One of the biggest topics in mixed martial arts over the last six to nine months has been sponsorship money for fighters. Since the Reebok deal was introduced by the UFC, a major selling point for fighters to leave the UFC for Bellator has been the ability to have your own sponsors on fight night.
On the most recent episode of “The MMA Insiders Podcast,” Bellator light heavyweight Brian Rogers was a guest co-host on the show and he gave his thoughts on the current state of sponsorship in the sport for fighters.
“Some doors are open to companies that before would flat out laugh in your face if you were a Bellator guy because they had the UFC,” Rogers said. “They never really predicted or saw this day coming. Now those companies are reaching out and doing some things financially. However, it’s not nearly on the same playing field or level that it once was a few years ago. For not only the UFC, but the sponsor dollar in general.”
“I think the MMA boom, quote on quote is over,” he continued. “It’s no longer the new and exciting thing. It’s still becoming global and still expanding and growing. The boom of it’s sort of over and a lot of these establish companies don’t feel like they need to have their product on TV each and every week. They feel that people are pretty hip to it right now. Some doors are open to companies that before would not even have the time of day or laugh at a Bellator’s guy face. However, we are still being severely low balled on price and sponsor value overall as a whole.”
Check out Rogers complete thought on sponsorship pay in the sport for fighters below and be sure to subscribe to “The MMA Insiders Podcast” on iTunes and Stitcher.