ULTIMATE FIGHTING Championship (UFC) star, Jon Jones, has signed a multi-year contract with Nike, which will see the UFC light heavyweight champion become the brand’s first global ambassador from mixed martial arts.
In a deal that consolidates UFC’s mainstream appeal, the 25-year-old American will feature in worldwide Nike advertising campaigns and receive his own signature line.
Although not the first UFC fighter to sign with NIke – Anderson Silva (Brazil) and Yoshihiro Akiyama, Caol Uno and Kazuyuki Miyata (Japan) had previously signed deals with Nike subsidiaries in their respective countries – Jones is the first to take on a global role.
According to mmafighitng.com, which broke the story this week, Nike has long been a target for Jones and his agent Malki Kawa, who opened negotiations with the sporting goods giant in May.
Although the deal has yet to be officially announced, Jones is expected to wear the Nike swoosh in his upcoming bout with Dan Henderson at UFC 151 on September 1, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The deal is the latest sign that the corporate world has accepted UFC as a mainstream sports property.
In April, Anheuser-Busch renewed its partnership with the UFC with a multi-year deal to make Bud Light an official sponsor of television and pay-per-view events.
Last year, UFC signed a long-term $100m per annum deal with Fox from 2012, marking the first time that UFC programming would appear on a major broadcast network.
As reported in the last edition of the Sports Marketing Frontiers monthly newsletter, a new mixed martial arts format – CombaTerra – will be launched for the European market in 2013.
By Matthew Glendinning
Follow Matthew on Twitter: @mattglen