Sponsors outside the UFC - Reebok era

[AimedWithV]

Mousasi went in eyes wide open. He knew sponsors were a minor thing anymore. He didn't come to Bellator because of sponsors, but because of trust and respect. And if he gets a few dozen k more from sponsors than he would have from Reebok, that's fine too.

https://www.mmaweekly.com/gegard-mousasi-explains-why-he-left-the-ufc-to-sign-with-bellator-mma
“The pay was better. The way I’m going to be treated is better. I can have my own sponsors. I have to be realistic about that because Reebok has killed a lot of sponsors. There were a lot of sponsorships that you could have before, they don’t exist anymore. But it’s still better than getting $10,000 from Reebok.

“I get to bring fighters in and Scott [Coker] will give them the opportunity to fight. I will have the opportunity to go to light heavyweight, maybe fight for a title with the middleweight belt. So many things. It’s not just the money to be honest. It’s the treatment that I’m going to get. The way I feel. A lot of factors come to play when it comes to Bellator.”​

And from what I see, his main sponsor now, is CBD company Supmedi from Holland.

https://www.supmedi.com/
Well, it somehow makes sense that the astronaut like Mousasi will be a cannabinoid enthusiast LOL.

But indeed, seems that he uses his sponsor not for the money he gets from him, but more for pushing the cause. Which is cool actually.

 

[Bubba32]

none of those sponsors are paying shit because as soon as they put there name in there they get dozens of managers calling them offering the same spot on shorts, etc for a fraction of the price.

 

[AimedWithV]

It's all just guessing what these fighters are getting and is it even a big amount for most fighters. One big change with many fighters is the day of 8 or 10 different sponsors are kind of gone for the most part. It's usually a one to three sponsors and that is it. Now is that just the way fighters are doing business now or is it very hard to find sponsors and that is all they can find, I don't really know. Also just because a company appears to have cash, it doesn't mean they spend it stupidly either.

In general if you ever done any research on the sponsorship of MMA fighters you'll find out a few things very quickly. First, for every fighter like Schaub making around a 100K a fight you had dozens of fighters that couldn't even get 5K. In other words many times the rich kept getting richer. Second, you'll find back in the "hay-day" of sponsorships you'll find story after story of fighters being stiffed. Third, you'll find many companies went under that did sponsor or got out of sponsoring fighters. Through the years I've heard in interviews on MMA radio/pod/internet shows that many of these owners or people associated with the company claimed they saw little to anything out of sponsoring fighters. Lastly, a few fighters that have came through Bellator through the years have stated sponsorship money was almost nonexistent outside of being one of the top guys in the org. Hell, one fighter came on this forum looking for anyone that had a connection or wanted to sponsor him in his title fight on TV.

Please check my examples. They are from both sides of the scale.
Do you agree with my estimations of each case?

I think the plan was to clean up the crap, help even out the pay, and eventually get Reebok to allow other blue chip/large sponsors come on board and advertise on the exclusive clothing of Reebok for the UFC and in return that money would help build up the pot to pay out to fighters.

I think the plan was to put leash on fighters and make them dependant, while doing corporate..eh, sorry, monopoly business deal with Reebok.
There was no need to even out pays of something that was fighters' business. I doubt anyone came to UFC and told them: give us all one sponsor please!

Overall on the surface it all looks great but chances are very high it's good for the upper guys(maybe 10% of Bellator fighters) and tough sledding for everyone else.

I think it is indeed rare to see good sponsors, and 10% is a fair number of those who get significant money.
What I don't necessarily agree with is that these are necessarily UPPER guys.
Moreover, UFC veterans even of lower caliber can get more lucrative sponsorship deals for obvious reasons.

 

[AimedWithV]

none of those sponsors are paying shit because as soon as they put there name in there they get dozens of managers calling them offering the same spot on shorts, etc for a fraction of the price.

Yeah, and that's why suckers fighters continue promoting them...
Cyborg promoted Mitsubishi store during all her UFC career, while last time she fought with their logo was 4 years ago.

 

[AimedWithV]

i will forget who you are once again

if you keep forgetting everyone who thinks you're an idiot, you will soon find yourself in a world without one familiar face

 

[skylolow]

Please check my examples. They are from both sides of the scale.
Do you agree with my estimations of each case?



I think the plan was to put leash on fighters and make them dependant, while doing corporate..eh, sorry, monopoly business deal with Reebok.
There was no need to even out pays of something that was fighters' business. I doubt anyone came to UFC and told them: give us all one sponsor please!




I think it is indeed rare to see good sponsors, and 10% is a fair number of those who get significant money.
What I don't necessarily agree with is that these are necessarily UPPER guys.
Moreover, UFC veterans even of lower caliber can get more lucrative sponsorship deals for obvious reasons.

