Meta is now the 'Official Fan Technology Partner' of UFC — here's what that means

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An expansive deal will make Meta AI and Quest products front-and-center at UFC fights.

Wearing the Meta Quest 3 and holding the controllers
(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)

What you need to know

  • Meta and UFC are teaming up to provide more immersive content at UFC events.
  • Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are now the official AI glasses of UFC, and Threads is now the official social media partner of UFC.
  • Meta will also be featured prominently as a sponsor at future UFC events, with additional details to follow.

Meta and UFC have joined forces as part of an expansive, multi-year partnership to make Meta products and technologies a key part of UFC, the company announced today, April 2. The partnership with Meta will "leverage its leading technologies to deliver unprecedented engagement with hundreds of millions of UFC fans around the world."

Meta becomes UFC's first Official Fan Technology Partner, as well as its first Official AI Glasses Partner (Ray-Ban Meta) and Official Social Media Partner (Threads). Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in particular will be used "in compelling ways at UFC events." Additionally, Meta AI, Meta Glasses, Meta Quest, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads will be used to "immerse fans deeper into UFC content than ever before."

The specifics of how exactly Ray-Ban Meta glasses or Meta Quests headsets will be incorporated into UFC events are currently unclear. Meta will also become a brand partner of UFC, with a featured position in UFC's Pay-Per-Views and Fight Nights.

A post shared by Dana White (@danawhite)

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Now that the partnership is official, UFC President and CEO Dana White may have more to share regarding the new Meta experiences in the future.

"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 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 financial terms of the deal were not made public, but Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA fighter himself — shares White's optimism.

"I love this sport and I’m looking forward to working with the UFC to let fans experience it in new ways," said Zuckerberg.

The two companies say that additional details of the partnership will be announced in the future.

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Brady Snyder
Brady Snyder
Contributor

Brady is a tech journalist for Android Central, with a focus on news, phones, tablets, audio, wearables, and software. He has spent the last three years reporting and commenting on all things related to consumer technology for various publications. Brady graduated from St. John's University with a bachelor's degree in journalism. His work has been published in XDA, Android Police, Tech Advisor, iMore, Screen Rant, and Android Headlines. When he isn't experimenting with the latest tech, you can find Brady running or watching Big East basketball.

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