Everything you need to know about the new UFC uniform.
(Also at 411mania.com)
The MMA world went crazy on Tuesday when the UFC announced that they signed a uniform deal with Reebok. The deal was so big that the UFC had to delay the announcement a couple of weeks because it wasn’t quite finalized even though #TheTimeIsNow.
Many people have a lot of questions about this new deal, and lucky for them, I’m here to answer all of those questions.
Can you please quickly explain the major points of the deal?
No problem. In short, it’s a six year deal worth a reported $70 million. According to Dana White, the fighters get “every penny” and who gets what is determined by the Official UFC Rankings. So if you’re ranked #3, you’ll be getting more than the guy ranked #8. How much more is unknown. Fighters will also get a 20% cut of all the uniforms they sell.
$70 million over six years. Doesn’t that seem a bit low?
No, it doesn’t seem a bit low. It is a bit low. Kevin Durant is getting $300 million over ten years from Nike. That’s an average of $30 million per year for one man. The UFC is getting $70 million over six years from Reebok. That’s an average of $11.6 million per year for an entire organization.
Maybe the numbers are wrong and it’s actually $700 million over six years. Now that would certainly be something worth celebrating. But to divide $11.6 million per year between the 500+ fighters under contract means a lot of guys aren’t going to be making all that much on this deal. If the numbers are correct though, I can see why the fighters will get “every penny” because there aren’t that many pennies to give.
And what exactly do they get 20% of?
Whatever they sell.
So, like, whatever they sell after production costs are taken out? Whatever they sell in total profit? How many units they sell times the retail price?
Just, sales, man.
Do you actually think the fighters will get “every penny”?
If Dana White said it, it must be true.
Let’s talk about Official UFC Rankings determining pay.
Alright. Talk.
The Brazilians will get a ton of money given the way the Brazilian MMA Media votes, right?
Right, which is why Dana says that they are looking at cutting down the number of voters and going with only “legitimate guys that are credible and ethical.”
Hold on. “MMA Media” and “legitimate guys that are credible and ethical.” Is there such a thing?
No, not really.
Continue.
Thanks. So, whether the UFC overhauls the rankings system or it stays the same, fighters are still at the mercy of media members. It’s possible that a fighter could give a bad interview to a journalist or outlet, and in a form of retribution, that journalist could rank him a spot or two lower than where he should be. I would hope this would never happen, but have you kept up with the MMA media? They are some of the most petty and bitter people on the entire Internet.
Anytime you’re dealing with rankings, there is always going to be some outrage. Fighters can keep winning but actually move down in the rankings because they aren’t beating better competition. Fighters can drop out of the rankings if they are injured or inactive. Even if you have the most legitimate, credible, and ethical people in the world; there is still going to be some type of outrage over who is ranked where. When the Official UFC Rankings first came out, they were fun to joke about. Now they will determine how much a fighter will make off this deal.
Will men and women be treated equally?
That’s a good question. If they are, that means that Sarah Kaufman will get the same cut as Anderson Silva, Rashad Evans, Junior dos Santos, Ben Henderson, Frankie Edgar, Urijah Faber, ect…. No disrespect to Ms. Kaufman, but she’s not exactly bringing in the fans like the aforementioned male fighters. Obviously guys like Silva, Evans, Faber, and other male fighters will end up making more from this deal because they’ll sell more uniforms to fans, but the upfront money could be the same.
If men and women don't make the same, then obviously the UFC is sexist. Either way you're going to end up with some unhappy folks.
Will champions and interim champions be treated equally?
I would hope so. Otherwise they may as well just get rid of interim titles.
At least I'll no longer have to stare at Condom Depot on a fighters butt.
Very true. However, we don't know how much the fighters got paid by Condom Depot.
The theory behind this deal is that it eliminates negotiating with MMA sponsors and allows them to focus on just the fight. I'd buy that if every MMA fighter shouldn't have a manager to do all the negotiating for them.
The truth is that Dana has never liked dealing with agents and managers and this is another step in him eliminating them from his life. To be fair, most MMA managers and agents seem like complete sleaze balls, but that goes for pretty much every agent and manager in any sport. Dana used to be one, so he should know best.
So do the fighters actually benefit from this deal?
That one is tough to answer without more details being known. For example, I'd like to know how much an unranked fighter was making while getting his own sponsors and how much he'll be making under the Reebok deal. The same goes for guys like Jon Jones and Anderson Silva, both of whom had Nike deals that are now out the window. It's possible that they could actually make less from this deal than they were making previously.
Doesn't a uniform deal make the UFC look like a major sport now?
Sure. If it was actually run like a major sport.
MMA is an individual sport with independent contractors. NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA have a players union that look out for the needs of the players. They don't sign off on anything without knowing what they are getting into. The UFC just signed off on this Reebok deal without any fighter knowing the specifics of the deal. Peyton Manning knows that when the NFL signs a deal with Nike, he has a group of fellow players that are going to look out for his best interests when it comes to bargaining. Those players know how much the Nike deal is worth, how much they are getting, and how much everyone else is getting. While this Reebok deal is reportedly worth $70 million, those numbers might not be true and whether they are or not, fighters don't know for certain if they are truly getting "every penny" unless the company releases the numbers, which probably won't happen unless a big star leaves and starts complaining about the lack of money they were making.
