Becoming a professional mixed martial artist takes a lot of resources. Besides the hours of dedication needed for training, the cost of coaches, gym and dojo memberships, travel and eating right can add up to some serious money, that many find it hard to afford. Then of course there is the cost of marketing yourself and trying to get noticed. So how can you pull off meeting all these expenses and taking the time off from your day job to get in shape at the same time?
The answer for many has been to find a sponsor. If you are just getting started, or in fact unless you already have a championship belt or are on your way to one the chances of you landing a contract or big corporate sponsor is probably slim to none. However this does not mean that there are not options available to you.
Mixed martial arts and the UFC has made fans out of millions in the US, Canada and worldwide. Among these are wealthy individuals and businesses with a passion for MMA or who are looking for a new marketing idea or write off for tax purposes. These are the perfect candidates for becoming your sponsor and helping to offset your costs to make it to the big time. However do approach getting a sponsor with caution. Some will just be happy with the benefits that come from being a sponsor while others may want a part of the action when you start rolling in the big money. It is true you may never make it to the octagon without them, but you also do not want to be handing over millions of dollars of your winnings because someone helped you with a few thousand.
To get sponsored you of course need to show that you have great potential and are dedicated to making your run in the MMA world a success. Step one to getting a sponsor should be to do your home work first. Get all the figures together of what it is going to cost to get you where you want to go and lay it out on paper. Of course you will also want to put together some projections on how much a sponsor is going to gain from partnering with you, whether it is tax write offs, marketing and advertising which brings them new customers or a cut of the winnings. This is what is going to sell them on the deal.
Then put up a blog or small website online, showing off your skills with videos of you training and beating others. You can use this to market yourself to sponsors and eventually raise interest from those who make the cuts for joining the UFC. Start approaching potential sponsors by contacting those you know in person and testing their interest. Then you can send out emails with links to your website or blog to local businesses to try and get them to sponsor you as well. Your sponsor could be from any industry, however ones related to martial arts or health and fitness are a good start. Try gyms, health stores, your dojo and more.
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February 27th, 2011 at 4:12 pm
what if you want sponsored to start training
February 27th, 2011 at 10:09 pm
Maybe I am missing something but you probably need to prove yourself before you get a sponsor? Who would sponsor an unproven fighter?