John Oliver first came up with UFSEA, calling it UF-SEA on Last Week Tonight, during an episode discussing the return of sports during the coronavirus pandemic.
“He could have called it ‘Brawlhamas,’ or ‘Puerto Ruckus,’ or ‘Owie Maui,’ or ‘Slam Miguel,’ but he didn’t do that.” Oliver said (via Nolan King of MMA Junkie). “He didn’t do that, and he didn’t even go with the obvious name for an island where you stage UFC fights which is simply, ‘UF-SEA.’ Look at me Dana. Why didn’t you just call it ‘UF-SEA? It’s perfect.”
UFC President Dana White, during an interview with ESPN, says that Oliver isn’t getting a cut from any money made by the “UFSEA” trademark.
“What’s his name?” White said. “The guy that came out. John Oliver came out and did that piece with some selective facts about what we had done in Florida and all that stuff at the UFC. I told my lawyers after that, I said, ‘See if the trademarks are there for UFSEA’. So obviously they did and obviously you guys know about them. Did we get them? Yeah, I think we got them. Thanks, John Oliver. I’m not giving you a cut.”
Neither Oliver or his representatives have commented on the UFC trademarking “UFSEA.”
