On Monday, Bellator FC announced the signing of collegiate wrestling standout Ed Ruth.
Ruth is a four-time All-American out of Penn State University. During his time as a Nittany Lion, Ruth won three national championships in the 184-pound division. The 25 year old is currently preparing for the 2016 U.S. Olympics in Rio, but as soon as his Olympic dream concludes, he will jump headfirst into professional mixed martial arts for the Viacom-owned Bellator promotion.
"It will be a little while until I step into the cage for the first time ? but when I do, everyone they put in front of me is in for a world of hurt," Ruth said. "I've known for a long time now that after I get Olympic gold around my neck, I was going to go get some MMA gold for my waist. I've been talking with all the major organizations, and at the end of the day, I really believe in what Scott Coker is doing with Bellator. They're signing the top talent, they're putting on exciting fights, and they're letting me secure my own sponsors."
The issue of fighter sponsorship jumped to the forefront of MMA's collective conscious earlier this year when it was announced that MMA's flagship promotion, the UFC, would be signing an exclusive apparel deal with Reebok. The deal will make Reebok the UFC?s official uniform provider and will pay each fighter anywhere from $2,500-$40,000 per fight, depending on championship standing and tenure.
One school of thought is that the Reebok deal will legitimize the UFC and its fighters with a professional-looking uniform ? essentially making it more NFL and less NASCAR. In the process, fighters will receive a guaranteed payday from Reebok; something that was not always set in stone when dealing with T-shirt upstarts and energy drink hopefuls of year?s past.
Detractors say that the partnership will ruin the ability for fighters to make a living. MMA fighters have historically earned a majority of their income through their multiple sponsorships (local, or otherwise) ? not their actual fight purse ? and some within the industry think the Reebok deal essentially eliminates the ability to do that.
One current UFC fighter told Yahoo Sports that he now stands to make significantly less than he did before the exclusive Reebok sponsorship, but added that he "feels for the up-and-comers more than for [himself]."
In a recent interview with MMAFighting, Bellator FC president Scott Coker gave his thoughts on the Reebok deal and just how it might affect the business of mixed martial arts going forward.
?I think there's been some situations that have been explained to me where fighters were making $50,000-$60,000 a fight from all their sponsors [are] now making $10,000 or $15,000 or $20,000,? Coker said. ?You'd have to talk to UFC to see how they're going to handle that situation, but I'm sure they're going to do something. The fighters are not going to be happy if it's taking out $150,000-$200,000 a year in sponsorships from their pocket. I think they're going to have a situation on their hands that they're going to have to deal with.?
He continued, ?I will tell you this, the phone's been ringing. I just tell people, 'Listen. We're not going to engage in any kind of dialogue with you on any level unless you're a free agent. When you're free, give me a call.?
?A lot of questions are, 'What's your policy on sponsorships?' I say, 'Look, I can't engage in any kind of conversation with you guys. When you're free, give me a call.' But the phone's definitely been ringing.?
Given Coker's lengthy time in combat sports promotion�? he created the Strikeforce MMA promotion before selling it to the UFC in 2011�? the business of MMA is something he knows better than most.� And Coker is not willing to risk contractual implications. Still, the lack of a Reebok-type deal can't hurt Bellator as it tries to sign fighters who don't agree with the single-sponsor setup.
?I think time will tell,? he said when asked about the UFC and Reebok. ?I think it depends on a couple of things and one is how the UFC will take care of the fighters that are losing money on the deal. It'll depend, but all I can say is, I can't speak for their business because that's their business. I can only speak to, 'Hey, we're open for business. If you're a free agent, give us a call.' If there's a fit, there's a fit, but trying to analyze their business or think about their corporate strategy, I'm just thinking about our strategy. My philosophy is there's going to be more room than for just one player. I think that in the 11 months I've been here, I think we've done some great work. We've done some fun stuff. I'm excited about the next three years or four years that we're going to build this brand and put on great fights and drive TV ratings and put butts in seats. That's the business we're in. That's my comment on that.?
Free agents or blossoming prospects, Bellator is primed to capitalize on the shifting landscape of mixed martial arts. Preceding the Ed Ruth signing, Bellator inked amateur wrestling phenom Aaron Pico to an exclusive deal In 2014. Pico, like Ruth, is in contention for the 2016 Olympic team and once he finishes pursuing that, he will be making the full-time leap into professional fighting.
To make things even more interesting in this potential promotional rivalry, Bellator just last month signed UFC top-10 light heavyweight Phil Davis to a hefty free agent contract.
Davis, 30, served as a regular co-main event/main event anchor during his UFC tenure from 2010-2015 and holds benchmark victories over divisional powerhouses Alexander Gustafsson and Glover Teixeira, among others. And given the fact that the UFC put so much promotional energy into building Davis into a star, his Bellator signing came as a surprise to many in the MMA world.
Whether or not the Reebok deal played a part in Davis? departure is anyone?s guess ? he has remained fairly mum on the subject. However, Ruth made it very clear in his statement that maintaining his own sponsors in Bellator was a big reason for him signing on the dotted line.
What do you think, Cagereaders: are we seeing the birth of a legitimate MMA rivalry expedited by the UFC/Reebok partnership, or is this just another bump in the road for the UFC and its quest for MMA supremacy?
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