“Reebok was good for me…” Flyweight GOAT Demetrious Johnson makes shocking admission on UFC’s ‘most hated’ Reebok sponsorship deal

Sponsorship in MMA had started to wane over the past few years. Few companies were willing to put their logo on a fighter’s kit, and even fewer were willing to fork out handsomely. So what happens to the fighters whose sponsorship income made up a substantial sum? That is what Demetrious Johnson thought at the time about Reebok.

Make no mistake; ‘Mighty Mouse’ is “mighty” indeed. An all-time flyweight G.O.A.T candidate, he made 11 consecutive title defenses, which supplanted even Anderson Silva at the time. But Johnson has long had a chip on his shoulder when it came to not earning proper pay-per-view points. Matter of fact, despite multiple successful defenses, he only earned suitable fighter compensation on his exit bout with Henry Cejudo. For fighters like such, sponsorships mattered.

Well, obviously for me, being a flyweight at the time…A lot of fighters were like ‘Yea, You are crazy, DJ!’ But, I felt like Reebok was good for me…Reason I say is because, when I had Xbox, and we talked about Xbox a lot of time…only time I’d get paid from XBox when they had a bog activation…Like Tomb Raider or Call of Duty. But once Reebok came, if you were champion you get 40k right up front…You don’t have to chase no nobody, [not] chase the money…
Demetrious Johnson via his “MIGHTY” Podcast (@Mighty15x)

Johnson was joined by Quinton Jackson. ‘Rampage,’ who joined in from his studio for the ‘JAXXON’ Podcast, had some grievances to air. Reebok was the outfitting partner when he defeated Chuck Liddell at UFC 71. Reebok UFC Fight Kit and Mixed Martial Arts Fan Apparel had a sponsorship deal with him. However, his pay-per-view deal fell through. It was one of the reasons for him going independent and transitioning to the Japan MMA circuit.

However, being on the lower scale of the pecking order (a flyweight) Demetrious Johnson was quite happy with it all. His pay stubs would convert to full sponsorship payments with Reebok (say, almost a full portion of $40,000 to go in the octagon), which wasn’t the same for his deal with Xbox.

Why did the UFC leave Reebok for Venum?

At the time, Demetrious Johnson had his doubts but told MMA Junkie that he hoped Reebok’s uniform deals wouldn’t cut on preexisting structures. ‘DJ’ added that the new deal will benefit fighters who have struggled to land sponsors. But he hoped the agreement won’t diminish what others have already made. Almost a decade later, his concerns have acted as a prelude to Reebok’s exit.

UFC gradually jumped ship from Reebok (Source: (@ufceurope) on Instagram/agfight.com)

Reebok’s deal came to a halt after UFC 260, on March 27. The switch was made to Venum for their Official Fighter kits and gears. With a redesigned payout structure, Venum was paying $42,000 per championship bout for reigning titleholders. Title challengers now earn a bracket of $32,000 for title-shot opportunities. While fighters with brackets of 16-20 fights under their belt earn $1000 more than before.

UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers appropriate the windfalls of Venum’s multi-year sponsorship. Fighters earn a significant percentage of “perpetuity royalty payments” from merch sold with their resemblance. It was the same for Reebok; however, for a deal valued at $70 million, Reebok handed out only $39.3 million in reported athlete payouts.