Reebok Deflects Criticism On Fighter Pay: "Don't Blame Us, The UFC Dictates Fighter Pay"

By Anton Tabuena

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Reebok's entry into Mixed Martial Arts has been rocky at best, and the company has received its fair share of criticism from fans, personalities, and even athletes in the sport.

There have been various complaints about it, but one of the main issues has been compensation now that other outside sponsors won't be allowed during UFC events. Fighters such as Brendan Schaub and Tim Kennedy have been vocal, saying that the measly pay fighters get from the UFC's Reebok deal doesn't make it feasible for them to compete under the new sponsorship structure.

Reebok exec Michael Lunardelli appeared at a recent episode of the MMA Hour to reveal Chris Weidman's new signature shoes. Apart from the unveiling of their new signing, Reebok's senior director of combat training also discussed the criticism the company has been getting from UFC fans.

"You can't make everybody happy," Lunardelli said. "Some people are going to criticize the deal. They may feel that they lost some sponsorships as part of this apparel deal. The way we look at it is, we're not deciding where the money goes."

"We're investing into all these different things that relate to MMA and the sport, so we've put a lot of money into the UFC deal, we've put a lot of money into fighters, we've put a lot of money into gyms and trainers and coaches, things like that. But then there comes a decision point, and the UFC decides how the fighters are paid. That's not something we get involved in at all."

"So I can understand that he's looking at us and blaming us because it's a Reebok apparel deal. It's a little misplaced from my standpoint. But at the same time, we have to do what we have to do, and that's focus on making great gear, supporting fighters, getting fighters to showcase as the face of our brand. If we do those things really well, then things will come around."

Apart from the sponsorship numbers, Reebok has also been under fire as of late, after they came out with an ill-conceived Ireland shirt.

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Thoughts?

The good old days of fighter pay for the lower tier fighters is gone.

Bad move by Reebok deflecting this onto the UFC, but I am not sure they had any other option. I imagine the UFC is not pleased with this and will be letting Reebok know.

I would bet UFC agreed to take the blame. Dana came out after and said the deal has been a Homerun for Reebok. UFC is used to dealing with internet fans who overreacted to every change with vitriol. 

I certainly think Reebok also needs to take responsibility. They have had far too many mishaps with their apparel as of late. Like, seriously no screening process went in to many of their MMA gear.

Basically, Reebok is saying 'The UFC screws their fighters, why should we feel guilty?'

PS:  While it's true that other major sports basically have exclusive deals with major sports apparel companies, their athletes also have player unions, minimum salaries, collective bargaining agreements etc.

@bigj383  Pump the brakes there, pal.  How is this, in any way, a positive for the UFC and their "big name" apparel sponsor Reebok (because Reebok is as big as Nike or Adidas, honest...) take this massive magnitude of bad PR for this deal?  This the ultimate description of a lose-lose situation for the UFC and Reebok, and is almost as bad as the Reebok-NHL uniform deal. Neither side has gained anything positive from this F-5 level **** storm.

Reebok's brand become further diminished (as if it wasn't bad enough when Adidas made them a cross-fit only brand) due to how badly rushed the product was from release and angering fans due to lack of forethought with branding of products.  At the same time, the UFC has suffered negative attention to this deal as they have further negatively affected fighter pay, they have strong armed and coerced personnel into accepting this deal, and attacked anyone who has spoken out against the deal.

This was supposed to be the deal that would allow Zuffa to get high level corporations like Verizon, Goodyear, FedEx, Samsung, Ford, Pepsi/Gatorade, and/or Doritos to partner with the UFC and increase the visibility of the sport to a level equivalent to that of the NFL.  After the way the Dana and the UFC has handled this situation and treated Reebok like a human shield to deflect negative attention away, those big corporations are probably shying away from the UFC out of fear of having the same happening to them.

It's really very simple, let Reebok have their stupid logo on all uniforms and bring back the cray cray fighting shorts.

PS:  Put the stupid ******* Reebok swoosh thing on the center of the octagon, oh wait, that's where the UFC goes, wait, UFC is whoring themselves, wait, I'm confused.

* Edited at 10.29.2015, 1:38 AM ET *

None of you seem to have the ability to think beyond the short term. People *****ing about this deal are internet fans who make up about 5% of UFC's total fanbase and fighters who got dumped by sponsors who could no longer capitalize on UFC airtime. Reebok pays 11 million a year to be exclusive uniform provider for the UFC. If Reebok winds up selling more than that in gear it's a win for them. The UFC has looked far more Professional over the past six months and I hope they come up with a greater variety of fight shorts but the deal hasn't been around for even a year. If the fans and fighters grew a brain and get behind the deal and support it in a few years when this deal expires maybe Adidas will take over or possibly Nike will offer a competing bid for 20-30 million a year guaranteeing fighters even more money. Right now the deal averages out to 20k per fighter in gear and money per year for doing nothing more than showing up to do there job. You combine that with the fact is UFC's base level pay is 1000% higher than their closest competitor plus they pay bonuses and guaranteed sponsorship something which Is not there for every fighter and was only ever available because their manager was selling airtime on someone elses platform. 

No matter how much you ***** the deal isn't going anywhere so it's either enbrace it and help the growth of the sport or fight and set the sport back a decade. 

Go watch more Adam Sandler movies with the wife and leave the big boy discussions to the adults, okay?

*Embrace

Besides every major change the sport has gone through has been met with an avalanche of resistance. But every time without fail the final product has been higher quality and the fighters have wound up making more and more money. 

UFC cancels tournaments people *****ed but in the end we wound up with a better product. 
Fighters were forced to wear gloves people *****ed but we ended up with a better product. 
Weightclasses were enstaded people *****ed but we wound up with a better product. 
Rounds and a list of rules were enstated but we wound up with a better more marketable product. 
TUF was started fans said it would destroy the integrity of the sport but base fighter pay has increased 400-500% in the 10 years since and even more on the high end world champs went form making 100k at best to 5 million. 
UFC started fightpass and fans claims it was UFC being greedy charging fans for things they use to get for free but now it's an amazing platform for small MMA promotions to be seen and the sport is better for it. 

If the UFC took business advise from the fans the UFC would be bankrupt and the sport would be dead. Most fans are ******* morons when it comes to the business side of MMA and so are most fighters for that matter. 

Ad hominem, when you can't attack the argument attack the person. 

I trust the fighters, though.  If they don't like the deal, then it's not a good deal, Occam's Razor and such.  Simple fact, they have no players union, collective bargaining etc.

Alpha Males attack the source directly bro. 

That still doesn't explain why you're doing it Nomad.