I don't think the Reebok deal had much to do with putting a leash on the fighters. The sport was growing bigger and bigger and to attract blue chip sponsors you can't have guys being sponsored by Condom Depot or in some case White Supremacist ties. It needed to look the part I think is what I'm saying. They needed to have more control over it than trying to chase down every fighter for every event and basically do background checks on the sponsors. Bigger sports control everything that is being displayed. Hell, the NFL at every game has part time people employed(usually ex players in many cases) monitoring that each player is adhering to the NFL dress code more or less. Does some control come from it, sure but it comes from a place of trying to put the best looking product out front and not so much from a dictator standpoint.

I'm not sure what some of these companies are paying guys in Bellator. I'm sure the better guys with good name value do ok. But a large portion of fighters on every card I bet is struggling. Look at someone like Benson Henderson that came over. His first fight he had only had the MMA LAB(his training gym) on his shorts. A few fights later he had MMA LAB and I believe Everlast on parts of his shorts when he fought Roger Huerta who had zero sponsors on his shorts. That seems to tell me that there isn't sponsors lining up to pay fighters and that ones that are probably aren't paying crazy money out. My guess is these fighters have to bust some ass to get good sponsors similar to what your saying.

Overall I think you numbers are probably in the ball park(not sure if Machida gets 6 figures). A lot of the points your making is kind of the reason the UFC went down the Reebok path. I just don't think the Reebok deal turned out the way the UFC invision it. I think they thought they could work with more companies like they are doing with Monster with Reebok and it just never turned out.

I guess the question is do fighters like the every man for themselves approach better than a company approach????????????


Personally, I think the company approach is much better if handled correctly. Like I said previous if there was more money in the pot and the tiers were literally doubled in payout I think most would be happy with that outcome.

 

[AimedWithV]

I don't think the Reebok deal had much to do with putting a leash on the fighters. The sport was growing bigger and bigger and to attract blue chip sponsors you can't have guys being sponsored by Condom Depot or in some case White Supremacist ties. It needed to look the part I think is what I'm saying. They needed to have more control over it than trying to chase down every fighter for every event and basically do background checks on the sponsors. Bigger sports control everything that is being displayed. Hell, the NFL at every game has part time people employed(usually ex players in many cases) monitoring that each player is adhering to the NFL dress code more or less. Does some control come from it, sure but it comes from a place of trying to put the best looking product out front and not so much from a dictator standpoint.

Yeah, I remember this Dana's claim. He also brought Dude Wipes as a reference.

Well, aswe can see, neither Dude Wipes nor Condom Depot are not a factor here, neither they are at DAZN, or PFL, or any Asian networks where Rizin/ONE is shown.
I think sponsors get more serious because the sport gets more serious. And it's not done by force.

That's why I think Dana's claim is BS

I'm not sure what some of these companies are paying guys in Bellator. I'm sure the better guys with good name value do ok. But a large portion of fighters on every card I bet is struggling. Look at someone like Benson Henderson that came over. His first fight he had only had the MMA LAB(his training gym) on his shorts. A few fights later he had MMA LAB and I believe Everlast on parts of his shorts when he fought Roger Huerta who had zero sponsors on his shorts. That seems to tell me that there isn't sponsors lining up to pay fighters and that ones that are probably aren't paying crazy money out. My guess is these fighters have to bust some ass to get good sponsors similar to what your saying.

You brought a great example of Benson! Jury has much better sponsors, and as far as anyone can see, Benson is much more important fighter in MMA, and truly can be considered one of the 10% elite.

I believe that it's unrelated to your status as a fighter.

(not sure if Machida gets 6 figures).

I believe he can.
6 figures - monthly salary of, let's say, 5 developers. They have more, and Machida fights 2 times a year.

Hi Tech is a different world, measured differently.

guess the question is do fighters like the every man for themselves approach better than a company approach????????????


Personally, I think the company approach is much better if handled correctly. Like I said previous if there was more money in the pot and the tiers were literally doubled in payout I think most would be happy with that outcome.

Definitely, 100% every man for himself approach. It's default for them.

 

[AimedWithV]

Sergio Pettis:

Combat Corner and Pettis bros (and overall Roufus camp) have a very very long history of partnership:

Right now Sergio shines their logos in Bellator.

Now check this out: Combat Corner are STILL sponsors of UFC fighters - Montel Jackson, Tyron Woodley, older Pettis.
But they can't show their logos in the UFC. Now in DAZN they can, because they have Sergio. Who gets more money from them? Well...Sergio I guess.

