While many fighters have openly criticized the UFC’s Reebok deal over the past few weeks, former WEC champion Urijah Faber had little to add in terms of negative feedback.
While Faber co-owns one of the more popular MMA apparel brands in the sport, he refused to “whine” about how ‘Torque’ was no longer allowed to sponsor fighters in the Octagon.
“The UFC is helping themselves out on the business side,” Faber said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “It’s their business. I’m not one to whine about it.”
The former champion may not want to whine about it, but he revealed in an interview with BloodyElbow that the new deal will “definitely affect my businesses.” While Faber believes the UFC is acting in its own interest, he did admit that the recent changes in the sponsorship structure would have a lasting impact on the sport in many other ways. Of the expected casualties from the new tier-based system are MMA managers, who many believe will go extinct once the new Reebok deal takes effect.
“It’s not a good thing to be managing yourself in this sport,” he said. “As much as we’re buddies sometimes with the UFC folks, it’s good to have people looking out for you, people to bounce things off of. They still have that with me.”
Ultimately, Faber believes the Reebok deal will help legitimize the sport and allow for better television viewing in the coming years.
“I think we have a bright future,” Faber said. “Our gear is looking better and better every new batch of designs is awesome. There’s the school uniform and what you throw on after school. That’s kind of the way I approach it.
“You got the blue slacks and you got the board shorts when you get out of school.”
Transcription taken from MMAFighting.com.
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