The UFC’s sponsorship deal with Reebok is still drawing criticism. Benson Henderson, who recently left UFC and signed with Bellator MMA, revealed to Newsday just how much sponsorship revenue he’s personally lost due to the Reebok deal.
“That made a huge, huge impact on the deal,” Henderson said. “I’d be lying if I said it didn’t play into the deal. Reebok deal, we’ll see how it plays out, it’s playing out to mediocre fanfare so far. For me, I’m one of the fighters who lost out on a lot of money, a lot of money, when the rumors of the Reebok deal came out, and when it went into effect, I lost out on a lot of money.
“Being told I have to wear this, then being compensated with a few pennies, I’m not a big fan of,” he continued. “Being told I have to do this and being compensated with nothing, I’m not a big fan of. I’m not an employee, I’m an independent contractor, and if you’re an independent contractor, you don’t have to do certain things. So being told what to wear, you have to wear this, you have to do this, you have to dance like this for us, dance like that for us, I wasn’t a big fan of that.
“So again, that’s something Bellator brought to the table that UFC can’t, you’re not allowed. I was in the top tier, you can look it up in public records, the top tier for the Reebok deal is $20,000, so if I were to fight four times in a year at $20,000 is $80,000 in sponsorship money. So for a whole year I get $80K for wearing Reebok and that would’ve been over $100,000 I would’ve lost in that one year from the Reebok deal.”
Henderson is scheduled to challenge Andrey Koreshkov for the Bellator MMA welterweight title at Bellator 153. The event takes place on April 22, 2016 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut and will air on Spike TV.
