Meanwhile in Reebok Headquarters: "Hey check out this picks from this fighter chick PVZ! Isnt she hot? Lets give her more money."
Exactly. And I'm sure Reebok had no input on the removal of banners and all non-Reebok sponsors during fight week. The deal they cut with the UFC absolutely effects fighter compensation and they absolutely had input in regards to how things worked out.
What they should have said is "Now that the contract is signed and the deal is done, we don't control how the UFC doles out the money that we gave them for this insane deal that we got."
JoeyBagaDonuts - Ill take that as Reebok not liking the bad press associated with UFC actions. Who would of thought
Damn right and it's our job to voice our disapproval. We are the ones paying the bills and we want to be heard. We will not support a dictatorship. We want our heroes treated like the heroes they are.
The Reebok shirts have become the symbol of modern day slavery.
Someone shoop the south Carolina flag with a Reebok logos instead of stars.
JoeyBagaDonuts - Ill take that as Reebok not liking the bad press associated with UFC actions. Who would of thought
Damn right and it's our job to voice our disapproval. We are the ones paying the bills and we want to be heard. We will not support a dictatorship. We want our heroes treated like the heroes they are.
The Reebok shirts have become the symbol of modern day slavery.
Someone shoop the south Carolina flag with a Reebok logos instead of stars.
LMAO at Reebok trying to distance themselves from the UFC in this matter. It hasn't even been 3 months of exclusive sponsorship yet and they are already doing damage control.
SensoriaUtopia - guys, stop putting the onus on Reebok, it's on Zuffa. It's not Reeboks fault that Zuffa went and scooped up their shitty product and took their million to them directly and okayed that horrendous fighter sponsor pay that Reebok is giving, it's on Zuffa, they where the ones who agreed to it.
If your buddy takes you to a shitty one direction concert, you can't get pissed off at one direction, they are a shitty boy band, but they make that obvious, its on you and your buddy for being stupid, or naive enough to go.
It goes both ways, shitting on FIFA didn't do much until people went after the sponsors.
Nothing will change though, Zuffa will bury their head in the sand and move on as usual and no one will care again in a week.
This is why it's important to put pressure on the sponsors. Zuffa has shown they don't give a fuck about fan input. They will care if the sponsors make noise
This is ridiculous. MMA fans are trying to have their cake and eat it too. They want to be angry about this. They want to blame UFC a little bit, but they want blame Reebok even more. Reebok is related to this mess, and there are plenty of things to blame Reebok for, but this isn't one of them.
People are talking about boycotting Reebok, while admitting they never bought anything anyway. I don't think you understand how boycotts work. If you want to boycott anyone it has to be Zuffa. They make the staffing decisions.
Or maybe it's just the paid UFC shills who are trying to pass the blame down for this deal. UFC knew how unpopular this was going to be, or at least they should have. They brought this on themselves. They invented a problem so they could come in and fix it.
AlbertEinstein - This is ridiculous. MMA fans are trying to have their cake and eat it too. They want to be angry about this. They want to blame UFC a little bit, but they want blame Reebok even more. Reebok is related to this mess, and there are plenty of things to blame Reebok for, but this isn't one of them.
People are talking about boycotting Reebok, while admitting they never bought anything anyway. I don't think you understand how boycotts work. If you want to boycott anyone it has to be Zuffa. They make the staffing decisions.
Anyone blaming Reebok for this scenario is obviously out of line, but I completely agree with putting pressure on huge sponsors for the UFC's outrageous behavior. There is a connection between the two, which is why sponsors are so quick to pull their endorsements when crazy shit happens with athletes (like the Jon Jones situation).
you don't get to benefit from your relationship with the UFC and distance yourself from the uneasy parts - the Zuffa/Reebok alliance is massive and all encompassing, Reebok can't cherry pick its influence...
Brendan Schaub's podcast fans, Stich supporters, people who just want to laugh at 'Giblert', the ridicule over $95 shirts, you bought into all of it...
I can't find the original statement from Stitch but I'm sure he said that he asked the UFC to approach Reebok and they responded by saying there was no budget to include Cutmen. If Reebok doesn't include Cutmen in the deal then surely it's unrealistic for them to expect them to wear a Reebok vest with no sponsorship. As long as there's good Cutmen to take his place that can prolong fights as he undoubtedly did then it won't affect the fans in a few weeks other than we lose an icon in the same mould as Burt. It does affect the fighters though. I've never had my hands wrapped for a pro fight but I imagine I would place my trust in a guy that does it just so.
Zuffa needs fan loyalty to continue to grow, it's just a pity that it's a quality they seem to sadly lack.
LMAO at Reebok trying to distance themselves from the UFC in this matter. It hasn't even been 3 months of exclusive sponsorship yet and they are already doing damage control.
Hell, the official Reebok era is only 3 weeks old!
AlbertEinstein - This is ridiculous. MMA fans are trying to have their cake and eat it too. They want to be angry about this. They want to blame UFC a little bit, but they want blame Reebok even more. Reebok is related to this mess, and there are plenty of things to blame Reebok for, but this isn't one of them.
People are talking about boycotting Reebok, while admitting they never bought anything anyway. I don't think you understand how boycotts work. If you want to boycott anyone it has to be Zuffa. They make the staffing decisions.
Anyone blaming Reebok for this scenario is obviously out of line, but I completely agree with putting pressure on huge sponsors for the UFC's outrageous behavior. There is a connection between the two, which is why sponsors are so quick to pull their endorsements when crazy shit happens with athletes (like the Jon Jones situation).
We're not out of line.
Say what you want about Reebok but it's a big corporation with an extensive experience on sports sponsorship. Only a very few sports brands surpass it. They knew full well what this was going to do to our sport and decided to risk it because they had such a bargain in their hand. Don't you think the UFC asked for more? The UFC might be the ones who sold their fighters for peanuts but it's Reebok who thought our sports was worthless. They are not this poor little victim you are trying to portray.
Zuffa don't care about fans, people will watch fights no matter what and they will always make money. Reebok on the other hand had to crucified to get zuffa attention. And the shirts are horrible anyway so it makes us feel less guilty about it.
