Jimmo: Complaints about Reebok Deal are good for the sport
Ryan Jimmo: “People are like, ‘Well, the UFC isn’t going to like that.’ But they kind of should. It’s going to bring a little more balance.”
UFC light heavyweight Ryan Jimmo appeared recently on MMAjunkie Radio, and discussed the Reebok Deal. Jimmo has been a vocal critic of the deal, but says UFC management are treating him fine in Brazil.
It hasn’t been bad, he said, as transcribed by Dann Stupp for MMAjunkie. I’m hoping people see this for what it is. It seems like everyone wants to make this sport better for their own side. The promoters want to make the most money for promoters and make the biggest promotion in the world. The managers want to make sure they’re doing the best with their jobs.
I feel like I’m doing that for the fighters. I want to make sure I’m improving the sport. So if someone sees that as me being negative somehow, then they’re just not seeing it in the right light. I’m trying to improve the sport and make it a better sport moving forward.
I think it’s going to improve the company. People are like, ‘Well, the UFC isn’t going to like that.’ But they kind of should. It’s going to bring a little more balance. I think it’s going to undo some of the problems that we do have of people always complaining about some of the treatment they get or the pay or having no rights and no say.
… Instead of them seeing me as some sort of enemy, we’re kind of in the same boat. We’re running the same circus. We’re all trying to make the show run appropriately, and we’re all positive additions.
Every other single sport – every major sport – they’ve had to do this. They’ve had to have people step up and say, ‘You know, we need to improve what’s going on here to improve the overall sport.’ I shouldn’t get anyone giving me dirty looks. If I do, then they’re just a dirty person.
… If someone somehow has a problem with that, I don’t really respect them as a human being because this is about human beings.
Every fighter wants to make more. Every fighter wants a bigger piece of the pie, or the piece of pie they should have. I haven’t had any fighter give me negative feedback. It’s been all positive.
It’s kind of a respect thing. It’s like a personal-power thing within that kind of environment. We didn’t get a say. We didn’t have a say to how this money would get divvied up. We didn’t have an association or a group bargaining. It’s a respect thing. … It’s about the money, but it’s a respect thing.