It looks like Reebok may have made an enemy for life in the form of UFC star Donald Cerrone.
The sportswear behemoths haven’t received the best press since signing their infamous sponsorship deal with the UFC in December 2014.
Under the terms of the deal, fighters are only allowed to wear Reebok apparel at all events during fight week including weigh-ins, press conferences and during the fights. In return, fighters are paid sponsorship money based on the number of times they’ve fought for a Zuffa-owned promotion.
While fighters are still allowed to have other sponsors, the inability to wear non-Reebok attire has seen some athletes lose out on a lot of sponsorship revenue. For example, former TUF competitor Brendan Schaub claimed he went from earning six-figures in sponsorship money to a paltry $10,000 per fight since the deal came in.
Reebok-UFC Sponsorship payouts pic.twitter.com/Gn7uVrdm40
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) May 7, 2015
However, failing to uphold the terms of the deal has resulted in hefty fines for several fighters on the UFC roster. One of which was handed to “Cowboy” Cerrone as a punishment for wearing an American flag patch on his shorts during his lightweight title loss to Rafael dos Anjos.
I sure did https://t.co/X3XkUJtMVX
— Cowboy Cerrone (@Cowboycerrone) January 7, 2016
Although, he was reluctant to reveal exactly how much he was fined for the infraction, his comments on Twitter suggest it was a whopping sum of money.
Let's just say a LOT. Think of a number then double it https://t.co/yBSGT4cfvc
— Cowboy Cerrone (@Cowboycerrone) January 7, 2016
A few weeks later, Cerrone still seems bitter about the punishment. He uploaded a very passive aggressive post to Instagram in which he gushed about how amazing his Nike footwear was. He made a point of noting the variety of colours and styles they are available in which is obviously a shot at the UFC Reebok uniforms Fight Kits.
