Mark Zuckerberg and Dana White are getting closer together.
UFC has inked a multiyear deal with Meta Platforms to use the Facebook parent’s apps and tech to deepen engagement with UFC fans, according to a press release Wednesday.
Meta will be the MMA league’s first official “fan technology partner,” the announcement said, covering various Meta products, including branding Meta as the official AI glasses partner of UFC and making its tweet network Threads the official social media partner of the league. The parties will seek to integrate Meta’s glasses into UFC events and utilize Threads as the hub for UFC social media. WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook are also among the Meta products involved in the partnership.
Financial terms aren’t disclosed, but it is a significant, multimillion-dollar arrangement, according to a source close to the companies.
White and Zuckerberg have had a relationship of at least a few years. In 2023, White said he and the Meta chairman and CEO speak multiple times a week, and this year the UFC head consulted with Facebook on potentially using its algorithms to improve UFC’s ranking system. More significantly, UFC president White joined the Meta board of directors this year, giving the executive influence on Meta’s operations, although it isn’t clear how involved White may have been involved in the negotiations on either side of the transaction.
Meta CEO Zuckerberg also has a fitness routine including MMA, and he has attended UFC fights with his wife Priscilla Chan in tow. Last year at UFC 298 in Anaheim, Calif., Zuckerberg walked out into the arena with UFC fighter Alexander Volkanovski.
“I love this sport,” the 40-year-old Harvard dropout said in the release.
The stock market initially had a mixed reaction to the news, announced prior to trading. TKO Group shares opened up 24 cents per share, at $153.23, on the New York Stock Exchange, while Meta’s shares opened on the Nasdaq at $574.91, down $11.09.