Speaking of, what if a fighter leaves or is released, what happens to their Reebok uniform in terms of sales?
Well, let’s take a look. Let’s say that Jon Fitch were still under contract at the time of the Reebok deal. He had a fight where he wore his uniform, it was available to buy, and then he was released despite being a top ten fighter. One would think that people could still purchase his uniform and he could continue to make 20% of those sales, but there’s probably nothing stopping the UFC from just flat out pulling the uniform from their store.
What if they don’t pull the uniform and Fitch still makes money off the Reebok deal. Can he then add on sponsors under his new deal with his new organization?
I would assume so. But you never know what the language in this UFC/Reebok deal says. It’s possible that, as long as a fighter is making some type of money off of Reebok, he’s not allowed to have any other fight sponsor, even if he’s no longer a UFC employee. I would hope that the fighters know the language, but my guess is that they don’t and they won’t know until they are released from their UFC contract.
When can I get my Tito Ortiz Reebok uniform?
They are apparently doing legends uniforms, but I wouldn’t expect a Tito Ortiz one to be available. I also wouldn’t expect a Rampage Jackson, Randy Couture, or Wanderlei Silva uniform to be available either. The UFC could probably make a good deal of money off of those uniforms, but it’s not going to happen as long as they are all on bad terms with the company because then you’re talking about individual negotiations between the UFC and, for examples sake, Randy Couture. Dana almost certainly doesn’t want that headache because Couture could easily try and play hardball and ask for more than 20% of sales. He’s not going to just agree to whatever the current UFC/Reebok terms are because, unlike everyone under a UFC contract, he doesn’t have to.
What about Brock Lesnar?
We’ve all heard the rumors of Brock possible returning to MMA following Wrestlemania 31. I think this hurts his chances of coming back to the UFC. Right now Brock is getting paid by Jimmy John’s, Jack Links, and others to wear their logo during his wrestling matches. If he re-signs with the UFC, those sponsors would be out the window. It’s also possible that he would make next to nothing from the Reebok deal in his first fight back. After all, despite his superstar status, if Lesnar were to return to the UFC, he would be an unranked fighter.
Brock would almost certainly rack up plenty of cash from his individual uniform sale, but would it be enough to compensate the money he would be losing from individual sponsors? Maybe, but I’m sure Brock gets a cut of any WWE merchandise he sells and the WWE Shop has 26 Lesnar items on sale compared to the one UFC uniform.
Do people still buy Reebok?
Plenty of people buy Reebok hockey jerseys, so I guess that counts. But do people buy other Reebok gear? Probably not. Nike is pretty much running the shoe and athletic apparel game, but even though Reebok might be increasingly irrelevant in those departments, that doesn’t matter much in this scenario. If you buy a UFC uniform, you aren’t buying it because it’s made by Reebok, you’re buying it because it represents your favorite fighter.
I don’t care who makes the NHL jerseys, I’m going to buy them because I like representing my favorite team and players. Some upstart company that no one has never heard of but is backed by billionaires could out-bid Nike for the NFL deal to produce NFL jerseys and, no one is going to say, “I’m not buying that because I’ve never heard of Swaggy Swish.” You’re going to say, “oh, a new Tom Brady jersey, I gotta have that.”
And it’s not like every single Nike lover is buying every single piece of Nike NFL gear. Dustin James adores Phil Knight and Nike, but he’s not buying an Oakland Raiders jersey just because it’s made by Nike. So even if billions of people were buying Reebok, those people wouldn’t buy a UFC uniform just because it’s made by Reebok.
So who does benefit from this deal?
Reebok benefits the most if that $70 million over six years number is true. That’s a pretty cheap price to pay for something that could make them a very good chunk of change if these things end up selling well.
The UFC benefits, but probably not as much as they think. Obviously they are going to make good money off of this deal or else they wouldn’t have signed it, but they are also going to be dealing with some very disgruntled fighters if they don’t handle payouts correctly and fighters end up making less on this deal than they did with individual sponsors.
As mentioned above, I’m not sure if the fighters benefit from this or not. That won’t be known for at least a year.
I do think the fans benefit from this because now they can get official fighter merchandise from one place. Back when I used to buy fighter walk out shirts, it was always a pain to have to go to different websites to see who was carrying the shirt I wanted. Now I know that I can get an officially licensed UFC/Reebok uniform from the UFC store.
Will you be buying a UFC uniform?
Depending on how they look. I still have an affection for Chuck Liddell and Anderson Silva so if they have cool looking shirts, I wouldn’t be ashamed in buying one.
What will we think of this deal in six years when it’s up?
Well, Lorenzo Fertitta said that we’ll look back on this deal like we look back on The Ultimate Fighter. So I’m guessing we’ll think it was great when it started and in six years we’ll think it’s completely unnecessary and pointless.
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