Conor McGregor makes his highly-anticipated return to mixed martial arts at UFC 246 on Saturday, January 18 in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first pay-per-view event of the year. The former two-division champion is set to take on fan-favorite Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in the main event.
Ahead of the bout, Reebok has dropped their official walkout shirts for the main event participants on the UFC Store and, well, let’s just say the graphics department has some explaining to do.
There was already criticism aimed at the UFC graphics department for the embarrassingly basic event poster, but now Reebok is catching some heat after their cartoon design for McGregor. With the anticipation behind McGregor’s return, you would expect his loyal fans to head to the merch table to pick up a t-shirt to represent their favorite fighter — until you see the epic disaster that Reebok unveiled.
Just take a look:
Reebok releases official Conor McGregor ‘Legacy Series’ t-shirt for UFC 246 https://t.co/PHriT2uS7F pic.twitter.com/ycHfMbBRen
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) January 6, 2020
What in the absolute f*ck is that, Reebok? Not only is their a gigantic caricature of McGregor plastered on the front, Reebok is rolling with its classic logo on the chest. Is this the kind of respect you give a former two-division champ in his comeback fight?
And if the design wasn’t bad enough, Reebok is asking fans to pay $60 to rock that monstrosity.
Where is Boss Logic when you need him?
I Can share this official @Reebok @TheNotoriousMMA piece I made for a champ series shirt.
enjoyed working on this one pic.twitter.com/JdqeFdy78F
— BossLogic (@Bosslogic) January 11, 2018
At least “Cowboy” got a better deal.
At least Donald Cerrone got a little more respect #UFC246 https://t.co/BnpXBCkOL2 pic.twitter.com/cU1Oc4X9mF
— Josh Sánchez (@joshnsanchez) January 6, 2020
We wouldn’t be surprised if these are pulled from the shelf sooner rather than later.
McGregor last appeared inside of the Octagon in October 2018 when he suffered a submission loss to lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Prior to his loss to Nurmagomedov, McGregor was on a two-fight winning streak with a welterweight bout victory over Nate Diaz and a Performance of the Night against Eddie Alvarez to claim the 155-pound title on November 12, 2016. However, McGregor was later stripped of the title due to inactivity — he was previously stripped of the featherweight belt after winning the lightweight crown.
Cerrone, meanwhile, will be looking to bounce back after a two-fight losing streak. “Cowboy” went 2-2 in 2019 with wins over Al Iaquinta and Alexander Hernandez, while suffering losses to top lightweight contenders Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje. Three of Cerrone’s last four fights earned him $50,000 bonuses for Fight of the Night.