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Tuesday, Dec 16, 2014

Report: Demetrious Johnson Talks UFC-Reebok Uniform Deal, Still Not Sure of Financial Implications

Johnson (photo via FUEL.TV / UFC/ ZUFFA)

By FCF Staff

It’s been a little while now since the UFC and Reebok announced their new uniform deal, and while it will reportedly provide fighters with sponsorship money and sales revenue, how much, remains unclear.

The deal also means that fighters will no longer be able to promote other sponsorships during fight week, and while some competitors are struggling to find sponsors nowadays, others have high profile deals in place. For example, flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson has been endorsed by XBox and Microsoft for some time, but he will no longer be able to promote the companies during his title fights.

Recently Johnson spoke to MMA Junkie.com about the new, uniform deals, and here is some of what he had to say:

“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.”

Johnson added that the new deal will be beneficial for fighters who have had a hard time finding sponsors, but hopes the agreement won’t reduce what others have already been making.

The flyweight champion is coming off a submission win over Chris Cariaso in September, and currently isn’t booked for his next bout.

posted by FCF Staff @ 1:20 pm
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