13 for 13: No. 12 The State of Sponsorships

Sponsorships remained an elusive unknown in MMA.  While top stars received notable deals, there were many fighters that were left on the outside of sponsorship payouts.

2013 began with Rampage Jackson mad at the UFC that he could not wear his sponsor Reebok in his last fight in the UFC at UFC on Fox 6.  Apparently, Reebok did not pay the UFC sponsor fee.  Jackson still managed to flash the Reebok logo prior to entering the Octagon for the last time with the company.  Ironically, later in the year, the UFC and Reebok had discussions about a sponsorship deal although nothing came of the talks.  Jackson was able to wear Reebok with Bellator.  He also starred in a Reebok commercial sporting its shoes.  The sportswear brand also sponsored the company on the mat  at Bellator 106: Chandler v. Alvarez II.

Johny Hendricks became the first UFC fighter to be sponsored by Reebok at UFC 167.  It was made known that Reebok was willing to pay the sponsorship fee for Hendricks but not Rampage.

Adidas dipped its toe into MMA with a partnership with Resurrection Fighting Alliance.

Nike continued its sponsorships with Junior dos Santos, Jon Jones and Anderson Silva.  Nike released limited edition Jon Jones shoes and shirts.

Chris Camozzi took a stand against low ball offers from sponsors and called for other fighters to do so as well. Last week, Mac Danzig chose not to take any sponsors.  On the biggest stage for the UFC, the Fox network, Danzig did not have sponsors and wore shorts that read “Not for Sale.”  Cole Miller also spoke out about the obstacles of securing sponsors in his position on the UFC card.

With the revelation that Danzig was not taking sponsors, Dana White revealed that the UFC was working on a sponsorship structure which would be fair.  What this means, we do not know as of yet.  We shall see what happens in 2014.

Other notable sponsorship happenings in 2013:

This year was the last for sports brand Pretorian in the UFC.  A memo was sent out informing all of UFC fighter agents that the sponsor was no longer approved by the UFC.

WSOF signed a partnership deal with Boost Mobile which received some scrutiny.  Notably, Tyrone Spong was handed one of these cell phones after his win at WSOF which looked really awkward.

Ronda Rousey had some moderate success with sponsors as she received a Xyience deal and she shot two viral commercials for insurance safeguard, Insureon.

Toyo Tires and MusclePharm renewed their Official Sponsor status with the UFC.

UPDATED 12/20/13:  As pointed out by our astute reader: Jon Jones also secured a sponsorship with Gatorade for his fight with Alexander Gustafsson although it was questioned by Sports Biz Guy Darren Rovell.

Jon Jones will be representing Gatorade for 1 fight. Not considered contract in standard sports world, but in UFC world it counts.

— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) September 20, 2013

Another notable thing this year was Triumph United’s, Hans Molenkamp, talking about the evolving sponsorship market.  One of things he alludes to is that he believes some sponsors do not even pay the sponsorship tax in the UFC.