The Venum Deal
At UFC Fight Night: Vettori vs Holland on April 10th we will see UFC fighters in Venum gear for the first time.
Payouts going to the fighters have slightly increased compared to the UFC’s previous deal with Reebok. The pay structure is similar to the previous deal with Reebok and fighters’ pay will be determined by the number of fights a fighter has had within the promotion. There are also separate tiers for champions and fighters who are fighting for a title.
The pay structure is:
1-3 bouts: $4,000
4-5 bouts: $4,500
6-10 bouts: $6,000
11-15 bouts: $11,000
16-20 bouts: $16,000
21 or more bouts: $21,000
Title Challengers: $32,000
Champions: $42,000
Extra money is always welcomed, but the payouts to fighters haven’t changed fundamentally.
One big change for the fighters is the rules surrounding mouthpieces. The promotional guidelines state that “Mouthguards may not have any commercially identifiable logos or trademarks other than UFC logos and trademarks; however, athletes’ names, their children’s names, spouse’s name, athletes’ nicknames, country flags, or those approved by UFC and documented in the system and other Unbranded designs may be permitted if approved by UFC.”
The promotional guidelines say that fighters’ mouthguards “must be submitted for review and approval upon check-in during fight week.”
Also, there’s a small issue with the deal regarding the rights to use Venum products in Brazil. A situation between Venum’s original co-owners Franck Dupuis and Andre Vieira resulted in Venum Brasil becoming a separate entity. It’s not yet known exactly how this may affect the UFC’s ability to use Venum gear when it hosts events in Brazil. COVID will probably prevent us from knowing what will happen when the UFC goes to Brazil for quite some time. This pandemic has resulted in no events being planned to take place in Brazil for the foreseeable future.
Luckily, there hasn't been news of any massive mistakes being made on the Uniforms like Reebok originally had. When Reebok first debuted they put Chinese names backwards and they put people’s government names on the kits without any thought going towards the fighters’ brand. The use of government names upset fighters like Tom Lawlor whose name was written as Thomas Lawlor on his Reebok kit.
The new walkout gear is now available for purchase at the UFC store.
