UFC unveils its Reebok Fight Kits

Every media outlet under the sun is buzzing about the UFC's press conference this afternoon where the company finally unveiled its long-awaited fighter kits, which initiate a long-term partnership with the apparel brand Reebok.  This deal as many know has gained mixed reactions from both fighters and the sports media.  I won't delve into the details of the deal right now, but you can click here for a previous story about the partnership and the compensation strategy for fighters.

With all of its major stars in attendance Reebok unveiled a signature champions line that will be all black and several other variations of colored shirts emblazoned with the fighters full name.  In addition one of the sleeves will display the fighter's country of origin with a large UFC logo in the front.  My description is fairly lacking so I will post a link to the story.

These kits are a stark contrast to the fighter shirts of yore.  The previous apparel brands were quite artistic.  Some had interesting graphics and some were just plain logos.  These new kits are the example of professionalism, much like the athletic kits of other sports only the most necessary information is displayed in order enhance recognition.  It also may create a larger unity in terms of team infrastructure (countries share similar color schemes, creating discernible groups within the organization).  In other words, they are uniforms meant to unify and distinguish fighters in the roster.  However, I cannot help but think of previous fight leagues like the now defunct International Fight League (IFL) where the fighters were separated into teams and displayed uniforms reflecting those teams where they competed as teams as well, much like the current season of The Ultimate Fighter.

Fighter reaction to the new kits has been mixed as well. Some ridicule the structure and color scheme of the new kits.  Others are ready to tow the line and embrace this new chapter in their careers.  I actually thought that the UFC was just going to let Reebok design custom shirts for every event reflecting the personalities of the fighters who were to step into the cage much like they had done with some of their signature athletes before this partnership.  But as we saw today the ability to brand yourself and stand out from the crowd has been hindered to fighters, which means that fighters will have to hustle to monetize themselves out of the cage.

On the other hand, this could make the sport better.  A fighter will now be recognized because of their skills if everyone if  are know distinguishing characteristics.  Fighters would elevate their performances in order to be recognized by the mass media.  This is the first step the company believes will lead to more promotion and more coverage form media circuits outside of the traditional MMA media and legitimize the sport to appeal to the masses.

Whatever you think of the new kits; they will be here to stay.  Let me know what you think of the new kits.  Feel free to leave a comment down below and subscribe to the blog.  Also I am available to discuss these issues on my Google+ account and on twitter via @mmalegal2016.

The New York Senate Has Once Again Passed a Bill That Would Legalize Mixed Martial Arts in the State

Courtesy of Google Images

Today it was once again announced as six years prior, a bill has passed in the New York Senate legalizing the practice of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in the state.  New York remains one of the last states to not have a regulating body for MMA.  Much to the chagrin of large promotions like the UFC which envision the possibility of revenues that could be generated by holding events in venues like Madison Square Garden.

The bill still needs to be passed in the Assembly and signed by Governor Cuomo.  New York's governor has on the record several times expressed his support for the addition of MMA to New York.  The UFC itself has spent millions of dollars in lobbying efforts in the state.  Also various athletes from the company like Women's Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey and Long Island's own Middleweight Champion Chris Weidman have made the trip up to Albany to garnish some good will from the state's legislators.

Some attribute the failure to legalize MMA in New York to the strength of the Culinary Union in the state.  The Culinary Union has produced a bitter lobbying campaign against the Fertitta brothers who own Station Casinos in Las Vegas.  Station Casinos remain as some of the last non-union casinos in Vegas.  The Fertittas also own Zuffa LLC. (the parent company of the UFC) and as a result fans in New York have suffered from this feud.

In addition, New York's Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was a staunch opponent of the sport's legalization.  He would do anything to roadblock the bill from reaching the assembly floor.  There are also allegations that the Culinary Union directly contributed to his campaigns.

Former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in FBI custody Courtesy NYPost.com

However, fans breathed a sigh of relief when Silver was arrested by federal authorities under suspicion of corruption. Former Speaker Silver had been charged with taking over $4 million worth of bribes and kickbacks. Finally the biggest obstacle had been surpassed and fans envisioned an event at MSG by the year's end.  Now all that's left is for a vote to finally happen in the assembly and the governor's signature.

This law would rename the state's boxing commission into the New York State Athletic Commission, regulating both professional and amateur MMA events put on in the state.  In addition, the state would also require a promoter to bond $50,000 insurance at professional events for injuries sustained by fighters as well as other accidents during the event.

