Paul Dubs Izzy And Volk ‘The First Official PRIME Athletes’

PRIME sports drink has slapped its name on a ton of things surrounding the UFC and the Octagon, but up until now they haven’t made any deals with individual fighters. All that changed yesterday as founder Logan Paul announced that Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski have become the ‘first official PRIME athletes.’

We kind of figured this was coming: Adesanya and Volkanovski spent some time last week training with Logan Paul, and there were a lot of PRIME sports drink bottles littered around the social media photos and videos taken. At the time we speculated that a sponsorship deal was incoming. Now we have official confirmation.

“The first official PRIME athletes,” Logan Paul wrote on Twitter. “Welcome to the family Stylebender and Alex Volkanovski.”

Honestly, we’re just a little surprised that Adesanya and Volkanovski are the first athletes to sign a deal with PRIME across all sports. PRIME has been an overnight success, buoyed by the popularity of its founders Logan Paul and KSI. According to Paul, the drink made $250 in retail sales the first year it came out. Front Office Sports reports it sold over $50 million in four weeks to start 2023, making it the sixth biggest sports drink in the U.S.

Back in February 2023, Dana White and Logan Paul announced a partnership deal that saw PRIME become the official sports drink of the UFC and a partner of the UFC Performance Institute. Forget that old red corner / blue corner crap, too. Now fighters return to their respective “PRIME Hydration Recovery Zones” and sit on their “30th anniversary celebration PRIME Octagon-shaped Cornermen Stool.”

It took four months, but finally PRIME is putting money directly into the pockets of fighters and not the UFC. Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski are the first official PRIME athletes, but we’re hoping they’re far from the last. Logan Paul’s brother Jake is often talking about how unfair the pay situation is for UFC fighters. Recent reports have fighter pay as a percentage of overall revenue dropping to a pathetic new low of 14%.

Come on, Logan. Splash some of that sweet sports drink cash around to the poor men and women fighting on $10k/$10k contracts. And maybe splash Joaquin Buckley with some cash too, since you did use him in that advert promoting Adesanya and Volkanovski. Now that would be refreshing and energizing to see.