Officials at the first annual UFC Athlete Retreat "called a meeting to air fighters’ grievances" after lightweight Kajan Johnson "interrupted a presentation to call out official apparel maker Reebok on lost sponsorship revenue," according to Steven Marrocco of MMA JUNKIE. Over 90 minutes at the May 19-20 retreat in Las Vegas, Johnson and others "proposed solutions they hope will put more money in fighters’ pockets while improving relations with the promotion and its sponsors." Attendance was "estimated at around 100 fighters." Among the ideas fighters pitched were to bring back sponsor banners, "hire a UFC rep to leverage local sponsors" and bring "more transparency about the financials" surrounding the promotion's deal with Reebok. Johnson: "We took a huge hit on sponsorship, and we somehow need to make that up." The UFC, represented by Senior VP/Global Consumer Products Tracey Bleczinski and COO Lawrence Epstein, "asked fighters to stop publicly attacking Reebok and instead direct complaints to the UFC." Fighter Sara McMann countered that the attacks were "directed at the sponsor for a very simple reason." McMann: "I said, 'We can’t very well do that because we could get fired. Reebok can’t fire us.'" All agreed that there "could be better communication between the promotion sponsors and fighters." Reebok is in the "second year of a six-year deal." The idea of bringing back sponsor banners "resonated strongly." Some fighters "argued that a banner would avoid cluttering the fighter’s official Reebok uniform and still give outside sponsors valuable exposure." Also, McMann "pressed for Reebok to open up one additional spot for sponsors on fighters’ shorts." She pointed out the UFC had "already allowed major sponsors" such as Monster Energy to "place logos on the uniform" (MMAJUNKIE.com, 5/30).
