn't able to announce at their #thetimeisnow presser the other week. Might not be fighter uniforms per-se but it is going to be the official UFC apparel supplier. Fighters may not be able to wear competing brands in the Octagon but much like other pro sports expect them to rep who they want outside the confines of official UFC duties.

 

Re: The UFC is partnering with Reebok; update: more details

DFW says all the money goes to the fighters, Zo says the vast majority.

The UFC will use it's seemingly arbitrary media-voted rankings system to establish who gets more or less out of the detail. Unranked fighters? No word yet on whether they'll get more than they were making from Dynamic Fastener and such.

Fighters will get 20% of the revenue from personalized items. Where that 20% comes from is anybody's guess.

The ludicrous rankings for WMMA will mean that veteran fighters outside of the top-15 will get less than women ranked based solely on the fact that there are so few fighters in the division.

Banners and shorts logos are gone. Guys with big sponsors I guess will have to promote outside the Octagon? No word on whether they'll be allowed.

 

Re: The UFC is partnering with Reebok; update: Nate Quarry lets them have it

http://www.cagesidechristopherjames.com/2014/12/ufcs-new-uniform-policy-nate-quarrys-point-of-view/

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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 bench-warmer? 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.

Post two:

“Participation in the new uniform policy will be mandatory for every fighter under UFC contract.”
“At the end of the day, the more successful you are and the more demand there is for you, as an individual brand, [the more] you’re going to sell. That’s the way the system works, it’s a capitalistic system here at the UFC.”
Well, no, it’s not. The masters have decided what the workers can and can’t wear. Dana always says, “I hear from fighters all the time they don’t want to deal with sponsors!”
Really? Here’s how that should go, “Hey I’d like to give you money to wear this shirt. More money than you’re making to fight.” “No thanks.”
Wow. Amazingly simple.
And of course the champs are making the lion’s share of the money meaning the up and comers no matter how much they hustle have no opportunity to make extra money through sponsors or supporters.
“We can’t pay you very much but you can have any sponsors you want.” What I was told when I signed with the UFC.
Then it was, “We have to approve your sponsors.” Then, “You can’t have any competing sponsors that are paying US.” Then, “Your sponsors have to PAY us to sponsor you.” Now it’s, “We decide what you wear and who your sponsor is and how much you get paid.”
Amazing.
The tighter your grip the more fighters will squeeze through your grasp.
Guess how you’ll know EVERY fighter except the champions who are ALREADY paid by the UFC to wear their gear are against this?
There will be silence. Not a single fighter will say a word about it. Because they know if they do… They’ll get THE CALL.
“You’re not a company man and everyone thinks you’re an asshole.” Word for word what I was told after complaining that fighters and their camps should be able to use the hotel gym free of charge in the casino they are fighting in the week of the fight.
Good times.

 

Re: The UFC is partnering with Reebok; update: more details

I think there is more potential for bias by having anyone associated with the UFC do the rankings.

Nate Quarry brings up a good point below about fighters who aren't highly ranked but people are interested in seeing. How are they compensated? Someone like Eddie Alvarez who came into the UFC with no ranking and got a lot of people to watch his fight with Cerrone is an example.

Right now very few fighters get PPV cuts. Quarry suggests revenue sharing. This is something an association could negotiate.

 

Re: The UFC is partnering with Reebok; update: Nate Quarry lets them have it

In DFW's interview with Helwani he said that guys won't lose sponsorship money because instead of wearing ads they can make personal appearances at the businesses that would sponsor them.

This is ludicrous on a few levels. For starters Joe's Tire Shack is putting their name on a fighters butt for cheap advertising on television. Do you think they will get the same level of attention if Roger Bowling does an autograph signing at their store? Not to mention the fact that a sponsor from across the country (ie Dynamic Fastener) won't fly a guy in for a personal appearance but will happily give the guy hats and shirts to wear on television. Not every sponsor is local to the fighter.

I think you are right about Bellator getting these smaller companies like Dethrone and 6Deuce but we will see a lot more of them die off without the UFC's promotion machine allowing them. How is that good for the sport or the fighters?

 

Re: The UFC is partnering with Reebok; update: Nate Quarry lets them have it

I hadn't thought of this before but Greg Jackson says the sponsorship deal is bad for coaches because they used to get a little kickback for wearing the same gear as the fighters and will now get nothing.

 

Dethrone posted this on the UG


No idea why posting this other than temporary boredom, but getting ripped to pieces after might be entertaining enough.

1) We knew this was coming. We weren't "investing in a UFC future" when we paid the sponsor tax each quarter, we were just paying for the right to be able to pay guys to wear our stuff on UFC broadcasts for the next 90 days. In some cases trying to support a good guy, sometimes trying to align ourselves with a fighter we hoped would move the needle for us, sometimes just trying to get some air time on a good card, and sometimes even we couldn't figure out why we did it.

2) We have nothing negative or positive to say about the UFC. We don't really know anyone who works at the UFC and have never had any real interactions with anyone from the UFC other than an annual email from Mike Mersch (legal) with renewal form for sponsor tax. It's a platform. I just watched Sons of Anarchy but doesn't mean I feel a personal connection with FX. On the few occasions we've interacted with Mike on tax related questions he's been nice and to the point. We sat at a table with Lorenzo once for five minutes and he was nice. Dana was at the table as well but too many texts for him to look up so can't technically say we've ever met him.

