Khabib Nurmogomedov is the latest UFC fighter to receive an individual sponsorship deal with Reebok. Reebok announced the deal via twitter.
Nurmogomedov was last seen in a brawl with the Diaz Brothers at a WSOF event at the Planet Hollywood in Vegas earlier this month. His last fight in a UFC octagon was in April 2014. A knee injury has kept him out of action since then. However, he’s slated to return to fight in the octagon in December against Tony Ferguson.
The Eagle has landed! @UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov officially signs with Reebok. @TeamKhabib & #TeamReebok unite! pic.twitter.com/npL28d0BDv
— Reebok (@Reebok) August 31, 2015
Payout Perspective:
Nurmogomedov becomes the 12th UFC fighter with an individual Reebok deal. His deal is somewhat surprising considering he was involved in that brawl with the Diaz brothers and has been injured for a while. He’s slated to fight in December if he can remain healthy. The sponsor deal will help with the international appeal of the sport. But, unless the UFC has deemed that Khabib was not at fault in the melee at the WSOF event, what does this say about how the sponsor deals that are awarded. I realize that Reebok is the sponsor, but one would have to think that the UFC gives some input on which fighters the clothier should pursue for an individual deal.
who?
That’s an interesting stat – 12th UFC fighter to sign. So Fedor will be the 13th. Not exactly a lucky number.
What do you think about all the rumors that Fedor Emelianenko has signed with the UFC?
i think Fedor gets trashed by any top 5 heavyweight. but ill still watch
Fedor would have trouble against the top 10, not just the top 5. There are very few guys I would put him over against unless there was some nagging injury involved.
Simply put,
a) Fedor does not know how to fight effectively in the cage. He has one win in the cage as far as I can tell, and that was against an opponent that didn’t belong in there with him at the time. All 3 of his real losses were all in the cage.
b) The game has progressed a lot over the time period he has been out. Even though we see a resurgence of some of the old guys in the HW division, most of them have been training with top teams such as AKA and Jackson.
So, other that the nostalgic nature of having Fedor back, if I made the matches for the UFC, I would keep him away from the top 5 and probably the top 10 and put him in a big match, possibly a rematch with Dan Henderson or someone else in the 200 to 220 range that has name recognition. Even Anderson Silva would make more sense than putting Fedor against JDS or Cain. Maybe Josh Barnett would make for a good match up, but does anyone really want to see that?
Fedor has been training a lot lately. Just because he’s old school doesn’t mean he can’t transition to the cage. Werdum is old school too. Simply put,
a) Fedor and anyone else for that matter can learn and adapt. His losing in the cage came as no surprise since he had lost his sambo title a few months before. Most importantly, 2 of his 3 losses should have been considered NCs because his opponents were on PEDs. His only genuine loss was against Werdum.
b) The game has not progressed. Fighters still have 2 arms and 2 legs and they still feel pain. The game has “progressed” in the sense that it has more gimmicks and is focused on $$$.
I hope Fedor stays away from the UFC and goes to Bellator. The UFC is just a circus. Many of the current UFC fighters come across as freaks.