Rose Namajunas and Nina Ansaroff
When Rose Namajunas and Nina Ansaroff took part in this past month’s UFC 187 weigh-ins, they thought stepping on the scale would be the precursor to a fight the following evening. They, the UFC, their sponsors and fans probably couldn’t have imagined that the post weigh-in staredown would be the last official fight-related event either would participate in during fight week.
Yet, that was the case.
The fight between the two strawweights was canceled the next day, just two hours before the May 23 pay-per-view event began. The reason? Doctors deemed Ansaroff unfit to compete due to the flu.
Despite the fact that the two never set foot in the octagon, the UFC paid both fighters their contracted fight purses, or “show money” (Namajunas also received 20 percent of her opponent’s purse after Ansaroff missed weight). The promotion also paid Namajunas the equivalent of her win bonus:
As for the sponsors who had signed deals with Namajunas and Ansaroff – as well as welterweights Andrew Todhunter and Albert Tumenov, whose bout was a late scratch from tonight’s UFC 188 card in Mexico City – that’s where things became a little more complicated.
Ansaroff has what many would consider a typical relationship with her sponsors. A variety of them were behind her heading into UFC 187. The 29-year-old had fight-week sponsors, in-cage sponsors and lifestyle sponsors backing her for the event. When the fight was called off, these sponsors had differing fiscal responsibilities to Ansaroff.
Ansaroff’s manager, Charles McCarthy of Guardian Sports Group, told MMAjunkie that fighter lifestyle sponsors usually pay on a per-month basis. These sponsors support the fighter on an ongoing basis and pay a set amount per month to facilitate training. Lifestyle sponsors back the fighter regardless of a bout taking place.
McCarthy said fight-week sponsors, who represent the fighter from their arrival early during fight week through the weigh-ins, “generally will pay so long as (the fighters) go through fight week and fulfill their responsibilities toward the deal.”
As for Ansaroff’s in-cage sponsors, “If they don’t get air time, generally they don’t have the responsibility to pay,” he said. But McCarthy then added, “Nina, while she didn’t earn what she had hoped had she fought, was paid by the majority of her sponsors.”
Meanwhile, Namajunas was paid in full by her sponsors, according to Josh Jones, director of business development at KHI Management, which represents the strawweight fighter. The small group of fighters whom KHI Management represents have a different relationship with their sponsors than many MMA competitors.KHI Management fighters sign one-year deals with their sponsors, and that deal does not depend on a fight taking place.
“The sponsors aren’t paying for the fight,” Jones told MMAjunkie. “They are paying for the athlete for the year. Our sponsorship deals are year-round sponsorship packages, and when there’s a fight, that’s an added bonus. Your logo is on the (fight) shorts. Rose’s sponsors have paid because it’s a sponsorship throughout the year.”
Things will change on the sponsorship front beginning July 6. That’s when the UFC’s “athlete outfitting policy” takes effect, and when the UFC’s new Reebok deal comes into play and when the apparel company becomes the official outfitter of all UFC fighters.
When the athlete outfitting policy goes into effect, fighters will no longer be able to wear third party sponsor branded apparel to any fight week events. All fight week attire will have to comply with the athlete outfitting policy. The fight kit supplied by the UFC will feature Reebok branding, and athlete payouts will be based on the number of fights a competitor has under inside the Octagon.
So how will the Reebok deal affect fighters like Namajunas and Ansaroff when their bouts are canceled last minute? After all, the Reebok deal has a sliding scale for payouts. Competitors with up to five career UFC fights earn $2,500 per bout, and pay tops out at $40,000 per fight for champions.
UFC officials told MMAjunkie that neither fighter officially will be credited with a bout. As for the payouts for the canceled fight, such situations are handled on a case-by-case basis, an official said, and one or both fighters could still be paid.
If a fighter does not make weight and the fight is canceled because of that, the competitor who made weight would receive athlete outfitting policy compensation. The fighter who failed to make weight would not. However, neither fighter would officially be credited with a bout.
On the topic of official bouts, fights on The Ultimate Fighter reality show will remain exhibition bouts, and as such, will not count toward a fighters cumulative fight count. There will be no athlete outfitting policy payouts associated with TUF contests.
“It’s our job as managers to find ways to create the brand and the sponsor and build it outside the octagon, which is a challenge, but at the same time, that’s what it’s all about,” Jones said. “If everything was easy, it wouldn’t be fun.”
For more on UFC 188, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.
