The Rock continues to get heat from UFC fighters after his new Project Rock shoes were added to the promotion’s official uniform kit, reportedly without extra compensation for those wearing them.
Nate Diaz was the first fighter to voice his unhappiness with the footwear, a collaboration between Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Under Armour. During an interview with ESPN’s Megan Olivi, Diaz bashed the shoes so hard that the clip was edited to remove his comments.
“These shoes f***ing suck,” Diaz said, holding his foot up. “Look at these shoes. They make me put this s*** on. F*** these shoes!”
https://twitter.com/BlitzGuyOG/status/1568651258763821059
It was easy enough for Nate Diaz to trash the new deal without worry, as he was just finishing out his UFC contract at UFC 279. Other fighters have more to lose, and could easily find themselves benched like Diaz was for over a year between fights. That didn’t stop heavyweight Chris Daukaus from voicing his strong opinion of the new kicks.
“Dude, they f***ing suck, they f***ing suck,” Daukaus said on The AllStar UFC Vegas 60 recap show. “They’re f***ing s****y-ass shoes, man. They are the f***ing worst. Listen, I’m not a big shoe guy. I’ve got like, s****y New Balances. I’m a dad, I’m not a sneaker guy. These sneakers f***ing suck. They really do suck. They’re uncomfortable, super tight, big. They f***ing suck.”
“Talk s*** about the Reebok deal – the quality of shoe with Reebok? Way better in my opinion. I’m just not a fan or Under Armour shoes. They just suck. Sorry Rock. You can find me, I’m in Philadelphia. Come if you wanna say something, your shoes f***ing suck.”
Lightweight fighter Terrance McKinney is another UFC fighter that voiced his displeasure after learning fighters wouldn’t be getting paid extra to wear The Rock’s shoes.
“Hey brotha Rock, if you’re a fan of what we do, make the deal favorable for the ones modeling your shoe,” McKinney wrote on Twitter. “I get it’s not your fault or your business doin it to us, but show us the love you think you are. Get in our corner and support us.”
https://twitter.com/twrecks155/status/1570109075198976000
“I seen ‘T-Wrecks’ tweeting s*** out about The Rock and all that s***, Terrance McKinney,” Daukaus said. “I seen him tweeting all that s*** out. I wanted to jump on the bandwagon like, ‘Yeah dude, these f***ing suck.’ But also like, I like getting paid, so didn’t wanna tweet out. But yeah, the shoes f***ing suck.”
The UFC has been known to be rather prickly when it comes to people inside the organization trashing their sponsors, so it will be interesting to see what their response is here.