Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabricio Werdum is apparently unhappy with Reebok, evidenced by the fact that a recent post on his official Instagram shows him wearing gear with a Nike logo on it.
For those who do not know, #chupa is “suck” in English, while #mishuevos is “my balls” in English, thus, the former UFC Heavyweight Champion is telling Reebok to “suck my balls.”
Once the Instagram post was made by Werdum, MMA Fighting contacted the fighter about his apparent protest of Reebok, and their mandated sponsorships and uniforms. The deal has cost high-level fighters like Werdum hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"I was protesting,” Werdum said. “Actually, I'm not forced to use Reebok. I don't have a contract with them. For people that don't know, Reebok sponsors, well, sponsors, only during the fight and in the fight week you have to wear it [Reebok gear], it's in the contract. In reality, I don't have a deal with them to post outside the UFC. I can post whatever I want, if I want to post Kings MMA, I'll post. If I want to post Nike or any other company or the sponsors I have, anything, so I'm not obligated. For people saying I'd get in trouble, there will be no trouble. It was just a protest, something that before we could show any sponsor we wanted. We used to get real good money, it was a lot different from Reebok. Today, with Reebok there is a pay scale, if you have a certain number of fights you get $5,000, $8,000. Of course it's good money, but nothing like it was before, so of course it was a protest."
"I think fighters need to start speaking because no one is happy," Werdum said. "It's something that is in our contract, we have to sign it and end of story. We don't have options. It was nice because it [the photo] was featured even in Globo.com. People talking, 'Werdum signed with Nike', no, but if Nike is interested, we're here.”
Werdum will be competing next at UFC 207, which takes place on Friday, December 31st from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Amanda Nunes and Ronda Rousey headlining.
