With the Super Bowl set to take place this Sunday live on Fox the media was gathered for the official “Super Bowl Media Day.” The UFC belt was making its way around the floor during the morning’s activities, which included attempts to get players from the AFC champion Denver Broncos to pose with the Big Gold Belt.
It turns out that Dennis Kayser, Senior Director of NFL On-Field Operations, wasn’t a fan of the belt being present at an NFL event. NJ.com tells the story:
“What is that?” the NFL official asked.
“The UFC title belt,” the woman responded. “Want to hold it?”
…
“We don’t want this around here,” he said. “This is wrestling stuff, right? Yeah, we don’t want that associated with us and this event. This is the NFL.”
According to the article, Jay Glazer had to be called over to verify that the UFC was a Fox partner. At that point they were allowed to keep the belt on the floor for photo-ops with players, but it was stressed that it was not to appear on any podiums.
This comes one day after Dana White’s return to his “we’ll be bigger than the NFL claims.”
At least for right now, NFL officials appear to view the promotion as little more than a nuisance.
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