Rory MacDonald signs deal with Reebok

Rory MacDonald has signed an individual sponsorship deal with Reebok.  The deal will be in effect for his fight this Saturday at UFC 189 against Robbie Lawler.

The Canadian joins a select list of fighters with individual sponsorship deals with the official clothier of the UFC.  This Saturday will be the first night that all UFC fighters will don Reebok fight apparel in the octagon.

Prior to the end of third-party sponsorships, MacDonald’s fight shorts were adorned with sponsors.  With the end of that era, MacDonald will look to secure individual sponsorship deals and/or keep his prior sponsors through out of Octagon/Fight Week deals.

Payout Perspective:

Notably, welterweight Robbie Lawler has not been offered a Reebok deal yet.  You might recall he had signed with Adidas prior to his fight with Matt Brown last July.  For those that did not know, Adidas actually owns Reebok.  It actually contemplated selling the brand.  Notwithstanding that, where’s Lawler’s deal?

It will be interesting to see how many more individual sponsorship deals we will see from Reebok. The MacDonald signing might be hedging bets he pulls off a victory over Robbie Lawler Saturday.