Wow, talk about bad timing.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has reportedly banned top Brazilian sponsor "Pretorian," who pays a few bills for fighters like Antonio Silva, Renan Barao and Ronny Markes, among others, from having any sort of Octagon presence at future events.
Fighters Only delivers the surprising news.
MMA managers were sent a memo from the UFC at the weekend telling them that the brand and its associated logos are no longer permitted to be worn inside the Octagon or during any of a fighter's official UFC undertakings. No reasons for the sudden ban was given in the memo.
Pretorian representatives could not be reached for comment.
ZUFFA -- parent company of UFC -- charges a discretionary sponsor tax, which can run as high as $100,000 in licensing fees for the right to have logos or merchandise appear on fighter apparel inside the Octagon.
Pay to play?
That may explain why Quinton Jackson -- sponsored by Reebok -- was unable to flaunt it where it mattered most. Or, perhaps the simple fact that UFC executives have the final say on which companies are allowed to get in front of its audience.
And in the case of "Rampage," Nike was just around the corner.
Nothing has been officially announced at this time; however, stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more details on this still-developing story, as they become available.
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