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Coach Kavanagh issues ultimatum to Reebok over 'incredibly insensitive' Ireland t-shirts

The SBG founder threatened to pull out of their sponsorship deal if they weren’t removed today.

MMA FANS HAVE been angered by a UFC t-shirt which depicts a map of Ireland without the six counties of Northern Ireland.

Available online and made by the official sports brand of the UFC, Reebok, the t-shirt features just 26 counties, while a caption on the same page reads:

“Show your UFC territorial allegiance with this UFC Ireland map tee. You know in your soul the best fighters come out of Ireland, and you’re not afraid to scream your pride in the or at the Octagon.”

Reebok Ireland tee Reebok.ie Reebok.ie

Ahead of this Saturday’s UFC event at the 3Arena in Dublin, SBG founder and coach John Kavanagh issued an ultimatum to Reebok — saying he will pull out of their recently-signed deal if the t-shirts aren’t taken down by the end of the day.

UPDATE: Reebok have removed the t-shirts from their online store and apologised via Twitter:

And Kavanagh has tweeted to say he wants to put the controversy behind him:

‘Paddy Holohan is the people’s main event at UFC Dublin’ – John Kavanagh

What are Norman Parke’s views on a potential rematch with Joe Duffy?

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