The UFC makes a lot of money from brand sponsorships. Not only does Dana White and Co. make a pretty penny from some of the biggest global brands like Venum, IBM, Meta, Monster, etc., but is also a barometer of how popular and mainstream the sport has become. And it seems the UFC CEO has decoded that sponsorships are not just a way for the promotion to make big bucks, but also make some positive change in the world. And for the Bossman, one of those brands seems to be VeChain, a blockchain company, which signed a $100 million and five-year sponsorship deal with the UFC last year. And according to VeChain CEO, Sunny Lu, White decided to have them as one of the UFC’s sponsors because he likes and appreciates their philanthropic work.
“He [Dana White was] like, ‘You know, I really like what you’re doing and I want to support you. I want you to succeed.’ So that’s in different levels, not only like ‘Oh it’s just a sponsorship or just an exposure,’ no. I always say firstly [it] is about how to leverage with UFC fans. It’s a huge fan base, right, like one billion user [fans] across the whole world, right? Second, you know, it’s about the possible business collaborations. We’re going to work with one of the NGO’s, who are focused on collecting plastic waste, it’s called 4ocean.com, and that’s actually thanks to Dana’s connections [to] establish that kind of a talking and formalize a collaboration for us,” Lu told ‘Thinking Crypto’ in a recent interview.
“We wanted to use the crypto blockchain technology to help the, you know, NGO like 4ocean.com. They have been devoted to collect, and recycle plastic waste from the ocean, saving marine animals, clean up the water. Those type of things! So we wanted to help them and to leverage with the crypto and blockchain to help them grow and help them to expand to more people to get the support and even expand to more territories. Not only in the coastline of Miami, that’s where they’re based, right, and outreaching more users from the community, and even more business collaboration with 4jocean.com. So that’s the second category like Dana can really support us,” he added.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – SEPTEMBER 13: UFC CEO Dana White is seen on stage during the UFC 306 at Riyadh Season Noche UFC Ceremonial Weigh-in at Sphere on September 13, 2024, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC)
While the crypto entrepreneur didn’t go into detail about how exactly White used his good offices to help VeChain collaborate with ‘4ocean.com’, the Boston native couldn’t have found a better cause for the blockchain company to support. Plastic weight making its way to the ocean, of course, is a huge problem today. An estimated one to two million tonnes of plastic waste makes its way to the ocean annually! This, of course, has dire consequences for the marine ecosystem and marine life.
According to estimates, over one hundred thousand marine animal lose their life due to plastic entanglement or ingestion. This is why VeChain supporting 4ocean.com, and the UFC CEO facilitating that are pretty noble things to do. But for the near future, White is likely to get back into cut-throat businessman mode, since the UFC is nearing the end of its broadcasting deal with ESPN.
Dana White reveals plans for future UFC broadcasting deal
Huge changes may be in the offing for the UFC. The promotion, of course, currently has a deal with ESPN for its domestic broadcast rights. But the negotiating window for ESPN and the UFC for another exclusive deal comes to an end on 15 April 2025 which will open the door to the promotion taking offers from other broadcasters. The promotion of course signed a 5-year, $1.5 billion deal for domestic broadcast rights beginning in 2018. In early 2019, they extended the deal two years and added pay-per-view streaming rights. And the UFC CEO cannot wait to see what is out there.
“When the window opens, we’ll obviously start talking to lots of different people and we’ll see what the options are out there. We’ve said this every time: There could be a time when we end up on several different networks like all other sports do,” White told the press at the post-UFC 314 presser.
According to a report by ‘Bloomberg’, the UFC is looking to get at least $1 billion a year under a new broadcasting deal. After all, the promotion has gotten a lot of exposure and press in recent times, not least because of President Donald Trump’s (who, by the way, attended UFC 314 last week) fondness for the promotion and its CEO in particular. What do you think about Sunny Lu’s comments about Dana White’s support for his company?
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