This afternoon the UFC announced a new three-year partnership with Anheuser-Busch which makes Bud Light the official beer of the UFC and WEC. Beginning with UFC 84 in May, Bud Light will appear on the center of the mat at UFC pay-per-view events. Key quotes:
“UFC has developed a huge following in recent years and is wildly popular with the 21-34 year old fans we want to reach,” said Tony Ponturo, vice president, global media and sports marketing, Anheuser-Busch, Inc. “The number of people attending live events, buying the pay-per-views and talking about UFC around the water cooler continues to grow. It’s just a great place for us to be.”MMAPayout.com was the first to report that the UFC was on the verge of a deal with Budweiser last month.
“Landing Anheuser-Busch and Bud Light is huge for us, our fighters and especially our fans,” said Dana White, UFC president. “We’ve got the number one selling beer in the world and one of the top marketers in all of sports as our sponsor. If our TV ratings, pay-per-view buys and venue sell-outs weren’t enough, this definitely cements UFC as a major player in sports business.”
On the heels of MMA's first major broadcast television breakthrough, the announcement of the largest corporate sponsor in the history of the sport, in the form of a company considered by many to be the gold standard of sports sponsorships, represents another major breakthrough for the entire MMA industry.
