Henderson: Reebok a ‘huge’ impact on decision to signg with Bellator
In an extended interview with NewsDay, former UFC champion expanded on his decision to leave the organization and sign with Bellator MMA.
In an extended interview with NewsDay, former UFC champion expanded on his decision to leave the organization and sign with Bellator MMA:
Do you feel like Bellator really made things personal for you?
BH: For sure, and that was the other great thing about Bellator, they were super open and gracious enough to construct our contract in a different way. In the UFC, it’s ‘this is our contract, and this is how it is’ and there’s no wiggle room or individuality there. Bellator was super awesome being open to different ideas and things in a contract.
Is that in terms of payment options, such as gate percentages, or just activities outside the cage?
BH: Both sides, but they were open to it. UFC’s just not open to it. ‘Nope, we don’t talk about that, we don’t discuss it.’ You can’t even talk about? What do you mean? We can’t even discuss it at all? So that was kind of odd to me, you know? I think the key to all relationships, whoever they are, is communication and having open communication. With Bellator, everything was open and transparent, and you’ve got to love that.
How much did the UFC’s exclusive deal with Reebok factor into your decision to leave?
BH: That made a huge, huge impact on the deal. 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. 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.
