Nate Diaz ‘Disapproves’ Of UFC Uniform Deal With Reebok
It’s not much of a surprise that many UFC fighters are on the ropes about the promotion’s new six-year uniform deal with athletic apparel giant Reebok.
The sponsorship agreement, which goes into effect in July 2015, will take away outside sponsors from fighters in exchange for a uniform “kit” with predetermined sponsors. Fighters will earn tiered income based on their rankings before the bout in which they wear the uniform, and also 20% of the sales of their merchandise kits.
If it sounds limiting in terms of potential sponsorship revenue, that may be because it is. We’ll just have to wait and see.
However, while it’s supposed to give fighters more of a guaranteed income, one outspoken UFC competitor who has been in search of just that posted a succinct response to the UFC’s new uniform policy:
Here’s for your Bitchass uniforms.. http://t.co/Fqh2bAEZKC pic.twitter.com/2rYYsOI84l
— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) December 3, 2014
It’s not all that much of a surprise to hear such a response from Diaz, who clearly searched for one of his favorite phrases and posted a screenshot of a meme that got his point across.
In any case, a fighter like Diaz, who was removed from the rankings earlier this year for inactivity, probably doesn’t want all of his sponsorship money depending on a set of arbitrary rankings that he could just be removed from at any given moment.
Although he will finally end his yearlong hiatus when he steps into the cage against No. 3 Rafael dos Anjos in the co-main event of Dec. 13’s UFC on FOX from Phoenix, Arizona, Diaz still isn’t happy about his contract.
He hasn’t been for quite some time as his power struggles with Dana White have been chronicled time and again.
And from the look of things, this new sponsorship “revolution” certainly isn’t going to help his tenuous relationship with his employers.