After an Instagram post critical about Reebok, former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum has now found himself out of his side job as a member of the Spanish commentary team for UFC broadcasts.
Werdum’s comments stemmed from his displeasure with the current sponsorship situation with Reebok, which replaced the previous model that allowed for some fighters to rake in substantial amounts of money. The current climate prevents outside sponsorship on fight week and UFC broadcasts, thus limiting most earnings to the amount decided by the UFC and Reebok.
Werdum is claiming that many other fighters are also upset with the limitations, as well as the fact that fighters have no choice but to agree to the terms of the Reebok deal. MMAFighting’s Shaun Al-Shatti confirmed that Werdum has been fired from his position as a commentator, and Werdum states that he won’t return to the position even if offered again.
“I won’t go (back) after this,” Werdum said. “It’s the second time it has happened. I didn’t go to (film in) Colombia once before because my wife had dengue and then I was on vacation, but they didn’t understand me and took me off of [the broadcast]. I asked Dana White and he put me back on. And now because of this post.
“I don’t have anything with Reebok, only during the fight. They can do anything. Did a post? Lose your job as commentator. If I had lost it because I was doing a poor job and nobody likes me, fine, but I know it’s not the case. I know I was doing a good job because I get messages from all Latin America saying that, and I have already received messages from people saying they will cancel the channel now.”
After news broke of his removal, Werdum had another post on Instagram, this time a video that he put up as an explainer as to what caused what he described as an act of protest (HT: MMA Fighting). The crux of his argument remains the fact that fighters should be able to earn more than what he considers an unfair amount doled out by the UFC. He also states that he harbors no ill-will towards Reebok.
He said that he used to earn anywhere from $100,000 to $200,000 in sponsorships per fight prior to the Reebok deal, and now that number is limited to just $5,000 due to the UFC-Reebok wage scale, which bases fighter earnings on length of tenure with the promotion. Werdum said that after fighting for over 15 years, he doesn’t believe it is fair for an athlete of his level to be earning such a low income from sponsorships.
Werdum is still the number 1 ranked heavyweight in the UFC, and is set to face fellow former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez at UFC 207 in a rematch in which Werdum took the title from Velasquez the first time around. The event will take place on Friday, December 30th in Las Vegas, NV.
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