Sponsors seem to fall into Lesnar's 'Clutch'

ANAHEIM, CALIF. - Brock Lesnar is a brand in a sport seeking mainstream acceptance.

He's got his own clothing line, he's a regular on ESPN's SportsCenter shows, and the celebrity gossip website TMZ tracked him down this week, and no wonder: He's reportedly making $5 million per fight.

The former Gophers wrestler and current UFC heavyweight champ is in the Southern California spotlight and back in "The Octagon" this weekend to defend his Ultimate Fighting Championship title Saturday night in Anaheim.

All the while, Lesnar's fame -- and his fortune -- continues to flourish. "All of my sponsors that I've got are great to me," he said earlier this week. "I'm not looking for more. ... My real estate is used up. It just means I charge more for the other ones that I've got."

Lesnar doesn't look like the typical front man of a $1 billion company, though the UFC is banking on the former NCAA wrestling champion continuing his dominance and racking up pay-per-view sales. For his part, Lesnar has no intention of allowing the UFC to use his talent for profit without reaping rewards of his own.

He drives a decked-out pickup truck with a logo from his sponsor Jimmy John's affixed to the passenger door.

A camera crew for Spike TV's "Primetime" series tracked him for months leading up to the fight. Lesnar made sure that everyone in his camp wore DeathClutch gear during shoots. Even at Friday's weigh-in for his title defense Saturday night against undefeated contender Cain Velasquez in UFC 121, grown men were sporting the DeathClutch gear.

Agreeing to film "Primetime" is likely to add hundreds of thousands of dollars to his paycheck for Saturday's fight. He's one of the few UFC fighters who receives a percentage of pay-per-view revenue.

The usually introverted MMA star is scheduled to release his first book, an autobiography, in 2011 and there's talk of a documentary. "I've found the less you tell people, the more they want to know," he said.

He's worth about $15 million, according to celebritynetworth.com.

The branding of Brock

His financial haul represents the most obvious sign of the UFC's journey from niche to mainstream: signature fighters making millions both inside and outside the Octagon.

He said DeathClutch, which more than 150,000 people "like" on Facebook, may consider an expansion beyond mixed martial arts.

"The idea with the DeathClutch brand was 'Why would I wear somebody else's shorts when I can have my own brand?'" Stegeman said. "Right now, the idea is that we continue to associate and keep the brand aligned with MMA and with this fighting career."

Lesnar's name is a draw

The UFC has become the undisputed pay-per-view king behind Lesnar's emergence.

The 1.6 million PPV buys for Lesnar's bout against Frank Mir last year topped the biggest boxing card of the year between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto (1.25 million) and WWE's Wrestlemania (582,000).

Others are using his name to profit. Spike TV has replayed Lesnar's UFC fights and broadcast the "Primetime" series leading up to the Saturday fight in a promotion the network calls "Brocktober."

Lesnar couldn't attend Thursday's public workouts at a UFC gym because of appearances he had to make in Los Angeles, a sign that Lesnar is mostly responsible for the buzz and promotion of the event.

"In a very short period of time, he's become a force to be reckoned with," said Jack LeFever, the director of marketing for Jack Link's Beef Jerky, one of seven companies that sponsor Lesnar.

But it's a two-way street in the UFC for top fighters.

According to Yahoo's Kevin Iole, Frank Mir made $85,000 from his sponsors during his second fight against Lesnar last summer, and MMA icon Chuck Liddell made as much as $9 million annually during his peak.

"The UFC will pay you if you perform," Mir's agent, Dean Albrecht, told Yahoo in April. "It's like in the NFL. They're not going to rip up your contract after one great game, but if you perform over a period of time, they'll pay you and pay you extremely well."

Fights now, movies later?

Lesnar, like other UFC competitors, will use the three-hour spotlight Saturday to showcase his company and his sponsors on the T-shirt he wears to the ring, the poster that serves as a backdrop during the introductions and the shorts he dons in the fight.

Lesnar has had a Tiger Woods impact on the sport. When he's on a card, it sells big, which attracts sponsors and advertisers. Even Tito Ortiz, one of the UFC's most popular fighters, raves about Lesnar's star power.

"To be in on Brock Lesnar's card, I jumped on it," he said during the prefight news conference Wednesday.

Both Randy Couture ("The Expendables") and Rampage Jackson ("A-Team") were cast in summer blockbusters, the most financially lucrative outlet for a fighter beyond the cage to date.

Lesnar has turned down movie offers in the past, but the right role and money, he says, may entice him.

"If something really good appears and there's an opportunity to make some good money in something else, I'd pursue it," he said.