GOOD4U Drinks Banned From All UFC/WEC Events
Official word came this morning from Lorenzo Ferttita and Zuffa that any and all fighters appearing at a UFC event will no longer be allowed to display the GOOD4U Drinks logo. GOOD4U Drinks is seen by Zuffa as a direct competitor to Xenergy (which is owned by Zuffa) and AMP Energy which advertises heavily on both WEC events and Spike TV's The Ultimate Fighter program and although GOOD4U are Sport Drinks NOT ENERGY DRINKS, they have been taking share from these brands.
This is disappointing to me personally as I am a fan of the UFC and enjoyed our association with some of the great fights and fighters we have seen.
As a company our sales have grown each month since we launched in May 2010 and will continue on this trend, we can redirect our advertising dollars into other sports/media/organizations.
Our marketing strategy with respect to MMA has been to invest in the athletes over the promotions, because let's face it they are the ones that go out and bleed for 15 minutes in addition to making all of the sacrifices most of us don't see.
The athletes affected by this decision at UFC 121 are Chris Camozzi, Patrick Cote, Matt Hamill and Jon Madsen.
As this decision has just come down today it will be virtually impossible for them to find alternate sponsorship.
It has already been said many times that as much as any other sport, MMA fighters depend on sponsorship this isn't a cliche tis is a fact.
For those of us that love the sport and want to see it grow, we should remember that there are companies out there that have the money and want to pay fighters.
Shutting us out will only make it that much harder to support and develop new talent coming into the UFC .
By Rick DeBanks