Sam Alvey and his tanning sponsor, Perfect Tan, will no longer be able to work around the UFC’s sponsor rules according to the organization. UFC exec Tom Wright indicated that Alvey’s “#PerfectTan” that he had spray-tanned on his chest this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 65 was against the UFC’s sponsor rules.
Wright stated at the post-fight press conference that “Fighters definitely can’t do that.” Wright referred to the sponsor name tanned into Alvey’s chest which was first revealed at the weigh-ins the day before his fight with Daniel Kelly.
UFC sponsorship is a controversial subject considering fighters, like Alvey, will no longer be able to solicit sponsors starting this July when Reebok takes over as the official clothing sponsor for the UFC. Last week, the company revealed the sponsorship pay structures.
You can see a pic of the offending sponsor at MMA Fighting.
No word if Alvey will be punished for his actions.
Payout Perspective:
Alvey’s sponsor stunt is reminiscent of days that boxers were paid to wear GoldenPalace.com on their backs. Of course, those were written on their backs and not spray-tanned onto Alvey’s skin. If you think about it, Alvey’s actions were “perfect” as the UFC could not really tell Alvey at the weigh-ins (although Wright states the UFC did not notice until before the fight) to get rid of the sponsor if it was tanned into his skin. Moreover, the sponsorship tied into the company since it deals with tanning. Not sure the benefit of a hashtag rather than just including the web site of the company. Look for the UFC to issue a reminder to its fighters that it cannot do this. Hopefully for Alvey, he is not subject to a monetary fine.
I would have pulled him from the fight. He is stupid for risking his fight. He may have also lost $50,000 for performance pay because of this. He got a finish and even if they would have given it to him. You know they are not with him breaking the sponsor rules. If they would have pulled him. He would likely have lost or had to pay back the Tan sponsor as well as lost fight pay and reebok pay. It didn’t make any sense to do this when the sponsor pay couldn’t have been much given his level in the UFC and it being a fight pass card. He basically risked 100,000 and his career for what $5,000? Stupid!
Judging by his proclaimed love for Reebok in the post fight interview. I would bet he got his ass chewed pretty good.