UFC's Johny Hendricks and Jamie Varner: On site with Reebok

This isn’t your father’s world of MMA anymore.

Everyone knows that long gone are the days when the sport was relegated to ludicrous “bloodsport” conversations. The MMA landscape these days includes major television deals as part of what is widely regarded as the fastest growing sport in the world.

And with those big TV deals come big advertising deals with an assortment of brands that run the spectrum looking to get on board.

UFC President Dana White dropped a bombshell this past month in Newark, N.J., when he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) he was headed to the Boston area to talk to Reebok about a major partnership opportunity with the UFC.

That news came on the heels of top UFC welterweight contender Johny Hendricks and lightweight contender/former WEC champion Jamie Varner signing partnership deals with the footwear and athletic apparel company. Earlier this week, Hendricks and Varner visited Reebok headquarters in Canton, Mass., to meet with company officials and test products. They agreed to share some of the experience exclusively with MMAjunkie.com in the form of diaries and photos from the trip.

As MMA continues to surge in popularity, blue-chip companies such as Reebok, with its partnership with Hendricks and Varner, as well a potential future partnership with the UFC as a whole, likely will continue to hop on board with not just the sport, but the athletes at the forefront.

“The atmosphere and energy around the Reebok headquarters and with the company executives was second to none,” said Knock Out Representation’s Oren Hodak, who handles sponsorship and partnerships for the fighters. “Both Varner and Hendricks have unique backgrounds and lifestyles, so it was important for everyone to meet and become better acquainted. The Reebok team is very passionate about their brand, and after viewing some of the products that they have in the works, I completely understand why.”

Hodak said Reebok officials will pay a visit to Burnet, Texas, later this month for a Spartan Race, which the company is the flagship sponsor of. Both Hendricks and Varner will run that race – and it will be the second time for Varner, who competed in Las Vegas’ Spartan Race in April. It will be the fighters’ first major event after the announcement of the partnership.

Here now is a look at Hendricks’ and Varner’s trip to Massachusetts in their words – and a bit of a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of some modern MMA athletes in an era far different from 20 years ago. And don’t miss the exclusive photo gallery that follows.

Johny Hendricks
We started off at the Reebok office/campus with a tour of the various facilities on site. This ranged from the product testing rooms with state-of-the-art machinery, to the playing fields for actual human testing, to the corporate executive offices – including the guy who invented the Pumps!

We met a number of the shoe designers, along with the apparel team. It was very interesting to hear about the concepts behind some of the sport and fitness apparel. There is so much more behind the scenes that I would have never imagined. We also learned about some new products that are coming out in the near future that could be very beneficial to myself and other fighters!

While we were at the headquarters, it also just so happened that they were hosting a number of different buyers – so the atmosphere was amazing. Music was playing with numerous employees displaying their new line of products. Oh yeah – finger food was floating around like crazy, and you know I loved that!

On the second day, after a couple more meetings and following the Spartan Race course, it was time to shop. We were given a shopping spree inside the Reebok employee store. There were so many cool-looking products, it was hard to decide. Luckily, I basically picked up a little bit of everything and even scored some gear for my wife and children. Special thanks to the baseball product team, who hooked me up with a new glove and bat for my softball league. 

Jamie Varner
To kick off the day, we met with members from the product team and were given insight into how and why gear was designed in certain ways – the science behind design features on crossfit shoes compared to your everyday running shoe, all the way to the intense ATV shoes (my personal favorite). We also took a look at some of their compression workout gear and learned why shirts were cut/stitched in areas outside of what you would normally expect.

There is a ton of science behind the creation of this gear and how it can help give your body the best chance to function properly. This benefits pro athletes and your regular Everyday Joe gym attendee all the same. We gave their team our feedback on what type of MMA gear we like or would like to see created.

After meeting with the product design team, we then got suited up into some fresh Reebok gear and walked over to their on-site Spartan Race course. This new addition to the Reebok campus is the only current permanent Spartan Race course in the world. It basically consists of about 10 obstacles similar to what you would see during an actual event. The owner of Spartan Race was on site, along with one of their most successful competitors, Hunter McIntyre. Hunter is a beast at these obstacle course races. I ran into him during the event in Las Vegas a few weeks back. He was super helpful giving Johny and me tips on how to best overcome the obstacles and thus make for a quicker finish time.  

After a quick walk through, we decided to give the course a little test. I would say we went at about 75 percent of our max potential and completed the half-mile long course in about six to seven minutes. After walking through and checking out the Reebok Crossfit One facility and their indoor batting cages, we did some mini photo and video shoots. All of the Reebok employees were very excited to have us and treated us like family the whole time.