I will keep my readers updated on any developments to this story, but fingers crossed it may be happening finally this year.  As always feel free to leave a comment down below if you have any questions or would like to contribute to the conversation.  I can also be contacted via Google+ and twitter @mmalegal2016.

UFC Decides to Keep Jackson out of Action until Litigation Finishes with Bellator

The UFC has decided to shelf Quinton "Rampage" Jackson until his court battle with Bellator MMA is finished.  Given the debacle that occurred in April where a NJ Superior Court enjoined Jackson from competing. Then, the same judged proceeded to remove the injunction at the commencement of fight week.  During this period of three weeks or so, the UFC scambled to save to the co-main event and even considered cancelling the bout altogether (something that plagued its PPV numbers and led to a downgrade of its credit rating by Moody's and S&P last year).  So this seems like a reasonable course of action given that there is a chance that Jackson would be prohibited from competing inside the cage.

For those you who are not in the loop, Jackson left the UFC in 2013 and signed for the rival Bellator MMA for reportedly six fights.  In 2014 he competed twice under the Bellator banner and then jumped ship with four fights still left on his contract.

Essentially Bellator is looking for estoppel or the promises that were guaranteed when Jackson signed for the organization.  The promise of course was his services inside the cage and the potential revenue that could possibly have been accrued due to Jackson's name in the sport of MMA.

I find it very unlikely that the courts will force Jackson to return to Bellator until the end of his contract against his will.  The most likely scenario is that a judge will award damages to make Bellator who for the lost revenue created by Jackson's premature departure from his contract.  Unless Jackson can find some egregious circumstance created by Bellator to justify his departure it is very likely that the courts will side with Bellator.

As always I will try to keep my audience abreast of any developments in this case as they unravel in the future.  Feel free to leave a comment down below and subscribe to the Blog.  And if you'd like to chat you can find me on Google + and twitter @mmalegal2016.

UFC Announces that USADA will be Handling its New Drug Policy.

The UFC announced a few months ago that it would be implementing new drug policy that would crack down on performance enhancing drug (PED) usage within the sport.  The new program completely overhauls the previous policy by implementing harsher penalties on anyone who tested positive for any of the banned substances as designated by the various commissions.  For example, an athlete who has tested with abnormal hormone levels outside the ratio allowed, that athlete could potentially face up to three years suspension competition.

The UFC's capability of testing athletes has been highly criticized by fans, the media, and the athletes themselves.  The former policy was to test random athletes after their bouts as well as all the main event's participants.  The result was a system where some athletes would take advantage of their downtime to administer PEDs with enough time to cycle off the drugs by the time they had to compete and subsequently be tested.  In consequence, several athletes would receive all the benefits of PEDs in competition, outweighing the risk of discovery.  This worked for a while, but soon enough, several fighters began to "piss hot."

The other quagmire that plagued the sport was that of Testosterone Replacement Therapy where certain commissions, after receiving a prescription from a doctor, allowed aging athletes to supplement themselves with testosterone.  The justification of this policy was that it could prolong the life of a fighter's career by supplementing their waning testosterone whether that was because of head trauma or other reasons for low testosterone in order to return to levels comparable to another man of the same age.  This program became the subject of an ESPN expose revealing the fact that doctor's traded diagnoses and prescriptions for money and/or other favors.  Furthermore, another controversy as to why some of these fighters' levels had dipped over the years.  The main speculation was a prior history of testosterone/PED usage on the part of the athlete.  Due to the heavy controversy the program was scrapped completely.

Also, over the past year, the UFC and Nevada State Athletic Commission began to implement random drug testing to some of its major athletes prior to their bouts.  The first to fall in the trap was Alistair Overeem who according to Joe Rogan had "inhuman levels" of testosterone in his body.  But the greatest shock to the sport came when it was revealed in February of this year that UFC legend and former middleweight champion Anderson Silva failed a drug test in early January.

At the time Silva was synonymous with the UFC brand, he was charismatic and friendly to sponsors.  He embodied the image of a traditional martial artist, although he showboated at times, like Ali he was very respectful of his opponents and their skills (except for an incident with Damian Maia in Abu Dhabi).  George St. Pierre another former champion who chose to leave the organization justified his departure by saying that there was a systemic problem within the UFC as he believed fighters were using and masking PEDs to give them unfair advantages.  Chris Weidman the current middleweight champion has also spoken out about these allegations as to his most recent opponent Vitor Belfort who had been a beneficiary of TRT.

