UFC and Crypto.com to Pay Bitcoin (BTC) Fight Night Bonuses

Key Insights:

• Crypto.com and UFC expand their partnership by offering Bitcoin bonuses for Pay-Per-View events.
• Fans will vote for the top 3 fighters at Fan Bonus of the Night events, with the top fighter to receive $30,000 in BTC equivalent.
• Crypto.com has been actively expanding its reach in sport as it vies to become a top-20 global brand.

The relationship between the world of sport and crypto continues to evolve as crypto platforms look to build brand awareness.

In the competitive world of crypto, exchanges have targeted sports fan bases to build already sizeable client bases.

Binance, eToro, FTX, and Crypto.com are particularly active in the world of sports.

Crypto.com and UFC Announce Bitcoin (BTC) Fight Night Bonuses

On Thursday, Crypto.com announced a new partnership with UFC. For Pay-Per-View UFC fights, fans will vote the top three best fighters on fight nights.

The best fighter will receive $30,000 in Bitcoin, with second and third placed fighters to receive $20,000 and $10,000, respectively.

Dubbed the ‘Fan Bonus of the Night,’ UFC President Dana White will also award performance bonuses to UFC athletes at each event.

The first Fan Bonus of the Night will be at the UFC 273: VOLKANOVSKI vs THE KOREAN ZOMBIE on Saturday, April 9.

According to the Crypto.com announcement,

• Fans will get three votes per Pay-Per-View.
• Each fan can vote for two fighters within each bout.
• Voting will close one hour after the end of the event.

UFC President Dana White said,

“Crypto.com has been an official UFC partner for less than a year, and I’m telling you that they are already one of the best partners we’ve ever had.”

In July, Crypto.com became the UFC’s first-ever global official fight kit partner. The partnership expanded in November, with a UFC NFT series, where athletes would receive fifty percent of UFC’s NFT sales revenue.

UFC is the world’s leading mixed martial arts organization (MMA), with 187 million social media followers and more than 625 million fans. More than 40 live events each year are broadcast to almost 900 million homes across 170 countries.

For UFC fighters, this won’t be the first brush with Bitcoin.

In January, FX Empire reported UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou would take half of his UFC270 price purse in BTC. Ngannou had $750,000 in guaranteed prize money.

Crypto.com Extends Its Reach into the World of Sport

It has been a busy 12-months for Crypto.com. The crypto exchange continues its journey to become a top-20 global brand.

In February, Crypto.com ran an ad at Super Bowl LVI, with other exchanges Bitbuy, Coinbase, eToro, and FTX also forking out hefty sums to target 112 million viewers that tuned into the NFL season finale.

Crypto.com also paid more than $700m for the naming rights on the home of the NBA’s LA Lakers and LA Clippers. Now called Crypto.com Arena, the deal was reportedly the largest U.S venue naming rights deal in history.

Other forays into sports have included sponsorship deals with Formula 1, the Coppa Italia, South America’s Conmebol, French football team PSG, and American women’s football team Angel City FC.