Sean Strickland becomes Rainbet ambassador, following July’s Gaethje deal

Rainbet posted a video on August 20 featuring Sean Strickland, who currently holds the UFC middleweight title. In the clip he looks straight at the camera and tells viewers to bet through Rainbet rather than another platform. There’s no real production polish to it, just Strickland talking. Rainbet didn’t publish any financial details alongside the video, so people started guessing. A number close to $20 million a year showed up on social media pretty quickly after the post went live, though neither side has said anything to confirm or deny it, and given how these agreements usually work, they might just never comment on the actual figure at all.

This isn’t the first time Strickland’s name has been tied to Rainbet. He appeared in shorter promotional spots around a couple of his past fights, but those were closer to one-off cameos than an ongoing arrangement. The wording Rainbet used this time is different too — he’s described as an ambassador now, which typically implies a longer, standing relationship with the brand rather than something scheduled around a single fight week.

Rainbet made a similar move in July, signing UFC fighter Justin Gaethje under what appears to be a comparable arrangement. Gaethje has a large following in the US and a public persona built around being outspoken, which lines up with the type of fighter Rainbet seems to be targeting for these deals. Two signings like this within roughly a month of each other suggests some amount of planning on Rainbet’s part rather than a single opportunistic booking.

Sponsorship deals between crypto betting sites and combat sports athletes aren’t new. Betting companies have worked with fighters for years, largely because a lot of UFC viewers already gamble online in some form. What makes the Strickland deal a bit different is that he’s an active, reigning champion rather than a retired fighter or someone lower on a card looking for extra income. Whether the $20 million figure holds up or gets walked back later, it circulated as widely as it did partly because sponsorship numbers in this space have gotten large enough that people don’t automatically question them anymore.