The Tenth Man has created a new global campaign for the sports apparel brand Champion as it marks its first foray into the MMA with a tie-up with UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall.
This collaboration signals a strategic expansion for Champion into combat sports, aligning the brand’s 100-year legacy in performance apparel with the rise of a new generation of athletes and audiences.
According to the Tenth Man, “at the heart of the campaign is a redefinition of what it means to be a fighter today. From visual identity and naming to tone and narrative, The Tenth Man crafted a stripped-back, precision-led creative direction inspired by Aspinall’s mentality and fighting style. The campaign heroes the average length of his professional fights — 00:02:02 — a timestamp that now features as a recurring design motif across the collection.”
According to Paul Mallon, senior manager, brand strategy and creative content, Champion: “Tom represents a modern form of discipline, intensity, and clarity that feels completely in sync with where Champion is going as a brand. This campaign and collection are about channelling that power into something simple but resonant. The Tenth Man understood that instinctively and delivered a platform that feels sharp, confident and built for where sport culture is headed.”
Flora Dalton, business & operations director at The Tenth Man, adds: “The MMA space is growing fast, but most brand campaigns still fall back on clichés. We wanted to bring a new lens to it — to show how a fighter like Tom can speak to discipline, style, and purpose. From naming to execution, the goal was to build a creative platform that could stretch far beyond this launch and still feel completely ownable by Champion.”
The campaign rolls out internationally across social, digital, retail, and earned media
channels, with content and production also led by The Tenth Man. Additional creative and performance-led drops are planned as the partnership continues to evolve.
