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Jones and his gave their stance on the situation earlier this week, stating that they didn't want to be a walking billboard for the many lesser brand names that populate the mixed martial arts landscape. Instead, they hope to eventually broker a deal with a major name in the sporting world, such as Nike or Adidas.
Still, the UFC was certainly sensitive to the criticism, going after CagePotato.com when that site added a false quote suggesting UFC President Dana White was also gambling on Jones along with that. But UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta says the perception on this situation has been simply wrong, and in an interview with USAToday he explained their goals with this merchandising endeavor.
"The Jon Jones thing, it's really kind baffling to me that people have kind of responded the way they have," Fertitta said. "I guess because people don't really understand how it came about. To give you a little bit of background, I was going through the process of renegotiating with Jon and his management team on his fight contract. One of the things they brought up was that Jon was at a point where he didn't necessarily want to sign contracts with some of these smaller, what I'll call, T-shirt companies that you historically see in UFC, whether it be Tapout or MMA Elite or any of these other guys.
"His aspirations (were) that he wanted to be signed by a Nike or an Adidas or an Under Armour, somebody like that," Fertitta continued. "The reality is, those opportunities don't present themselves to Jon right now, and that's why I suggested, 'Hey look, we've got this performance line of gear. Let us send it to you. You can test it. You can try it out. If you like it, then you can wear it in your next couple of fights.'"
"In addition to that, it's nonexclusive. (He) can still go out and get a deal with Nike, Under Armour, Reebok or Adidas. So it's a very open-ended process as far as him wearing that. And there's been other guys that have worn UFC-branded product to fight in as well. So it's not necessarily the first time."
Fertitta estimates they've had upwards of 20 fighters already appear in UFC branded clothing, it's just the high profile spot for Jones that has brought about the attention. Still, it's a situation where some will have the clothing arrangement written into their fight contract, while some others will receive additional compensation for it, but Fertitta maintains there's no favoritism involved.
"I don't know what we could possibly do to favor him," Fertitta said. "Anything relative to the fight or the outcome of the fight is 100 percent completely out of our control. The fact of the matter is, Rashad has a deal with Jaco. I don't know the express terms of it, but it's probably a very good deal. That's who he chose to sign a deal with. He's not available to even wear any UFC-branded gear in a fight because he's already got a pre-existing deal."
"So I don't know how anybody can come to the conclusion that one fighter is being favored over the other. Jon was out of contract. He didn't have a deal, and he didn't want to sign another deal with one of those typical MMA brands and decided that he wanted to wear UFC gear."
Penick's Analysis: I don't see anything wrong with this situation, and it's simply another expansion of the UFC that they're building up with their own fighters. It would be one thing if it was only Jon Jones wearing their gear, but there are a multitude of fighters who have already come to agreements with the UFC on it. It's no different than getting an endorsement deal with any other company, it just so happens Jones will be endorsing the company that already employs him.
[Jon Jones art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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