3) We've developed a lot of personal relationships with UFC fighters and their managers over the past five years and will always be rooting for those guys in and out of the cage no matter what uniform they wear. We consider a lot of them to be friends.

4) The good managers always get the short end of the stick. They provide a valuable service to their fighters but unfortunately its in an ecosystem that would prefer they didn't exist which makes their job difficult and seems to be forgotten that this is their livelihood too. There are also dipshit managers who give everyone else a bad name.

5) The fighters should always be the stars and focus. In the long run they always will be, it's an individual sport. The org in the long run will only be as strong as the fighters it develops and makes the audience care about. Watching two people fight isn't about the icon on the mat or corner of screen, it's about watching two people fight and the more you know about either or both of them as characters, the more likely you are to be interested. Once a fighter signs with an org he's generally stuck there like it or not (any org). Which org leads the pack over the coming years will depend on where the next generation of talent decides to sign from the start of their careers. It can be expedited by where stars in their prime decide to sign their next contract. They have choices, the money and audience will follow the best fighters over time. It can't happen overnight.

6) Saying "if they don't like it go fight somewhere else" is annoying to read. They can rarely (never without a hassle or being forced to sit out a good chunk of their short career window) get their release (from any org).

7) We had anticipated the uniform happening and understood (even though we didn't agree with the execution) the logic of getting rid of the clutter and brands that might in some eyes be negative for image as top tier league.

If the house is messy and I have guests coming over, I don't just throw away all my wife's stuff and tell her sorry, house was messy, didn't want to take the time to clean it up in a way that makes sense for both of us, easier to just throw all your valuables away and get you a new outfit, hope g-string and pasties works for you, your crap was probably worthless anyway. She would wonder if her opinion mattered and leave me when she had the chance, or at least she'd think about it.

8) Why not allow approved non-competing sponsor logos of fighters choice on 1-3 areas of the uniform and restrict to white logos only with no background fill. that way you get clean, consistent look and fighter maintains some ability to decide what he/she is worth $ wise at the pinnacle of their career exposure. at minimum when you eventually decide to slap a red bull logo on each fighters reebok uniform let them at least opt out of wearing that ad (and forfeiting any red bull related pay) if they have a competing energy drink deal outside the octagon.

9) The only way to take control of your career in current ecosystem is to fight out your contract and then test the waters. Gilbert wrote the script, would be crazy for everyone not to follow it. He was the only one with the balls because he'd spent most of his career in different orgs and probably realized fuck, fighting in UFC is cool, but not cool enough to limit how much i get paid. what's the point of reaching the "big leagues" if it's not the highest paying league? it's not his job to fulfill fan's wishes for him to fight certain guys. it's his job to make as much money fighting as he can while fulfilling his dreams. if the UFC wouldn't have matched he'd be making the same money as he now does in UFC but as Bellator champ instead, living the same life with his family, getting the same amount of eyeballs on his fights (and able to charge whatever he wants from sponsors). [This is just our opinion, we didn't talk to Gilbert about any of this obviously].

10) When we sent the Reebok tweet to be honest we'd heard so many people casually talking about it as a done deal for months we were surprised the reaction was we'd broke some news. What's crazy is the comments we got saying "what a dick, why would you ruin the UFC announcement?" WTF? The UFC would be the first to say we aren't "partners", Dana would say that what we pay in tax is less than a hand of blackjack and that we're meaningless to them and the fighters. The only reason we were in the UFC was because of the fighters and the only reason the UFC tolerated having to deal with brands like us is because of the fighters. It's our job to maximize our exposure and get people talking about us, not to keep a secret that we're being eliminated.

11) This doesn't mean we're going to go and pay Bellator guys double what we would have paid them yesterday. We'd certainly like to align ourselves with a new batch of fighters in others orgs, but we can only offer them what makes sense for our business and they can only agree to deals that make sense for them. That's how it should be. There will still be times when they say fuck dethrone they only offered me X and there will be times when we say what the fuck, how can he ask us for Y? Neither of us are forced to accept each others demands, that's the point.

12) We'll still continue to have paid relationships with UFC fighters. The only good news about a single brand being on every single fighter is that it becomes somewhat invisible because everyone has it. We just need to continue to find ways to capture attention.

Been typing so damn long might as well hit send. Will try and answer any questions in the morning if there are any.

- Dethrone

 

I have a Dethrone shirt (http://fighterxfashion.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/dethrone-mayday-jaws-shirt.jpg) that I like a lot. I also had a Silver Star Anderson Silva shirt (http://www.fightertrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/SilverStar-Silvared.jpg) that got destroyed by deodorant but was otherwise pretty comfy with a stretch cotton material. I have had clothes from TapouT and UFC as well that were not really great quality. I have a Scramble rashguard, too, (http://cdn3.volusion.com/nuvga.wmnxy/v/vspfiles/photos/SCR102-2.jpg?1398749174 that is my baselayer for skiing and is wicked. I don't think Silver Star is still around (they also got into some Nazi/SS iconography for some fucking bizarre reason, to boot). Dethrone might not last now, either. TapouT is pretty popular but not among hip MMA fans. I imagine companies like Scramble that rely more on the BJJ market will continue to exist. I hope so. It's not the UFC's job to keep these companies in business but they all contribute to the well being of fighters which makes me wonder where the UFC's priories lie with this uniform deal.

 

It occurs to me I might have another heather blue Mike McDonald Dethrone t-shirt (size S, never worn) kicking around somewhere if anyone here wants it.