As was reported yesterday on this and many other sites, Jon Jones will be wearing the Gatorade logo into the cage Saturday night at UFC 165 when he takes on Alexander Gustafsson. Jones will be the first fighter to ever sport the Gatorade logo inside the cage, an impressive claim to be sure.
However, ESPN’s Darren Rovell is making it clear that it is not a paid sponsorship, Jones is being allowed to wear the logo, but is not being paid for it:
There could be any number of reasons for this from both sides. Gatorade may not see the value yet in sponsoring a UFC fighter with serious dollars. Maybe Malki Kawa (Jones’ Manager) and Jones feel this is a good way to start building toward a paid sponsorship in the future. Whatever the reason, a Gatorade representative telling a trusted ESPN reporter that this is not a paid sponsorship pretty much ends any of that talk.
Or does it?
No…but really, it does.
UPDATE: Rovell issued a pair of follow up tweets: