Going into his last contracted fight, Quentin Jackson is upset with the UFC for not letting him wear the logo of his newest sponsor, Reebok. The latest complaint seals the deal that next Saturday’s fight will be his last in the UFC.
Jackson aired his grievances during a conference call which promoted UFC on Fox 6 next week. The issue appears to be the fact that Reebok has not paid the UFC sponsorship fee. Jackson claims the sponsorship fee instituted by the UFC since 2009 may be illegal.
Despite not wearing the logo to the Octagon, Reebok indicated it will stand behind Jackson.
(H/t: MMA Junkie)
Payout Perspective:
Since NBA star John Wall left Reebok (and his signature shoes) for Adidas, did the sportswear company try to compensate by signing Jackson? We joke here. But it appears that this issue could be easily rectified by Reebok paying the sponsor fee. The UFC indicated it is open to speaking with Reebok about sponsorship opportunities. Its not known whether Reebok refused to pay the fee or if it even knew of such sponsor fee.
The underlying issue here is the ongoing tension between Rampage and the UFC. Not allowing Rampage to wear his sponsor logo is another sign to him that he is being disrespected by the company. In this last fight, it appears that Rampage will not leave on good terms.
That guy is unpleasable.
Fighters like that make Dana White lose hair
I thought that we were past the point where it was possible for Rampage to leave the UFC “on good terms” long before this latest development.
Well if he leaves, I’m sure Bellator would pick him up just to build their brand.
Rampage may not want to deal with Bellator’s tournament structure. He’s been talking about boxing as well, but in the past he’s shown interest in pro-wrestling, and Bellator would likely allow him to do that in tandem a la King Mo. Rampage is a bit of an odd duck when it comes to career decisions, so it will be interesting to see where he ends up.
I doubt he enters a tourney in Bellator. I see it as more name drawing one-offs.
I can’t see Bellator being able to deal with Rampage. He wants hand picked opponents that will suit his style. Meaning he don’t want to fight anyone that will take him down. That doesn’t fit with Bellator’s tournament format.
Also Rampage will most likely want more money than they are currently paying their champions and since he won’t go through the tournament to gain a title shot he isn’t a a viable high salary guy for Bellator in my opinion. It would be another step right behind the Alvarez offer that starts killing their modest pay scale up to this point. They can’t keep bringing guys in and paying them more money than they are paying their champions without creating animosity there.
It’s the nature of the fight game beast.
Use old names at a premium cost to build your brand name. This is Viacom we’re talking about. If they want to compete with the UFC, it’ll have to be a combination of tourneys and older name fighters that bring in viewers.
The problem is he wont fights anyone. You cant build new guys with him if he refuses to fight anyone who can beat him. Then he just runs down the promotion. I used to be a fan of his but it became more and more clear he is just a child. Just comes off like a disrespectful scumbag each time he talks. He wants the Kimbo treatment in boxing. He sees a guys who cant win getting paid to fight bums and thats what he wants. He knows he cant box. But hes think if they can protect him then they can protect me. Rampage thinks everyone owes him a living. He is washed up and now he wants paid like he is the champ while they give him wins to keep him employeed. Its not the promoters job or the match makers to keep him at the top of the sport. That is Rampages job and he isnt good enough anymore and wants to hide that fact.
Samson
LOL at you and Viacom. You act like they are some super power force of MMA and they havent even done anything. Just because they have money doesnt mean they will use it. After all what did CBS do for Strikeforce? They through Showtime signed Fedor and that was it. They didnt even steal him from the UFC. Fedor and the UFC wasnt going to happen so there was no bidding. So they never took anyone from the UFC and CBS didnt prevent UFC from buyng Strikeforce.
CBS didn’t own Strikeforce dummy, they merely showcased the product.
Sad you didn’t even mention that.
Viacom owns the majority stake in Bellator. That shows long-term commitment to growing the brand. Not even REMOTELY close to what CBS did with SF.
But why am I wasting my time OWNING you… LMAO
You act like Viacom is willing to invest unlimited resources in an unproven product. The fact is, there are big expectations on Bellator’s shoulders now, and there’s no guarantee that the venture will be a success on Spike TV. Wait for a few weeks of ratings to come in before making bold predictions about the level to which Viacom will back the product.
Viacom bought ownership in Bellator so they could share in their success if they blew up like the UFC and went to PPV. If they didnt do that and Belltor went to PPV then Spike would be left in the cold with very low level cards while the good cards went to PPV. If you remember i said Spike should buy Bellator for this reason like a month before it happened. But there is no evidence they will invest anything big in Bellator or take any risk early on or take any big steps.
Here is one GIANT FACT you seem to forget. If Spike was willing to dump large amount of money into MMA they would have resigned the UFC. Even at the price Fox paid. The UFC was a good deal. IF they didnt want to pay that for the best brand and the best fighters in the world. Why would they dump millions into a low level promotion with no Brand and low level fighters? They wouldnt!
Spike and Bellator should be keeping cost cheap for a few years and build their brand and not so much the fighters unless they happen to create some. But dont go out and pay top dollar or big with the UFC.Right now their brand cant compete. They need to boost the brand and that takes time. Any money spent on bidding against the UFC or for big free agents is wasted because they cant capitolize on them with a weak brand.