UFC has entered into a multi-year partnership with Meta, the tech goliath that owns three of the largest social media platforms.
The deal plans to integrate a wide variety of Meta products into UFC programming. That could come via the company’s use of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads, or Meta AI.
However, as noted in a press release Wednesday, it will also come in the form of glasses, as the brand has recently expanded into the sector of eyewear.
Meta has been named the “Official AI Glasses Partner of the UFC,” hoping to use their Meta Glasses brand (in collaboration with Ray-Ban) in a way that could “blow away UFC fans,” per CEO Dana White.
The recent announcement is far from the first time Facebook has collaborated with the top MMA promoter.
Meta Chairman Mark Zuckerberg has taken a strong liking to the sport of MMA, causing him to sit cageside at many of the UFC’s pay-per-view events over the past few years. Zuckerberg has also posted about hands-on experience in combat sports, training with former Bellator fighter Khai Wu and competing in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments. At UFC 298, he was seen walking out behind featherweight world champion Alexander Volkanovski.
Then, in a move that many saw as strategic due to the re-election of Donald Trump as U.S. President, Meta Platforms elected UFC CEO White to its Board of Directors this year. Many believed that an association to pro-Trump White would help cool off what had become a tense relationship between the President and Meta.
Facebook also briefly carried preliminary fight broadcasts for UFC cards in the early 2010s.
