The UFC has ended their long relationship with Reebok as the promotion has recruited Venum as their new kit sponsors. In the newly released promo for the kit, featherweight fighter Brian Ortega, bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling, and rising prospect Kay Hansen featured as the models.
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Stars like Conor McGregor, Israel Adesanya, Jorge Masvidal, Francis Ngannou will use the new kits from now on. The gear is expected to make its debut from this weekendโs UFC Fight Night: Vettori vs Holland card on ABC. Fighters can expect to use these new kits for the foreseeable future.
๐๐ฃ๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ช๐ง๐ฃ๐๐ฎ. ๐๐ซ๐ค๐ก๐ซ๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ง ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ช๐ฉ๐ช๐ง๐.
[ Explore the new collection: https://t.co/j5B1Dgf6fJ ] pic.twitter.com/dPkFCzgYh5โ UFC (@ufc) April 6, 2021
The deal will see an addition of $1 million to the companyโs total budget, and the fighters are also going to get a chunk of the added revenue. Champions and more experienced fighters are expected to receive a larger proportion of the profit. Furthermore, lesser experienced contenders will receive at least an added $500.
UFCโs senior executive vice president and chief operating officer, Lawrence Epstein, has confirmed that despite their satisfactory relationship with Reebok, they believe Venum will take the level of their products up by a notch.
Speaking to ESPNโs Marc Raimondi, Epstein said, โAs good as the Reebok product was, Venum has taken this up a notch with just the quality of construction [and] the thoughtfulness of how our athletes will use the products.โ
How exactly will the new Venum deal profit the fighters?
According to sources, the new Venum deal is not as lucrative as the previous one with Reebok. Reebok paid the UFC $70 million for 6 years. However, the amount included the free products and perks fighters got from the company.
Venum has inked a three-year-long deal with the promotion. However, Reebok hasnโt cut ties with the promotion altogether and will remain the UFCโs footwear partner. The previous rules related to fight-week and competition wear that came with the Reebok deal in 2014, caused fighters almost six-figure losses per bout. Those policies will remain intact with Venum too.
What do you make of the new official wear of the UFC? How exciting was the promo?
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