Anthony Pettis in the running to land Wheaties box cover
For the first time in the history of mixed martial arts, a UFC fighter has the chance to land the cover on a box of Wheaties.
The iconic cereal brand that intially debuted featuring athletes on the cover of their boxes with Lou Gehrig in 1934 is now opening up a fan vote for the first time in 80 years to determine the next person to land a box cover.
Among the athletes up for the chance to land the Wheaties cover is UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, who recently signed an endorsement deal with the cereal brand and now hopes to join other athletes like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods who have adorned the cereal box cover in the past.
The program called Wheaties Next will feature Pettis alongside four other athletes from different sports including soccer, lacrosse, motocross and adaptive sports with the winner of the fan voting landing the cover of the cereal box.
The voting runs from July 1 through August 31 via the MapMyFitness application available for all iOS, Windows and Android devices. Fans can vote up to twice per day for their favorite athlete.
Pettis is already the first UFC fighter to be sponsored by Wheaties, but landing the box cover would be a cultural achievement for the sport. While the cereal brand has featured athletes from boxing, football, basketball, hockey, gymnastics, race car driving and any other number of sports, a mixed martial artist has never had the honor.
The UFC lightweight champion is currently coaching on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter season 20 alongside top contender Gilbert Melendez while certainly checking out the results of the contest to see if he can land the Wheaties cover for the first time in MMA history.
