This Reebok deal is a real mess for the UFC. Recently NCAA standout wrestler Ed Ruth signed with Bellator and he directly cites the Reebok deal as a reason why. While Ruth doesn't have any MMA experience, he has contacts with UFC fighters and is certainly the kind of fighter that the UFC would want to add to their roster. Now there are grumblings that UFC fighters that are late in their contracts are contacting Scott Coker. For those that don't know, Coker was the Founder/CEO of Strikeforce (purchased by Zuffa) and is now the head of Bellator.
The brackets that have been setup for sponsorship pay seem to be really low to me. While I understand it's a large amount for Reebok to pay overall, it's a big reduction in pay to the individual fighter. I don't blame Reebok at all for this deal, because they were just doing business. I directly blame the UFC for not recognizing the financial impact on their fighters. In the end, I think it's going to be good for the sport that it's happening, but not from an implementation standpoint. What it's going to do is really open up the discussion about how the fighters are paid, how much the UFC is banking and all of the other factors involved financially. It's a catalyst, albeit, with a negative impact in the short-term.
You know the issue is big when fighters that are under contract are starting to speak openly about it. I read Sherdog/Underground pretty regularly and there seems to be more and more "real" information leaking out. In fact,
Aljamain Sterling made a full post on it. The paycut is pretty steep and when you factor in the costs of running a camp and committing to training, as opposed to having a normal job, it's incredible.
