Aljamain Sterling offers reasoned critique of Reebok sponsorship numbers

Aljamain Sterling

Aljamain Sterling has wasted little time making his mark in the UFC. The 25-year-old has catapulted into the top ten of the UFC’s official bantamweight rankings while becoming a must-see fighter.

Unfortunately, Sterling (11-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) is exactly the kind of fighter whose earning power is badly hamstrung by the UFC’s new Reebok sponsorship deal. He will make $2,500 from the deal in his next two fights and only $5,000 for the following five fights under the current pay distribution. This despite being a ranked fighter in the biggest MMA promotion in history.

While calling himself “a very pissed off Funk Master,” Sterling’s laid out his concerns with the deal last week on the Sherdog forums.

“The deal can work, BUT MAJOR changes need to be made,” Sterling wrote. “Tenure is not an ideal way to do it, because up-comers like myself Iaquinta, Felder, Elias, D. Ortiz, Almeida, Dariush, will get the shortest end of the stick. We’re becoming a more a familiar face but what do we get? An ‘Cool bro. Welcome to the Top 10/15. With becoming a hot commodity, you’ll earn a kick-ass $2,500/$5,000!!! GOOD FOR YOU!!’

“LOL its a freaking joke. I love how organized and how smooth the UFC is ran, but geeze man, this is just bad. I gotta try to fight more, which isn’t the worst IMO, just so I can make $2,500 more?? I feel like a big winner being ranked 6-8th in the world.”

Many fans responded to Sterling with questions, complaints and compliments, leading to his returning to address the situation further this afternoon.

“I agree with (UFC President Dana White) and what he says about all other major sports league having a unified outfit/look and not being able to have other companies on their uniform,” Sterling wrote. “My issue to counter that statement is: We are independent contractors. MMA is not a team sport on the grand scheme of things. So things are very different for us. We don’t have a union/association to speak on our behalf, we don’t have a salary pay for the year to live comfortably. We fight. We get paid. There is no in-between, no sitting out of the “game” and still collecting a paycheck, so again, our sport is very different.”

Sterling also pointed out that UFC executives likely see this as a minor impact as he was not making much money from sponsors currently. But he has lost the opportunity to turn his new top-10 ranking into more lucrative deals.

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.