As of the evening of October 18, 2010 GOOD4U Drinks was added to the list of banned sponsors from Zuffa. According to the Canadian GOOD4U Drinks web site, they were started in 2001, as Double D Suppliers Ltd. In 2004 the company started to innovate and become Double D Beverage Corporation and came out with Beaver Buzz Energy Drink. They now have 3 styles products they advertise and put out to consumers, BVR Buzz Energy, Vintage Soda, and GOOD4U RTD Performance Formulae.
Zuffa has owned the company Xyience for many years now. Xyience is known as the official energy drink of the UFC, as where AMP Energy is for the WEC. Xyience has been prominent on the Ultimate Fighter and has been seen on the octagon floor many times. This is great, Xyience’s product Xenergy is a great energy drink, but GOOD4U Drinks are NOT ENERGY DRINKS, they are sport drinks.
Zuffa went to GOOD4U Drinks saying that they are in direct competition with Xyience, and that their logo was not permitted at a Zuffa event. However unfortunate it is that they are not allowed to sponsor fighters in future events, one of the biggest issues is that GOOD4U Drinks are sponsors a total of 4 fights for Saturdays UFC 121. The four fighters being Chris Camozzi, Patrick Cote, Matt Hamill, and Jon Madsen, they also have sponsored other great fighters such as Todd Duffee, Gabe Ruediger, and heavyweight contender Shane Carwin. Pulling their sponsorship left less than a week for the four fighters competing Saturday night to find other sponsors to try to fill that spot.
Last night Ted Gruber from Chicago Now had a phone interview with Rick DeBanks Co-President of GOOD4U Drinks. DeBanks said that the reason they had issues was that two of their drinks had guarana in it, both not being energy drinks. DeBanks went on to say he is disappointed that this happened but it is not going to stop GOOD4U Drinks from getting their name out. DeBanks feels that they should have said after UFC 121 to not be able to sponsor fighters, but making them pull out of UFC 121 is not the best idea for the fighters. Pushing that it’s the fighters that go out into the cage and bleed, and that when a company like them puts out 100s of thousands of dollars to support their fighters should not be pulled like that. They still want to be present in mixed martial arts be it Bellator or other organizations, possibly even other sports.
GOOD4U Drinks is not the first company to be banned from Zuffa events. Numerous large clothing companies have been banned in the past. Hayabusa, RVCA, and Clinch Gear are prime examples. Other large companies such as Dethrone Royalty and One More Round were on this list at one point too. Along with Condom Depot, Full Tilt Poker, and Party Poker have been banned. The bright side to this though is that the majority of these companies have been allowed to reenter the octagon.
In the end, GOOD4U Drinks should not have been banned from the Zuffa in my opinion and if they had to be should have been handled better. This action has made me want to purchase GOOD4U Drinks over Xenergy. Like the fighters GOOD4U Drinks sponsor, they are tough guys and are not going to just tap out after this happens. I have faith that they will be back on fighters shorts and banners very soon, whether it is under Zuffa or not is to been seen, but mixed martial arts is a fast growing sport with many up and coming fighters and many organizations. All the best to GOOD4U drinks.
Check out GOOD4U Drinks website at http://www.gd4u.com/
Follow them on Twitter @GOOD4UDrinks
Ted Gruber’s interview with Rick DeBanks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5uK0_SOQGE&feature=player_embedded
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