10 Negatives Of UFC's New Reebok Uniform Deal

7. Tier-System Means Minimal Funds Go To Most Fighters

If you're a UFC champion, the UFC/Reebok uniform deal might be good for you. We say might, because even that's not a certainty, and some champions have expressed concern, although in a guarded, round about way. However, here's the not so great part: If you're not a champion, you get less. Fighters ranked 1-5 get a lower percentage. Fighters ranked 6-10 get less than that, 11-15 even less, and unranked fighters are in the bottom. The UFC has about 500 fighters across ten divisions (eight men's divisions, two women's divisions). That's ten champions, excluding interim champions like Fabricio Werdum (no one has actually mentioned if he will be given championship sponsor money or ranked fighter sponsor money should it come to that). Then the top 15 of each division. That's 150 ranked fighters between 10 divisions, plus ten champions (and any interim champs, one currently). Right now that's 161 fighters out of 500 making above the bare minimum. And that's not great. Now we don't know what the bare minimum is yet, but this is rumoured to be a $70 million dollar deal over six years. That's just over 11.6 million per year in sponsorship money. Now if the money was divided evenly between 500 fighters, that would be 23,200 (based off the 11.6 million number divided by 500 fighters) per year per fighter. Of course, there are variables. Not all fighters fight the same amount of times per year. Not all fighters are going to get the same money under the tier system, which means the majority of fighters will actually get less. Now, what does a low tier fighter make? Lets use Dynamic Fastener as an example. They've been a great sponsor of UFC fighters, usually not paying a lot, but they're not a big business, and the owner is just a huge MMA fan. He's handing out $1,500 here, $3,000 there, to fighters just to see his company's name on TV. That is super cool of him, by the way. In any case, a fighter fighting three times might pick up a few grand in cash - but remember, they can wear the logo of multiple sponsors. Or well they could, but won't be able to after July 2015. Some fighters don't like the hassle of dealing with sponsors, especially when some fail to pay, or pay on time, but for guys who several sponsors like Dynamic Fastener, the money adds up. Brendan Schaub, an unranked heavyweight, spoke out about the deal, saying he made twice as much money from sponsors then from his fight purse. He's paid $30,000 to fight (without his win bonus). Taking him at face value, he'd be making $60,000 from sponsors for a fight. According to Schaub, since the Reebok deal was announced, six sponsors have already dropped him.