Meta has signed a new deal with the UFC, which will see the combat sports league post more exclusive content to Meta’s apps, while Meta will also become the “official fan technology partner” of the Dana White-led group.
As reported by CNBC:
“TKO Group’s UFC has struck a multimillion-dollar, multiple-year partnership deal with Meta that will bring the mixed martial arts league closer to Mark Zuckerberg’s technology company. UFC’s integration with Meta will span the company’s portfolio, including Meta AI, Meta Glasses, Meta Quest, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads.”
Which, really, is no surprise.
Dana White was appointed to Meta’s board earlier this year, which was seemingly the culmination of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s growing personal relationship with combat sports.
White is also a long-time supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, and his appointment to Meta’s board was seen as another effort by Zuck and Co. to better align with the second Trump administration.
With that being the case, an expanded UFC/Meta partnership seems like a logical extension of their deepening relationship, which will also benefit broader engagement across Meta’s apps, based on the popularity of UFC.
A big part of that will seemingly be VR integrations, and giving UFC fans new access to the octagon via advancing technology. Which is where the “fan technology partner” tag likely comes in, and it’ll be interesting to see how Meta looks to host UFC events and content within its broader metaverse environment.
Though this, in particular, stood out to me:
“Meta’s Threads will feature exclusive UFC content and will be referenced in live UFC broadcasts.”
Sports remains the biggest topic of discussion on Elon Musk’s X, but if Threads gets more focus in UFC broadcasts moving forward, that could prompt a major shift in this respect.
And if Threads can become the key home for UFC discussion, especially around live events, that could be a big blow for X’s prospects. The main X UFC account has 13 million followers, and it’s a key topic of discussion, especially for real-time fight updates.
Threads hasn’t been able to shift sports communities from X, and their established routines around live sport engagement. Part of that has been Meta’s algorithms, and the difficulty in following along live via Threads updates. But Meta’s recent changes to allow more political content could open this up, and if UFC stars begin posting to Threads instead, that could be a significant step.
Either way, it’ll be interesting to see how Meta and the UFC look to work together in future.
UFC says more announcements will be coming in the next few months.