The UFC enters into a sponsorship agreement with Blockchain Company VeChain

by Arthur · July 5, 2022

An institution that comes from the world of Web3 enters the octagon for the first time. Today, the UFC announced a marketing partnership with VeChain, the company behind the Ethereum-compatible public network of the same name.

The organization will make its debut in mixed martial arts during UFC 275: Teixeira vs. Prochazka, which takes place at Singapore Indoor Stadium this Saturday. It joins the likes of Crypto.com, Socios and Dapper Labs blockchain companies that do business with the UFC.

The sports world is becoming an advertising hub for companies using blockchain technology, and the UFC is no exception. The agreement with VeChain is a multi-year agreement valued at almost 100 million dollars, according to the Sports Business Journal.

“VeChain is a globally recognized leader in blockchain technology, and we could not be happier to welcome them as an official UFC marketing partner,” said Paul Asencio, senior vice president of global partnerships at the UFC, in announcing the agreement.

VeChain started as a private network that went public and is used across different supply chains and in fields that include the automotive sector, medicine and energy, especially carbon management. The company’s technology is used by both governments and companies that include Walmart and Bayer.

Since its inception in 2015, the company has grown over time to have offices in eight different countries that include Ireland, the United States and Singapore. The event, which takes place this weekend, will be the UFC’s first pay-per-view event to be held in Southeast Asia.

The partnership involves agreements to display the VeChain logo at UFC events in the Octagon, on the clothing worn by fighter jets, and in content distributed across the UFC’s social media accounts and other digital platforms.

It will also lead to original content distributed by the UFC, including VeChain’s presence, and the company will acquire ownership of the UFC’s fighter rankings shown at live events.

This is not the first time the UFC has announced a deal with one Web3 the company this year. Back in January, the UFC announced a venture with Dapper Labs with UFC Strike, a series of NFT collectibles that has reached $ 8.5 million in sales volume in the six-month period since its launch, according to CryptoSlam.

It followed the organization’s multi-year agreement with the cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com in the summer of 2021, which led to the lion’s logo being plastered over the organization’s events and battle memorials.