Sergio left UFC with show money $46K (at least).
Last Saturday he got $30 from Bellator.
I assume UFC didn't want to sign him to the new contract, which would've made him jump the step to around $70K to show, deciding that he's not worth it.
Having said that, I'm sure that Combat Corner alone is able to pay him around $20K to become their biggest presenter in MMA, so he seems to be financially set.

Overall I have a feeling that most of the Roufusports fighters are financially in good places....whether in the UFC or outside of it

 

[SRN]

Well, the Reebok deal basically killed an entire industry so getting sponsors is not like it used to be anymore. With no UFC exposure brands only have smaller orgs to put their money in, it's not as profitable as it once was so yeah guys like Tibau will have a harder time finding a decent sponsor. There's simply way less money coming in.


Back in the good old days fighters could have a ridiculous amount of brands sponsoring them. Sometimes even brands that competed against each other sponsored the same fighter.

It was a vibrant and growing industry while the UFC was a window that exposed all of it. Everyone involved had more freedom from both creative and financial aspects and fans were more invested in as well. Now, who the fuck wants to buy this?

Spoiler

okay it got a bit better... but still

Another good thing about the good old days is that every fight was potentially a brand new deal. If you were lucky enough to have a big fight coming up you would get tons more sponsor money while nowadays UFC fighters are stuck with what Reebok wants to pay them. I have no idea who their "personal sponsors" are these days, I used to know simply because I watched their fights. I have zero interest in finding that out on my own. When the UFC signed this stupid deal with Reebok they forced brands out and it hurt the entire sport imo Brands had to focus on another area, invest way less money and maybe even close their business.

 

[AimedWithV]

Well, the Reebok deal basically killed an entire industry so getting sponsors is not like it used to be anymore. With no UFC exposure brands only have smaller orgs to put their money in, it's not as profitable as it once was so yeah guys like Tibau will have a harder time finding a decent sponsor. There's simply way less money coming in.

I don't really agree that it died. Look at Machida, look at Jury (who, had he stayed in the UFC, would've fallen under "who the fook" criteria (or even still under it)).
It takes good fighter, exciting fighter, and/or SMART fighter to find good sponsors nowadays outside the UFC, and it WILL show. They WILL pay.

Back in the good old days fighters could have a ridiculous amount of brands sponsoring them. Sometimes even brands that competed against each other sponsored the same fighter.

Good choice, of Houston Alexander. Guy is a showman. He got sacked from UFC long before Reebok deal. Did that affect his payouts, you think?

I don't think so. At all.

I'm also sure that Aldo would be fine outside the UFC,just like Cyborg , Machida. Jury, Mousasi, petite Pettis do...

 

[SRN]

I don't really agree that it died. Look at Machida, look at Jury (who, had he stayed in the UFC, would've fallen under "who the fook" criteria (or even still under it)).
It takes good fighter, exciting fighter, and/or SMART fighter to find good sponsors nowadays outside the UFC, and it WILL show. They WILL pay.



Good choice, of Houston Alexander. Guy is a showman. He got sacked from UFC long before Reebok deal. Did that affect his payouts, you think?

I don't think so. At all.

I'm also sure that Aldo would be fine outside the UFC,just like Cyborg , Machida. Jury, Mousasi, petite Pettis do...

?? Maybe read again without having the itch to counter argue what's not being argued lmao

 

[AimedWithV]

?? Maybe read again without having the itch to counter argue what's not being argued lmao

Was not about arguing really, was not the point here. This thread is all for the civil discussion, at leas that's what I wanted to.
I just wanted to straighten some points...

 

[justbetter]

robert whittaker has been doing well with sponsors for awhile. he lists them on twitter https://twitter.com/robwhittakermma

Reaper Gear, Grange TV , BMW, PlayUp, Kaplan Homes, ActronAir, Musashi Nutrition , Bethesda, Sweatcentral

His management is outside the MMA bubble, and I think that has given him access to sponsors who probably never considered mma sponsorship.

 

[AimedWithV]

robert whittaker has been doing well with sponsors for awhile. he lists them on twitter https://twitter.com/robwhittakermma

Reaper Gear, Grange TV , BMW, PlayUp, Kaplan Homes, ActronAir, Musashi Nutrition , Bethesda, Sweatcentral

His management is outside the MMA bubble, and I think that has given him access to sponsors who probably never considered mma sponsorship.

Very nice, and octagon is off limits for them and they still promote him.
I guess that all together they give him additional $50K per fight...now that he's not a champ anymore, it will be more significant of an income

 

[SRN]

Was not about arguing really, was not the point here. This thread is all for the civil discussion, at leas that's what I wanted to.
I just wanted to straighten some points...

Brother, I think you're confusing the word argue with fight but that was not what I meant at all. I argued, in this context, means I gave my opinion in support of my view. I wasn't trying to be uncivil nor was I insinuating you were. Cheers.