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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The UFC's apparel deal with Reebok has been a source of concern, with little information on just how much fighters will be making for wearing the fighter uniforms in each fight.
When it was announced last week that they were shifting to a tenured tier system as opposed to by ranking, it was a positive step. However, those who have been in the UFC for years, and have built up considerable sponsorship money over the years, might not be happy with the ultimate payouts coming their way.
According to a report from the Boston Herald, the payouts per fight are expected to fall in the following approximate range:
"$5,000 for fighters with zero to five UFC fights, $8,000-$10,000 for five to ten fights, $12,000-$15,000 for 11-15 fights, and $18,000-$20,000 for 16-20 fights."
Payouts for fighters with 21+ would then be slightly higher, with an unknown amount coming to champions and title challengers.
Penick's Analysis: For fighters in the first couple of tiers who are typically only found on the prelims, this is going to be a positive deal. For fighters with tons of time under their belt in the organization, it's a step backwards, and absolutely doesn't add up to what many of them were able to get in the past. It's also forcing a fighter like Demetrious Johnson - who had a significant deal with Microsoft's Xbox - to take what may be less with Reebok, and not continue on with the same relationship he'd had with a company he was proud to represent. Unless the UFC are also going to be cutting fighters in on any other sponsorship money added to these uniforms from other deals, this is not making up for what a big segment of their roster is losing from other sponsors getting frozen out.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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