Fabricio, former Heavyweight UFC champion and fan-favorite fighter from Brazil, has been suspended from his broadcast job because he posted himself wearing Nike on his Instagram account and spoke negatively of the Reebok deal, revealing he used to be able to earn a LOT MORE money in sponsorship cash.
“I think fighters need to start speaking because no one is happy,” Werdum said.
Fighters are allowed to have their own sponsors besides Reebok, they just aren’t allowed to wear those sponsors during fight week / official UFC productions. None the less, the UFC was not fond of Fabricio speaking out against a deal that everybody hates and speaks out about on a constant basis.
Fabricio worked as a broadcaster for international UFC events, so people who don’t speak English well enough to hear Joe and Goldie may hear Fabricio instead. He does a great job, Portuguese-speaking fans adore him, and it was a great thing…
UPDATE: Apparently it’s not a 3 year suspension from his broadcasting job anymore, he’s just been let go altogether.
It’s understandable that his Instagram post would upset Reebok, since the post in question showed Fabricio rocking a Reebok UFC fight kit that had the Reebok logo photoshopped over with a Nike logo.
“I was protesting,” Werdum said. “Actually, I’m not forced to use Reebok. I don’t have a contract with them. For people that don’t know, Reebok sponsors, well, sponsors, only during the fight and in the fight week you have to wear it [Reebok gear], it’s in the contract. In reality, I don’t have a deal with them to post outside the UFC. I can post whatever I want, if I want to post Kings MMA, I’ll post. If I want to post Nike or any other company or the sponsors I have, anything, so I’m not obligated. For people saying I’d get in trouble, there will be no trouble. It was just a protest, something that before we could show any sponsor we wanted. We used to get real good money, it was a lot different from Reebok. Today, with Reebok there is a pay scale, if you have a certain number of fights you get $5.000, $8.000. Of course it’s good money, but nothing like it was before, so of course it was a protest.”
Page 1 of 1:
