More sponsors banned by UFC

Affliction isn’t the only clothing company to be banned now, even though they are the only one to name one of their shows after that. According to an article from Five Ounces of Pain, the UFC has declined a few new apparel companies and others from sponsoring events starting at UFC 100. Below is the article from our good friends at 5 oz. ( I say they are my friends because we are totally myspace buddies!).

Five Ounces of Pain was able to obtain an e-mail distributed by the UFC’s legal department that now lists Dethrone, One More Round, and Rolling Stone as a list of sponsors that will not be approved for UFC 100 on July 11. Unacceptable sponsors for UFC 100 also online Poker sponsors Full Tilt Poker, Ultimate Bet, and Party Poker.

Clothing sponsors that are approved for UFC 100 include Cage Fighter, MMA Authentic, Familia Gladitoria and MMA Elite. The source added that several clothing sponsors have indicated that they were contacted recently by the UFC and informed that in order to have the ability to sponsor a UFC fighter during a UFC-promoted event that they would have to pay a $100,000 fee to the UFC for the right to sponsor a fighter.
Based on the details provided, certain clothing companies may have to pay the UFC an unofficial licensing fee to have the ability to utilize the UFC’s telecasts to market their product. All sources contacted for this article expressed a great deal of concern regarding their ability to generate income for their fighters.

Keeping in mind, Jacob “Stitch” Duran is a known UFC cutman who runs “One More Round” and Rolling Stone just debuted at the previous UFC (that didn’t take long), it makes you wonder who is next. Silver Star is also not noted in the approved list so who knows whats going on with that. Dethrone is an obvious choice since they sponsor the AKA guys who have had recent troubles with Mr White over likeness rights among other things, but how petty are the rest of these choices?

This reminds me of the current situation in WWE (yes, I am referencing Pro Wrestling but I am going somewhere with this, hold on). The WWE has finally released a DVD on Macho Man Randy Savage after YEARS of declining to do it because of Vince McMahon’s vendetta with Randy Savage. If you do not know why, just google Randy Savage and Stephanie McMahon (good times). Because of the current economic situation, WWE decided to do the DVD because at this point, they financially could not withhold the DVD any longer since it was clear it would sell. So they made it, however, with no input from Randy Savage and no accompanying t-shirt, because Vince did not want people wearing Macho Man shirts at events. Furthermore, to this day, any signs at WWE shows that fans make with Macho Man’s name on them are immediately confiscated.

Will the UFC start banning fans going to live shows from wearing clothing from unapproved sponsors? It sounds drastic but you have to wonder about the long term effect, since the obvious idea behind this is to keep people he does not want out of his shows, and quietly sink their businesses by not giving them the biggest press in the world. What is your take on all this madness?