Which makes today's announcement all the more better as a step in the right direction to cleaning up the reputation of a developing sport.  The UFC announced today that it would be working in conjunction with the United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA).  This agency is considered the most prestigious drug testing facility and policing agency to ensure fairness in sports when it comes to the usage and abuse of PEDs in national sports following the regulations of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA.)  The cooperation with USADA will also ensure the chain of custody of urine and blood samples, unburdening the commissions who had been tasked with performing these exams on athletes with very limited budgets from their states.  As much as the UFC and Zuffa have been criticized over this past year, it appears in this instance that the company is moving towards the right direction in ensuring both the safety and fairness of the sport.

As always feel free to leave any comments down below and subscribe to the blog.  You can always find me on Google+ and twitter via @mmalegal2016.

Reebok Deal Possibly Discriminates Against Women

Picture Courtesy of UFC.TV

I was listening to Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour Podcast yesterday and as one of the guests, Ariel had asked Sara McMann, a current fighter on the UFC's roster and a former contender to Ronda Rousey's title at 135 pounds, about her feelings towards the UFC's apparel deal that will come into effect at the beginning of July.  She was very critical of the agreement stating that she believed that the agreement would discriminate against the organization's female fighters.

McMann is not the first woman to come out against the Reebok deal, as former contender and fan favorite Miesha Tate also spoke out over the last couple weeks, calling it "unfair."

To clarify the apparel agreement states that fighters are forbidden from wearing unlicensed apparel at any UFC or UFC sponsored event.  Specifically, this says that a fighter is obligated to wear his or her Reebok apparel that will be issued to them before any event.  This then prohibits any fighter from displaying any sponsors on his or her clothing that are not "official sponsors" of the UFC, a practice that was the norm throughout the UFC's history and many athletes were quite well compensated for the chance to advertise a product on their shorts or on their fight banner before the commencement of the bout.

The amount of compensation garnered by the deal is tiered to benefit the fighters that have seniority over the up in comers that are trying to make a name for themselves within the organization.  In the agreement laid out, fights would be counted if they took place in the UFC, WEC, and Strikeforce.  Which may sound fair to most as even fighters who had come from other organizations that were folded into the UFC would be treated as those who had already been with the flagship company to begin with.

However, this is not the case of women's MMA.  The only division that was introduced was that of then Strikeforce Champion and now UFC Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey in 2013.  Sara McMann was not on the Strikeforce roster when it folded as well as countless other female fighters currently on the UFC's roster.  Instead, they were competing in one of the still remaining female only organizations, Invicta F.C., which is not one the companies counted in the Reebok deal.

As a result, most of the female fighters will have to fall onto the lowest tier in the system laid out by the Reebok deal.  This means that most of these fighters will have to work that much harder to be able to reach the next tier.  McMann was one the pioneers of the sport and she is one of the most decorated athletes on the roster, having received a silver medal for wrestling at the Athens Olympics.  McMann now 34 probably does not have much left in her MMA career and thus she stands to lose a significant amount of revenue due to this new policy.  Also it is very unlikely that she will ever be able to get to the same tier of her male counterparts who also entered the UFC at the same time and who do not have the same accolades.

Another case is that of Carla Esparza who was both the first female strawweight champion of Invicta F.C. as well as the UFC.  She lost her championship recently to the Polish Phenom Joanna Jedrzejczyk as a result she has been bumped down to the lowest tier at the $2,500 per fight mark.  As champion she stood to receive $40,000 of the sponsorship money, which is a significant loss of revenue.  Not just Esparza, but all the strawweights  are in the same boat (excluding Paige VanZant who has a seperate deal with Reebok).  The division itself was only established earlier this year, so these decorated athletes will have to remain with the organization for quite some time before they can make serious money.  Such a low amount cannot possibly compensate the athlete for her time in the gym training for the fight.  Not to mention that in addition to this, the fact that these athletes have to pay their trainers and they have their mangers taking a piece of their purse as well.  When all is said and done is it possible for an athlete in their situation to make a living in their sport?  Will we be seeing fighters with second or third jobs in order to keep their dreams of competing alive?

