The biggest professional mixed martial arts organizers globally, the UFC (ultimate fighting championship), has announced a new collaboration with crypto.com. The move is to enable BTC payments when paying UFC fighters.
Details Of The Bonus Payouts
Part of the contract terms is that the top three fighters in each UFC PPV tournament will receive their payouts in BTC. The UFC further revealed that the total payout is $60K worth of BTC, and fans will vote to determine who will receive the payouts. A crypto.com report revealed that the $60K worth of BTC is shared as follows: $30K worth of BTC for the winner, while the first and second runners-up will receive $20K and $10K worth of BTC each.
While commenting on the new partnership, UFC president dana white claimed that “we’ve only been partners with crypto.com for barely 12 months. But I rank them among the best partners we’ve ever had. They keep creating new ideas that will enable us to have a better connection with our fanbase.”
White added that “this bonus payout is a win-win for the fights and the fans. The fans become more interested in each fight (since they decide who to receive the bonus payout), while the fighters put out their best performances during fights.”
UFC’s Crypto Experience
Last April, the UFC filed two patent proposals to show its intention of foraying into the NFT space. One of the applications was a patent to launch its native token, while the second was a UFC-branded crypto wallet app. Part of the application states, “a downloadable app that users can use to conduct crypto and NFT transactions.”
A month ago, former UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou, earned $590K from his NFT partnership deal, which far exceeded what he would have earned in fighters’ earnings in his UFC-260 bout with Stipe Miocic.
Wider Crypto Adoption In Sports
Crypto.com is not new to the sports marketing world. Last November, the exchange paid more than $710M to have the naming to La Lakers’ basketball stadium – a feat that made headlines for many weeks. Similarly, UFC is not new to partnerships or deals in the crypto space.
The UFC 273 fight on April 9 is the first UFC fight where the fighters will be eligible for the UFC PPV BTC reward. Announcing this reward a few days before the event is a nice promotion tactic by the event organizers. This year has seen a dramatic increase in crypto adoption within the sports industry.
However, crypto.com is the exchange making the biggest moves in penetrating the sports industry. It has secured partnerships with top sports from different sports sectors. For example, apart from paying more than $710 to obtain naming rights to the La Lakers sports field, it has ongoing partnership deals with Formula-1 Miami Grand Prix, PSG soccer club, and the Australian football league, among many others.
