Faber on Reebok Deal: ‘This is the real world’
Urijah Faber on The Reebok Deal: “It is unfortunate … But this is the real world, and this is their business. They get to make the rules.”
Fighter reaction to the Reebok Deal has ranged from the furious, to the happy, to the resigned. UFC featherweight Urijah Faber has founded two apparel brands, Torque and Form Athletics. Faber sold the latter, but still owns Torque, and will no longer be able to promote his own brand.
Faber’s tenure with the UFC and the WEC before that is such that he sits in the top tier with 22 fights and $20,000 per show, but is still losing the right to promote his own brand. In an interview with Steven Marrocco for MMAJunkie, Faber determined to soldier on.
It will be business as usual for me, said Faber . Well, to be honest, I’ve decided that my main staple of making cash moving forward is not going to be other opportunities. I’m not going to worry about a couple of grand here and there.
It is unfortunate, because I have my own clothing brand and I have my own companies that I promote when I fight. But this is the real world, and this is their business. They get to make the rules.
I feel like there’s a lot of fighters that are losing money, and the few that will be gaining some money, (and) is it going to progress as it goes on? Possibly. Will guys be really upset? Yes. I learned a long time ago that I didn’t get in this sport to be a super-uber wealthy dude because of the fight game – that’s not the world that I live in right now. I can make a great living, better than a lot of my buddies that are in the corporate world, so I can’t really complain.
But as far as the Reebok deal, I have my own company, so I’d rather be promoting those. I also have sponsors where I’d probably getting more money even though I’m at the tip-top tier. But because of the situation with the UFC having their own sponsors, the sponsors have been dwindling throughout the years, so that’s kind of been my place, to build my own brand, because I feel like we are valuable, and more valuable than people are willing to pay a lot of times.
Things have changed, so it’s hard to really say, but I think a lot of people are going to be disappointed with the way it turns out.
It’s kind of a tender subject, because we don’t really have a whole lot of say in the whole thing.”
Urijah Faber fights Frankie Edgar headliner in the headliner at at UFC Fight Night 66 on May 16 in Pasay, Philippines.