The reason why the sport has evolved is because athletes are able to focus more and more on their training rather than how they will eat or pay rent.  It has gone a long way since the days of Tank Abbot and Royce Gracie.  But if this type of inequality continues will we see a regression in the progress that was made in women's MMA over these past two years.

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ZUFFA tries to Block Parties from Releasing its Financial Records

Zuffa has filed a motion to prevent the release of 15 years of financial records or as long as the company has owned the UFC.  In addition to this Zuffa is also asking the court to move the venue from the Northern District of California to Las Vegas where the company is headquartered.

Zuffa of coarse, is on the other end of an antitrust lawsuit filed by many former fighters who were competitors under its banner.  The parties in the class action are asking to see the financial records of the multi-million dollar company to see if Zuffa was adequately compensating its athletes whom risk their safety every time they step into the cage or whether those funds were being diverted to enrich the corporate heads...

The plaintiffs are looking for damages under the provisions of the Sherman Antitrust Act.  Specifically the allegation that because the UFC and Zuffa have created a monopoly on mixed martial arts that they have de facto created a monopsony on its fighters as well.

This conflict came to a head when the UFC announced that it would be implementing a uniform policy, outlawing all other sponsors in the cage.  This new policy has hurt many fighters and many are biding their time until they can jump ship to an organization that may allow them more financial security, at the expense of their image as these organizations neither have the name nor the brand that the UFC carries.  Several UFC fighters themselves have voiced their disdain for this new policy, including the UFC's own color commentator Joe Rogan who declared that this compensation plan is not enough.  The actual tiered system itself was leaked last week by a fighter that led to many discussions in the Underground as well as other MMA centric forums. Click here for more on that.

UFC veteran Phil Davis has already decided to sign with Bellator earlier this month following the end of his contract with the UFC and his fellow Penn State wrestling alum Ed Ruth also made the jump to Bellator, stating that "he was pleased with the organization and that he was happy he could keep his own sponsors."  Scott Coker, the former CEO of the now defunct Strikeforce MMA and the current president of the UFC's main competitor, stated that his phone has been ringing with many upset UFC fighters.

It will be interesting to see if this will thin out Zuffa's roster.  As always feel free to leave a comment down below or on my Google +,subscribe to the blog, and follow me on twitter as well @mmalegal2016.

UFC Champion Jon Jones Stripped of Title, Indefinitely Suspended, Dumped by Reebok

The bomb dropped last night on Jon Jones' MMA career as Fox Sports announced that the light heavyweight champion would be stripped of his title and indefinitely suspended.  As a result, Jones will not be defending his championship against Anthony Johnson later next month.  Instead, Johnson will be going up against Daniel Cormier for a vacant UFC title.

Thos Robinson/Getty Images

Jones posted a bond of $2,500 on Monday after be charged with felony leaving the scene of an accident after witnesses say that Jones struck another vehicle and then fled on on foot.  Only to return to the scene to allegedly grab some cash only to flee again from the scene.

This event is not the first time that Jones has been in trouble.  Just two years ago, Jones pled guilty to a DUI after totalling his Bentley and early this year he tested out-of-competition positively for cocaine.  During those instances, the UFC stood behind its athlete and supported him through his struggles with the law.  However, yesterday the UFC put its foot down and punished Jones for violating the Athlete Conduct Policy within its contract, indefinitely suspending him, and also forcing him to relinquish his title.  The UFC in a statement last last night said that it wanted Jones to focus on his legal problems and for him also to get the help that he needs to turn his life around.


ALSO BREAKING:

Jones contract with Reebok has been immediately terminated today.  Jones was one of the faces of the UFC's new licensing deal with Reebok.  It will be interesting to see who will join Ronda Rousey now in representing the brand and its immense advertising campaign.

For all intense and purposes Jones is an incredible athlete and he has done a lot for the sport of mixed martial arts and I wish him the best.  Hopefully we see him return to the octagon at some point in the future.  But an athlete must be wary of his or her image because their athletic prowess is one thing, but when you are the face of a company then your actions outside of your sport also reflect the reputation of that company.  Just ask Tiger Woods.

I will try to relate any new developments as Jones' case proceeds through the courts.  As always feel free to leave a comment down below and subscribe to the blog.  You can also contact me via Google + and twitter @mmalegal2016.