First it was RVCA’s temporary ban from the Octagon now it looks like TapOut may have been next. During BJ Penn’s last fight with Frankie Edgar Penn wasn’t wearing his popular RVCA walkout shirt, which had little to do with Penn, but with the Russian MMA great Fedor Emelianenko. The UFC banned RVCA from UFC events because of their sponsorship of “The Last Emperor” causing RVCA to drop Fedor. So who picked up the Russian heavyweight? California based TapOut jumped on the opportunity to sponsor one of the best mixed martial artist in the world, which caused UFC to make the same threats to the long time UFC sponsor as they did to RVCA.
This caused TapOut to drop their TapOut Fedor shirt and make amends with the UFC, can anyone imagine a UFC event without TapOut? Clinch Gear, who isn’t on favorable terms with the UFC either, has released their own Fedor walkout shirt, which I think looks even better than the TapOut version. While I don’t agree with the UFC’s actions, it’s just business.
Garrett
1 year ago
Until someone threatens litigation against the UFC, I think this will continue. And from as far as I can tell, as a private company, this is acceptable.
Ultimately, with Fedor’s loss, though, this may have been a plus for TapouT and a major ding for Clinch Gear.