Sportswear company Reebok has signed up as a sponsor of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) mixed martial arts series.
The agreement will run for six years, from 2015 to 2020.
Under the deal, Reebok will provide the kit for all of the fighters, as well as additional gear. The new kits will be unveiled in the middle of next year.
“It elevates the sport,” UFC president Dana White said, according to the Associated Press news agency. “For everybody to be dressed the same, to look the same, it just makes everything more professional. Every year, we take this thing to another level.”
The UFC will no longer allow its fighters to sell sponsorship on their trunks, but will be able to strike deals away from the octagon. UFC chief executive Lorenzo Fertitta said that the “vast majority” of the income generated from the Reebok deal would be distributed directly to the series’ fighters through a tiered system based on divisional rankings.
Fertitta added that the UFC could put corporate logos on its kits in the future. “If we do put a company on there, it's going to be a major global brand," he said. "Think along the lines of European soccer.”