UFC light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones “signed a sweeping, worldwide sponsorship deal with sports apparel giant Nike,” according to Mike Chiappetta of MMAFIGHTING.com. The two sides have “agreed to a multi-year contract that will see Jones decked out in Nike gear for the foreseeable future,” beginning with his Sept. 1 bought against Dan Henderson at UFC 151. Sources said that as a part of the deal, Jones will be “featured on worldwide Nike advertising and receive his own signature line.” Details of the line are “expected to be announced within a week.” While MMA fighters Anderson Silva and Yoshihiro Akiyama have “inked deals with Nike subsidiaries in their respective countries, Jones’ deal makes him the first to land a global pact” (MMAFIGHTING.com, 8/8). On his Twitter account, Jones wrote, “Blessed to be signed by the biggest sports apparel company in the world." In Canada, Dave Deibert noted Jones’ manager Malki Kawa, who also confirmed the signing via Twitter, “travelled to Nike headquarters soon after Jones’s win in April over Rashad Evans” (THESTARPHOENIX.com, 8/8). In N.Y., Marc Raimondi wrote, “Getting such a large sponsorship had been a goal for Jones. In his last fight, without a bluechip endorser like Nike, he was actually sponsored solely by the UFC itself” (NYPOST.com, 8/8).
