Meta is now the UFC’s Official Fan Technology Partner, as part of a “multiyear partnership” between the two companies.
The companies say the partnership will see Meta “leverage its leading technologies to deliver unprecedented engagement with hundreds of millions of UFC fans around the world” and “immerse fans deeper into UFC content than ever before”.
The partnership will include Meta AI, smart glasses, Quest, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads.
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UFC CEO Dana White announcing the partnership.
“I’ve had a lot of great partners over the years that have helped us grow this sport, but Mark and his team at Meta are going to do things that will blow away UFC fans,” said UFC President and CEO Dana White. “Meta has the greatest minds in tech and they are going to take fan engagement to the next level. We’ve already started to work on some innovations with Meta around a new fighter rankings system that I’ll be sharing soon. The next few years will be an absolute game changer for fans of this sport.”
White joined Meta’s board of directors back in January, and has reportedly been Mark Zuckerberg’s intermediary to the Trump administration, currying favor for Meta with the US president.
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Select UFC fights are available in 2D 180° on Quest in the US already.
Currently, the app Xtadium already lets Quest owners in the US watch select UFC fights in 2D immersive 180 degrees for free, and for UFC Fight Pass subscribers to watch any fight on a large virtual screen.
While the new partnership is wide, covering many of Meta’s products and services, we’re interested to hear whether it could bring 3D immersive video streaming for fights, and perhaps even a volumetric solution one day.
“I love this sport and I’m looking forward to working with the UFC to let fans experience it in new ways”, Mark Zuckerberg said.
