Issue 097
January 2013
Heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos has become the third UFC title holder to sign a sponsorship deal with sports giants Nike.
After previously agreeing deals with middleweight champion Anderson Silva and light heavyweight linchpin Jon Jones earlier in the year, the world’s leading sports apparel company recently closed talks with the Brazilian world number one.
The deal was signed ready for Dos Santos’ late December title defense against Cain Velasquez at UFC 155 in Las Vegas. It appears Junior’s deal is similar to Silva’s, being largely based around the Brazilian market, unlike ‘Bones’ Jones’ global deal.
3
UFC sponsor MusclePharm recently won three gongs at the 2012 Bodybuilding.com Supplement Awards.
9.1%
The revenues of brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, the parent company of UFC sponsor Bud Light, rose by 9.1% in Q3 2012.
Industry jobs
Who: Bob Cook
Role: CEO Zinkin Entertainment & Sports Management
Info: Clients include Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin and Cain Velasquez
What does your job at Zinkin Entertainment entail?
“I’m DeWayne (Zinkin)’s partner. I work a little more on the fight side of the business in terms of dealing more with the fighters, and DeWayne usually works a little more on the endorsement side of the business. Day-to-day I’m talking with the fight promoters, scheduling bouts, scheduling different fighter matchups, and looking for new talent.”
How did you become a fighter manager?
“After I stopped fighting, I started managing some guys at the gym, then DeWayne and I became friends. It was still just a hobby at first, taking care of our friends, but eventually it grew into a business.”
So presumably, unlike some of the agents these days, you didn’t go to school and get any kind of management degree?
“This is truly a business of relationships. Relationships with the promotions, the sponsors, and the fighters. I truly believe it takes a certain kind of personality to be a manager, and not everybody possesses that type of personality. You have to put the fighters and the fighters’ interests first, and a lot of people have a hard time with that.”
What’s been your best business move so far?
“I would say probably when we signed Chuck Liddell right before season one of TUF. Sometimes it’s not like there’s a master strategy, sometimes things just all fall into place.”
Ticketmaster launches UFC ticket resale platform
Leading events ticket provider Ticketmaster has joined forces with the UFC and launched a new official ticket resale platform for fans to buy and sell event tickets.
The platform, titled the Official Ticket Resale Marketplace for Ultimate Fighting Championship, will mean that at select venues users will be able to benefit from Ticketmaster’s barcode transfer technology system.
Now, tickets bought from resellers are verified by Ticketmaster then reissued in the buyer’s name, providing an added layer of safety and assurance.
The new agreement replaces the UFC’s previous resale arrangement with StubHub, another major ticket reseller.
Rallying/Crashed: The MMA business can be both cruel and kind
Rallying: Torque Sports & Performance
Former WEC 145lb champ Urijah Faber this year co-founded Torque Sports with BSN supplements co-founder Scott James and martial arts expert Scott Templeton, long associated with gym mats company Dollamur and the president of expo producers Vision Star Inc. Currently producing clothing and Dollamur-made mats, Torque is growing and been seen on the fight shorts and walkout shirts of UFC flyweight Joseph Benavidez.
Crashed: Form Athletics
Apparel company Form Athletics, founded by Urijah Faber and former DC Shoes exec Mark Millar, pulled off a coup when it was bought by sports giant K-Swiss for $1.6m in July 2010. Only launched in late 2009, it was acquired before the massively profitable TapouT, which would be bought by Authentic Brands Group the following September. However a combination of factors meant K-Swiss decided to cease use of the brand, reportedly in Q3 2011.
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