UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski was demolished by a head kick from Islam Makhachev at UFC 294. The tough Australian took the fight on eleven days’ notice after Charles Oliveira pulled out due to a gruesome cut. “Volk” was his usual undaunted self before the fight, but the UFC Lightweight Champion made light work of him within one round.
Following his loss, UFC fan and X user Aj pointed out an eerie similarity between Volkanovski and Israel Adesanya. He said that both fighters have lost major fights since being sponsored by sports drink PRIME. In June 2023, the Oceanians became the first athletes to be signed by the brand. Adesanya lost his Middleweight Championship to Sean Strickland in a shocking upset at UFC 293 in September.
DO NOT LET PRIME SPONSOR YOU pic.twitter.com/lHzHLBe6Wt
— Aj (@AjDuxche) October 21, 2023
YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI founded PRIME Hydration in January 2022. In February 2023, Dana White announced that PRIME had become the official sports drink of the UFC. The contract is three years long and is worth high seven figures. PRIME succeeds Coca Cola’s Body Armor as the UFC’s official sports drink after the latter’s five-year contract expired.
PRIME also bagged two other star athletes under its label
While this “curse” is the latest running gag in the UFC, some fans could not resist unleashing their inner conspiracy theorist. One X user named Oscar said that this curse affects only UFC fighters. He drew attention to the fact that top boxer Terrence Crawford beat Errol Spence in July after signing with Prime.
Another X user named Scotty said that the PRIME curse is “worse than the Drake curse.” This is a jibe at the fact that a number of fighters, including Adesanya, lost after the rapper bet on them to win. One more user named Jarman Gill threw shade at Adesanya’s gym, City Kickboxing Academy, saying, “That Kickboxing academy is getting exposed real quick …”.
The author of the tweet, Aj, also identified another similar curse. Israel Adesanya, Alexander Volkanovski and Valentina Schevchenko were revealed as the cover athletes of the EA Sports UFC 5 game in September 2023. Since then, all three have come up short in major title fights.
Adesanya was embarrassed by Strickland, Volkanovski was knocked out by Islam Makhachev and Schevchenko was thwarted in her attempt to regain the Women’s Flyweight Title. Her rematch with Alexa Grasso ended in a controversial draw with some believing her to be the victor. Shevchenko then accused the judges of favoring her Mexican opponent because the fight took place on Mexican Independence Day.
This curse is still undefeated btw pic.twitter.com/XUbZywzFr6
— Aj (@AjDuxche) October 21, 2023
PRIME made headlines when they landed ace soccer player Erling Haaland in August 2023. He became the latest star in their sponsorship coup that included deals with Arsenal FC, FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich. In just its first year, PRIME reportedly made an astonishing $250 million in sales. Its value soared further when it was acquired by Coca Cola for an incredible $10 billion.
Since being launched, PRIME become a roaring success amongst youngsters, primarily teenage boys. But the drink has been banned in New Zealand and in many schools in several countries because it allegedly contains extremely high levels of caffeine. Media personalities have also criticized Logan Paul and KSI for using their popularity to influence young boys into buying PRIME’s range of drinks.