UFC Confirms Fabricio Werdum Relieved of Broadcasting Duties | MMAWeekly.com

Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum has been relieved of his broadcasting duties following a recent protest on social media. UFC officials on Saturday confirmed Werdum’s Friday revelation.

Werdum has long served as an analyst and commentator on the UFC’s Spanish-language broadcasts. Company officials relieved him of his broadcast duties due to his recent protest against the UFC’s apparel sponsorship deal with Reebok.

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Werdum recently posted a photo of himself on social media wearing a UFC fighter uniform. Instead of the usual Reebok logo, however, the image had been altered to display the universally recognized Nike swoosh. He did so in a protest of the apparel deal, which forces fighters to wear the Reebok gear and not display other sponsors, a move which he and many others have said cost the fighters varying degrees of sponsorship income.

That didn’t sit well with company officials, who told MMAWeekly.com, “Due to Fabricio Werdum’s recent comments directed at a valued UFC partner, we will no longer utilize Werdum in a broadcast role on UFC Network in Latin America. While we respect an athlete’s right to voice his opinion, we deem the manner in which Werdum chose to do so unacceptable.”

On Friday, Werdum explained that his protest was due to the significant amount of sponsorship income that fighters were forced to forego because the UFC-Reebok apparel deal limits how fighters represent their other sponsors during official fight week events.

Werdum is slated to rematch Cain Velasquez at UFC 207 on Dec. 30 in Las Vegas. That bout is not in jeopardy.

“This decision has no bearing on his ability to compete in his next scheduled bout on Dec. 30,” said UFC officials.

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