Since the introduction of the UFC sponsored kit in 2015, athletes have been banned from putting sponsors on their shorts. And with everything from footwear to hats covered in official UFC sponsors there aren’t many choices left for an athlete looking to make an extra buck.
This is why a lot of the athletes lately have resorted to giving shout outs for everything from crypto projects to charity efforts.
UFC heavyweight Sergey Spivak emerged victorious against the Brazilian heavyweight Augusto Sakai at UFC Vegas 59 this Saturday. Chișinău, Moldova native was seeking a way to break into the top 15 in the division.
After dominating the No.14-ranked heavyweight in the first round, Spivak took Sakai down one minute into the second and obliterated him on the ground. Seeing several unanswered shots on the ground, the referee then immediately stops the bout.
Shortly after the stoppage, Spivak was instructed by his corner to give a shout-out to one of the sponsors in the octagoninterview.
“Shout out to stakes.com and my boy Skinnybets,” said one of the cornermen.
But despite also having the phone in his hand and the message written on it, Spivak apparently was a bit exhausted afterwards and not so focused on the message.
“I want to say, shout out to stakes.com and uhh what,” Spivak said, forgetting the last part.
But despite that, Skinnybets was fine with that in the comment section, as long as he still mentioned the site.
“LMAOOOOOO 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 It’s all good he said stake so that’s what matters” Skinnybets said.
Spivak is currently on a two win streak since losing to Tom Aspinall in September 2021. But despite having nine bouts and going 6-3 in the UFC, he never received any bonuses.
After the messed sponsor shout-out, he proceed to ask the UFC on why he never got any bonuses.
“And I wanna ask UFC, I have nine fights in UFC, beautiful fights, but what happened, why you don’t give me bonus? Give me bonus! One more time, I have nine fights, what happen with you guys?” said ‘The Polar Bear’.
Despite the callout, Spivak still got no post-fight bonus. However, the Moldovan can be proud as he will get ranked in the top 15 in a couple of days.