When the UFC announced their exclusive fight apparel deal with Reebok they received mixed reviews of criticism and praise. When the exact figures of the deal and how much fighters would be paid was released, it seems like the deal was universally panned by fighters, media and fans.
Even though there are some fighters who will benefit from this deal, as outlined in my Top 3 Fighters That Benefit From the UFC Reebok Deal, there are a lot more who will take a huge hit to their wallet.
Fighters who have a low number of fights, who will have to wait around a while for a title shot, or already have big name sponsors are the ones that will hurt the most due to this deal. Unfortunately for the UFC Heavyweights, all three of these things apply directly to them.
1. Number of Fights
The new ranking system is based on how many fights a fighter has had in the UFC, or when Strikeforce and WEC were owned by Zuffa. The more fights you have, the more money you will earn from the Reebok sponsorship. Here’s the exact breakdown:
So how does this hurt heavyweight fighters? The reason the heavyweights will suffer from how the rankings work is that heavyweights don’t fight as often as their lighter counterparts. The division is one of the smallest in the sport, meaning there are less opponents to match up against, leading to prolonged time on the sideline waiting for a match-up.
Even though the division is full of long-time veteran fighters like Frank Mir, Andrea Arlovski, Josh Barnett, Alistair Overeem, Bigfoot Silva, Mirko Cro Cop and Mark Hunt, only one of those fighters, Frank Mir, reaches the top pay bracket of 21+ fights. The other fighters have spent their careers in other organizations, have had injury riddled careers or just haven’t been active enough.
Within the next few years, many of these fighters will retire. The UFC has done a terrible job in developing the next wave of heavyweight talent. What we know for sure is that when these fighters retire in 2-3 years, the fighters that will fill that gap will have less than 10 UFC fights, and will earn next to nothing in sponsorship money.
2. Title Contention
The only other way these heavyweights can get paid well, other than fighting more, which is unlikely due to most of their ages, is by contending for the UFC Heavyweight Championship. A fighter with 21+ fights earns a minimum of $20,000 for their fight, but a title challenger will earn a minimum of $30,000.
If this pay-scale were implemented in December of 2012, only three fighters, Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos and Bigfoot Silva, would have fallen under this category. I decided not to include Mark Hunt or Fabricio Werdum as their fight was for an interim title, and it has not been made clear if this case would fall under them being title challengers. Also, would both men be paid under the title challenger pay bracket, or would neither?
Besides that point, the UFC Championship is one of the least defended championships since 2011, averaging 1 defense a year (not including interim title fights). If Cain Velasquez retains his championship, then the list of title challengers will have dropped to zero, and the injury frequent champion will most likely continue his reign as the least active champion in UFC history.
3. Sponsors Love The Heavyweights
People love to see two 260lbs men slug it out to see who is truly the baddest man on the planet. These are the guys that sponsors gravitate to, and know that people will be watching. As I mentioned before, the UFC heavyweight division is full of veteran fighters who have already made a big name for themselves and are known both inside and outside of the MMA scene.
Nike, MusclePharm, Venum, Pizza Pizza, AlienWear, Square, Bony Acai, Bad Boy, BSN, Dethrone, Microtech, Six Star Pro Nutrition, and Safe Auto are just some of the big name sponsors that heavyweight fighters will now lose due to this deal.
In Stipe Miocic’s last fight, he was sponsored by Bad Boy, American Ethanol and MusclePharm. In his first fight under the new deal, Miocic will be sponsored by Reebok and will earn $5,000. It’s very difficult to imagine that each of his three sponsors would have paid him less than $5,000 for his last fight, let alone that amount when combined together.
Brendan Shaub has already gone on the record to say that he has made upwards of $100,000 in sponsors for his fights. With the Reebok deal, he’ll now make $10,000.
I’ve made six figures in sponsorship in each of my last 6 fights https://t.co/gotToaSDJh
— Brendan Schaub (@BrendanSchaub) May 6, 2015
If “Big Brown” was making that much while not being in a main event, then just imagine how much money Junior Dos Santos, Alistair Overeem, Mark Hunt or Travis Browne have to lose. All of those fighters will be making less than $15,000 each fight from the Reebok sponsorship while being the top billing of Fight Night cards.
Even Cain Velasquez and Fabricio Werdum would be pissed if their sponsors only paid them $40,000 and $30,000 respectfully for their title fight in Mexico. Luckily the deal won’t take place until after their fight, and it will most likely be the last time two heavyweight fighters get a big pay day from their sponsors.
Almost every fighter cannot be pleased by the deal, and I’m sure there are some fighters in the other divisions that are getting a bigger pay-cut than some of the heavyweights. When it comes to a division as a whole though, the heavyweights are taking the biggest shots.
