Aljamain Sterling and Brian Ortega pose in leaked photo of the UFC's new Venum gear
UFC stars Aljamain Sterling and Brian Ortega have been seen posing in the promotion’s new range of Venum gear.
The Reebok deal has been in place throughout the last few years, with most fans and fighters not warming to the ‘uniform’ idea behind the partnership. Alas, it’s been able to stand the test of time and while we can't go back to fighters wearing whatever they please, many are happy to see the Ultimate Fighting Championship go in a different direction, away from Reebok.
The rise of Venum
That new direction, of course, is with Venum.
The manufacturer has worked in the mixed martial arts sphere for quite some time now after being founded back in 2005. While some wanted to see the UFC go towards Nike or Adidas, there are high hopes that Venum will be given the creative license to do some cool things here.
As seen below, new UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling has given fans a first glimpse of what the debut range will look like.
Both men are obviously in the spotlight right now for very different reasons, with Sterling recently claiming the UFC Bantamweight Championship through a disqualification win over Petr Yan. Brian Ortega, on the other hand, has a mountain to climb later this month when he challenges Alexander Volkanovski for the UFC Featherweight Championship.
This may have just been a test run to see what the new gear looks like, but there’s also a chance the UFC has chosen Sterling and Ortega to be the poster boys for an upcoming series of promos featuring Venum gear. If that’s the case, kudos to both men for getting themselves into that spot.
One of the big debates we always come back to with uniforms is fighter pay. Some feel as if this harms fighters and their ability to generate income from a variety of different sponsors, whereas others enjoy the professional feel that uniforms have.
Regardless of which category you fall into, it seems nothing is going to stop Venum from making an impact when this deal begins next month.