Issue 120
October 2014
World lightweight champion Anthony Pettis has signed an endorsement deal with global sporting brand Reebok.
The Ultimate Fighter 20 coach is helping the 119-year-old company launch its ZJet running shoe, which boasts a unique cushioning system.
“MMA fighters are some of the fittest athletes in the world, and Anthony takes training to a whole new level,” said John Lynch, Reebok’s global VP of fitness marketing. “Reebok wanted to partner with an athlete who had explosive speed, and bold, confident style.”
Pettis’ Reebok deal makes him the third MMA fighter to be sponsored by the company, following in the footsteps of UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks and current Bellator contender ‘Rampage’ Jackson.
Additionally, ex UFC 205lb champion Chuck Liddell starred in a 2010 viral video for Reebok’s ZigTech shoe, where he and his girlfriend worked out wearing nothing but the new sneakers.
5
Anthony Pettis was recently one of five athletes in a vote to be featured on the packaging of US cereal Wheaties.
Industry jobs
Who: Emad Hayan
Info: CEO and president of iSee Entertainment and Events, parent company of Abu Dhabi Fighting Championships and MMA reality series Al Batal.
How did you first get interested in mixed martial arts?
“I started with the UFC back in university. The guys and I would go to a sports bar and we’d watch the UFC. At first we liked it because it was edgy, because it was different and we were young.
“But it grew on me and I started to appreciate the art form that is jiu-jitsu, wrestling and boxing. I’ve started jiu-jitsu myself recently, and I’m loving it.”
What does your role heading up Abu Dhabi Fighting Championships and the reality series Al Batal entail?
“I find myself involved in the conceptualization, what we want to do, to the scouting; I work very closely with our talent manager Julien Antunes, looking at fighters, looking at their backgrounds, looking at videos, figuring out who’s right for Al Batal, who’s not, who doesn’t have the persona, who doesn’t have the skill. I find myself in marketing meetings too.”
How successful have you been so far with ADFC and Al Batal?
“One of our biggest milestones is securing a major sponsor: Ford, through its ‘Built For Tough’ brand. Ford has been a wonderful sponsor. And getting that one true sponsor that believes in the sport and wants to own it from the grass-roots level, is one of our biggest achievements to date.
“Getting Ford on board wasn’t easy. There was a lot of back and forth but we saw similarities. Ford saw the toughness of the sport, which was synonymous with the toughness of their trucks and we hit it off.”
UFC president Dana White squashes claims of event oversaturation
UFC president Dana White says “business has never been better” for his promotion amid suggestions a busier event schedule is wearing on the company’s fan base.
White told Yahoo! Sports staging more shows has enabled the UFC to make more TV revenue per show. More events helped the promotion secure more TV deals and more money, because it can provide more regular content than with a reduced schedule.
“We put the fights on Fight Pass so hard core people have a way to see them,” said White. “This has nothing to do with trying to sell those fights to the fans (in the US). If you want to watch them, great, it’s $10 a month. We’re putting the shows on for people in other markets. They can see the shows in their prime time instead of having to watch at 5am.”
1st
Former UFC welterweight Jon Fitch became the first athlete to receive payment in digital currency, via a sponsorship for his July fight in World Series of Fighting.
Rallying/Crashed: The MMA business can be cruel and kind
Rallying: Metamoris
A purely jiu-jitsu-centric promotion, Metamoris began life in 2012 under the guidance of Ralek Gracie as a response to the gradually more submission-averse sport jiu-jitsu scene. Fights can only be won by submission, otherwise they’re a draw. Pulling in big names from both the grappling and MMA worlds, Metamoris routinely draws significant attention.
Crashed: Icon Sport
Founded by Hawaiian promoter T Jay Thompson, Icon Sport (previously known as SuperBrawl) had a claim to being the fourth oldest active MMA organization in the world, starting in 1996. The company, which had a co-promotion agreement with Shooto in Japan, eventually sold up to the ill-fated ProElite stable of MMA entities in 2007.
