For the first time, UFC officials unveiled Tuesday what their fighters will wear as part of the company's apparel deal with Reebok.
The new uniform kits drew mixed reviews on social media.
Like it or not, the three different kits are what fighters will be required to wear as part of the deal, which has been widely criticized for potentially reducing fighter income.
Perhaps that fact played into the perceptions of the uniforms themselves. In any case, response was pretty varied and—hope you're sitting down—not always nice.
The three kits are a "country" kit, a "universal" kit and a "champion" kit, all of which bear the same fundamental characteristics, such as the UFC and Reebok logos and the fighter names on the back of the jersey.
The UFC and Reebok were, not surprisingly, very enthusiastic about their own offerings, as were the fighters on hand in New York on Tuesday to help model the kits.
Earned through greatness. Worn with pride. #UFCFightKit pic.twitter.com/u0ERm68dNm
— UFC (@ufc) June 30, 2015
“Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready." -@TheNotoriousMMA. Retweet if you're #TeamNotorious! #UFCFightKit pic.twitter.com/1rQmvDSZfU
— Reebok (@Reebok) June 30, 2015
Unfortunately, though, the rollout was not without hiccups, including some embarrassing name misspellings that fighters and others quickly noticed. One of those was lightweight contender Gilbert Melendez, who mocked a misspelling of his name in a since-deleted tweet.
Giblert is having some fun with this. https://t.co/4etLmkAJUk
— Scott Harris (@ScottHarrisMMA) June 30, 2015
Sadly, the Giblert Melendez kit is no longer available.
— Jeremy Botter (@jeremybotter) June 30, 2015
It looks like @Reebok just went on Wikipedia to find fighters names.They have Matt Hughes as Mark Hughes there. #UFC https://t.co/iFTefaGtWq
— Bang Zoom MMA (@BangZoomMMA) June 30, 2015
Other reaction was mixed across the Twittersphere.
So far so good. It'll be cool to have a #Haiti fight kit for @ufc @Reebok uniforms, what you do think @003_OSP
— Neil Magny (@NeilMagny) June 30, 2015
Don't care much about the Reebok uniforms other than it seems any sense of individuality among UFC fighters is gone and that stinks.
— Josh Gross (@yay_yee) June 30, 2015
Anybody else getting a "Running Man" vibe from this UFC-Reebok fashion show? Just me?
— Ben Fowlkes (@benfowlkesMMA) June 30, 2015
One of my issues w/ the kits from a design standpoint is 'UFC' takes up a ton of the front. Shouldn't the fighter's name be bigger & there?
— Luke Thomas (@SBNLukeThomas) June 30, 2015