UFC
Lorenzo Fertitta on UFC/Reebok deal: "We knew going into this thing that you're not going to make everybody happy"
May 6, 2015 - 3:50:04 PM Lorenzo Fertitta on UFC/Reebok deal: "We knew going into this thing that you're not going to make everybody happy"

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"I can tell you this - all of the revenue we are receiving from Reebok is being distributed to the fighters. We essentially looked at the compensation tiers and they were based on the distribution of the revenue from the Reebok contract to the athletes over the next five and a half years. The only revenue that is coming through from Reebok that is not included to be distributed to the fighters will be used to cover direct operating costs for this program.

Certainly we knew going into this thing that you're not going to make everybody happy. That's an impossibility. What we tried to do was get as much input as we possibly could by talking to managers and fighters over a 12 to 18 month period and literally creating a database for where we felt the market was for fighters that were at different tiers.

We though we did a pretty good job of replicating the compensation that they were getting. Also when you look at it from a risk/reward standpoint, these are guaranteed payments. They're not going to have to run down sponsors, maybe not get paid. This money will be paid 10 days after the event and they've adhered to the athlete outfitting policy."

-Lorenzo Fertitta discusses the UFC's mindset in the apparel deal with Reebok during a media conference call on Wednesday (via FoxSports.com).

Penick's Analysis: There are aspects of this that are certainly beneficial. Not having to scrounge up a bunch of different sponsors takes some stress off of fighters, and having dedicated uniforms to the sport that they can keep is fine. However, there are several fighters who are already voicing valid complaints, because they'll be losing out on a significant amount of money. Brendan Schaub on Twitter stated that he was making six figures in sponsorships, and he falls on the tier of $10,000 per fight now. That's a lot of money lost, whether he has to chase down anyone or not. For some, this will work, for many others, it's already a nightmare.