UFCorporate?

[Red Wine Pirate]

I came across this on BJ Penn's website (www.bjpenn.com)

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has released the details of their new Uniform policy, which goes into effect this July.

Policy:

1. Ranked fighters will get to pick their color scheme first, with the higher ranked fighter getting first selection if he/she faces another ranked opponent. Same colors can not be used. Unranked fighters will work with matchmakers to select colors.

2. Each fighter and their cornermen will be issued official Reebok gear upon arrival of host city. Product will include a gym bag, hoodie, T-shirt, workout shorts, weigh-in shorts, weigh-in walkout sweatpants, weigh-in T-shirt, weigh-in walkout hoodie, weigh-in hat, underwear, socks and shoes. Women will also be issued sports bras.

3. If any fighter or a member of their corner refuses to wear the issued gear, they will assessed a penalty which includes a fine and possibly removal from the event.

4. Fighters must wear Reebok-issued gear during all UFC sponsored events including open workouts, media day, weigh-ins and press conferences. A fighter can opt to wear business or business casual attire to the press conference instead of the issued gear.

5. A fighter is responsible for lost merchandise and/or replacement costs.

6. Fighters are paid by the UFC within 10 business days of their fight. Fighters are paid based on the UFC fighter pay scale and their official ranking at the time of weigh-in.

7. The UFC logo is not to be covered and no other logo and/or sponsor can be visible while UFC has the option to add another sponsor/logo to the attire.

8. All headphones worn by fighters must be supplied by Monster.

9. After each fight, the fighter is required to select one piece of their official walkout gear-the product they physically wore to the Octagon (not including underwear) and return it to the UFC equipment manager.

10. Fighters must also wear Reebok apparel for any UFC-produced show including, Embedded, UFC Tonight, UFC Countdown, Ultimate Insider and The Ultimate Fighter.

[WSU151]

While the UFC has prided itself on the indiviuality of the fighters, I'm not surprised this list was released. It's just part of the maturation process of the UFC as an entity. Except for maybe rules 5 and 9, it's not much different than rules in other leagues.

[Red Wine Pirate]

The main issue I have is that this isn't a team sport. This is like telling all tennis and golf professionals that they all must wear the same brand. Ultimate fighting, boxing, tennis, golf, and a few others are sports about the individual.

Side note, it will be funny to see CM Punk in forced Reebok outfits.