UFC Announces Fight Kit Partnership Contract with Venum, Replaces Reebok in 2021

UFC announced a new fight kit deal with Venum on Friday that will take effect in April 2021 after the current deal with Reebok expires in March 2021.

UFC President Dana White released the following statement regarding the upcoming partnership with Venum:

"We're pumped that Venum will be joining us as our new exclusive global outfitting and apparel partner. Venum is an iconic combat sports brand that understands the unique needs of MMA athletes. Franck Dupuis and his team at Venum have the technical knowledge and experience that will produce world-class UFC fight kits and apparel. We're looking forward to collaborating with them on this next evolution of UFC's outfitting program."

While Venum is replacing Reebok in terms of fight kits and apparel, Reebok will continue to be the official footwear provider of UFC through at least the end of 2021.

In 2014, Reebok and UFC agreed to a six-year, $70 million athletic wear deal that helped put UFC on the map in terms of merchandising similar to major sports leagues like the NFL and NBA.

As part of the Venum announcement, White called the deal with Reebok "groundbreaking" and added that it "elevated both of our brands."

The Reebok deal wasn't necessarily beloved by the fighters, though, as the in-arena branding prevented them from wearing non-Reebok gear and earning sponsorship money from other brands.

During an appearance on ESPN Radio's Dan Le Batard Show (h/t Tom Bassam of SportsProMedia.com) in June, White suggested he wanted to keep the same model with the next kit and apparel contract.

Venum isn't as widely known of a brand as Reebok since it was founded in 2006, but it focuses solely on combat sports, which makes it a good fit for UFC.