MANILA, Philippines – Is sports apparel giant Nike shutting down the Manny Pacquiao line in favor of creating a line for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight champion Jon "Bones" Jones?
According to UFC president Dana White, this is the case.
"They're shutting down the Manny Pacquiao line and starting up the Jon Jones line," White said in an interview with MMA Weekly last Sunday.
Jones confirmed that he signed a deal with Nike last week, tweeting "Blessed to be signed by the biggest sports apparel company in the world #NIKE. Dreams do come true."
Jones will start wearing Nike apparel at UFC 151, when he defends his title against Dan Henderson.
But even White is unsure why Nike will shut down the Pacquiao line in favor of Jones' line.
"I don't know why they would shut down the Pacquiao line, but they did and that (expletive) was selling like hot cakes," he told MMA Weekly. "I got Manny Pacquiao (expletive) from Nike."
Pacquiao's publicist, Fred Sternburg, contradicted White's statement, however.
"It's 100% false," Sternburg told Boxing Scene. "The relationship between Manny and Nike has never been better."
Nike has not released an official statement regarding the issue.
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