Why the UFC doesn’t allow body sponsors or adverts

If you’re a real fan of MMA then you’ll notice that in the Polish promotion KSW, its fighters are allowed to compete whilst wearing sponsors on their bodies. Typically, these sponsors are temporarily tattooed onto the backs of fighters but sometimes they can be put onto other body parts as well.

The reason for this is that the fighter literally acts as a walking advert at this point. This means that if they’re in the cage for say 10 minutes, then fans will see an advert for a pretty long time. As MMA doesn’t always pay particularly well, it’s a nice, creative way for fighters to get some extra income. Obviously, the better the fighter – the more money they can make, and so on.

This brings us nicely to the main point of our article, why the UFC doesn’t allow body sponsors or adverts on its fighters. Historically, the UFC has had a tricky relationship with its fighters in terms of pay and sponsorship deals as a number of fighters disliked the blanked payments from Reebok. Here we shall see why the UFC is against body adverts – and it may surprise you.

Ricco Rodgriguez nearly ruins the UFC with a casino advert

Back in 2002 at UFC 39, the main event featured Ricco Rodriguez against Randy Couture. It’s important to remember that for context, the UFC wasn’t valued as a billion-dollar company at this point. Instead, its valuation was probably closer to tens of millions. Obviously, there’s a big difference.

The event took place at the Monegan Sun casino in Connecticut and Rodriguez would go on to win the bout. However, Dana White was not pleased with him at all. At this point, body sponsors were allowed in the UFC as the fighter pay was lower and MMA was still evolving and trying to figure out how to grow. The UFC didn’t have the slick public image that it has these days either and sometimes struggled for venues due to certain states viewing it as a barbaric bloodsport.

So, when Rodriguez came out to fight with a Golden Palace casino advert all over his back, you can understand why Dana White was furious. According to White, this almost got the event pulled as his fighters weren’t meant to be wearing Casino tattoos whilst performing in a rival casino. This made the tattoo of Rodriguez a dangerous move whom White branded an ‘idiot’ for doing so.

Fortunately for Dana and the UFC, the Monegan Sun casino was ok with it in the end although they were understandably upset. According to White, had the event been canceled then the UFC may not have financially recovered due to being a small, cash-strapped company at the time.

Dana White pulls body adverts

Because of this, Dana White realized that body sponsors weren’t that great of an idea from his perspective. Whilst it was nice for fighters to earn more, he viewed it as a risky move that could land the UFC in trouble. So, he outlawed body sponsors from the UFC.

Although most MMA fighters love to bash Dana White for being cheap when it comes to fighter pay, we can all understand his actions on this one. It looks like Ricco Rodriguez inadvertently got fighters a bad deal due to his stupidity which shaped the face of fighter adverts for years to come.

Brian Ebersole wears a chest hair sponsor

In 2011, UFC fighter Brian Ebersole shaved the Tapout logo into his chest. Arguably, this is one of the more creative ways that an MMA fighter has generated extra cash with their body. According to Ebersole, he was on a two-fight deal with Tapout at the time, and it sounds like this gimmick earned him a bit more money.

In fairness, the shaving job was done expertly and it looked very clear to be the Tapout logo. Interestingly, this has never been done since as it’s probably outlawed with other companies. However, at the time Tapout was the sponsor of the UFC and it didn’t have a conflict of interests. Obviously, had Ebersole shaved something like Bellator’s logo into his chest then he’d have probably been fired on the spot.

Whether Ebersole was spoken to about his actions and banned from doing similar in the future is unknown. However, he would continue to fight for the UFC for years to come and he nor Dana has mentioned a telling-off. So, although this was a one-off it seems to have paid off (literally) for Ebersole.

Sam Alvey annoys UFC execs with a spray tan advert

In 2015, Sam Alvey annoyed the UFC by fighting with a spray tan on his chest. Here, he fought whilst wearing the message #PerfectTan. Alvey was known for his quirks and this showed how he approached fighting with a different perspective.

Apparently, before he stepped into the cage – UFC officials tried to remove the spray tan but this was too late. As a result, the message was still visible in a strong orange color. Whilst this technically wasn’t a tattoo, it almost was in terms of what it represented.

Speaking on the matter, UFC executive Tom Wright said, “Fighters definitely can’t do that. It’s against our policy. You can put your sponsors on your shorts. You can put your sponsors on your shorts, you can put your sponsors on your banner, but you can’t put your sponsors on your body.”

In the future, Sam Alvey would not try this again and it looked to be quite a taboo act for the Australian fighter. In the eyes of the UFC money men, this seemed to be the same as going into the octagon whilst wearing a tattoo.

Summary

So there we have it. At one point, the UFC did allow its fighters to wear temporary adverts on their bodies. However, after a scandal that nearly ruined the company, Dana White swiftly removed body sponsors. Perhaps this was a case of White getting burned and instantly pulling the plug. Nonetheless, he wasn’t happy.

In fairness to fighters, you could suggest that in the future their body sponsors to be pre-approved one week before the fight to avoid any upsets. However, although this seems like a sensible idea – it looks like the boat for body sponsors in the UFC has long since sailed and they won’t be coming back anytime soon.

If you’d like to learn more about UFC history then check out this cool visual guide.