‘The Rock’s shoes can go f*** themselves’: UFC fighter hits out at company’s sponsors

Tanner Boser said he doesn’t ‘get a single penny’ from the various brands involved with the UFC

Alex Pattle
Combat Sports Correspondent
Wednesday 19 July 2023 16:04 BST
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UFC fighter Tanner Boser has hit out at the promotion’s sponsorship set-up, claiming that he doesn’t ‘get a single penny’ from the vast majority of sponsors.

All UFC fighters must wear Venum fight gear, and while the athletes receive a percentage of the money that the UFC makes from that deal, they have long said they do not benefit from the company’s other sponsorships.

In the past, UFC fighters were able to sport the logos of their own sponsors on their fight gear, before the UFC signed an agreement for Reebok and then Venum to supply their fight attire. Furthermore, WWE star-turned-actor DwayneThe RockJohnson has a deal that sees his Project Rock shoes used by athletes at UFC events.

Canadian Boser criticised the dynamic on Wednesday (19 July), telling journalist James Lynch in an expletive-laden rant: “I guess for sponsors, I have Venum, who actually give me money.

“Every f***-face company that puts their logo all over my s***, that I don’t get a single penny from – like Crypto.com and all those other ones – can go eat a f***ing d***.

“The Rock’s shoes can go f*** themselves, too. So, thank you to Venum for actually paying me.”

Boser, 31, is next in action on 5 August, when he fights Aleksa Camur in a light-heavyweight bout.

The contest will be Boser’s second in the weight class in the UFC. In his divisional debut in April, he suffered a TKO loss to Ion Cutelaba; before that, Boser went 4-4 as a UFC heavyweight.

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