Round 5 to Release Jason MacDonald Figurine; Lytle & Kampmann next?

Round 5 to release Jason MacDonald figurine; Lytle and Kampmann next?
by John Morgan and Dann Stupp on Apr 16, 2009 at 2:40 pm ET
Round 5, the company best known for its popular line of mixed-martial-arts figurines, today announced it will produce and release a figurine of veteran UFC middleweight Jason MacDonald later this year.


No exact date has been determined for the release, which is the company's first Canadian-fighter figurine.


"Since we are based in Ontario, I am particularly excited that Jason MacDonald is the first Canadian to sign with Round 5," Round 5 President and Co-Founder Damon Lau stated in today's press release. "He is one of the most successful and popular MMA stars in the country and enjoys a strong following across North America."


Round 5 now releases a new set of figurines each quarter. The company previously announced it had reached deals with Fedor Emelianenko and Gina Carano, whose figurines will be released later this year.


MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) also today was told by a source close to the fighters that UFC veterans Chris Lytle and Martin Kampmann have recently inked deals with Round 5. However, it's currently unknown if their figurines will be released in 2009.


As with past figurines – which have included the likes of Randy Couture, Rich Franklin, Anderson Silva, Andrei Arlovski and referee "Big" John McCarthy – MacDonald (and Lytle and Kapmann) will maintain creative control of their likenesses, including the pose, facial design and shorts. And like those other fighters, they will earn royalties on each unit sold.


Additionally, as MMAjunkie.com detailed in a recent radio interview with Lau, the fighters, who earn four to five times the normal toy-royalty rate, are also permitted to sell sponsorships for their figurines. So in essence, as with his UFC fights, MacDonald can sell advertising space on his figurine's fight shorts. All that sponsor money goes directly to the fighter.


"I think the program, moving forward, has always made sense from the very, very beginning, which is why we've gone so far in such a quick amount of time," Lau said. "We haven't had any problems, even today, signing licenses."