On 20 January 2022, the UFC announced it had partnered with Dapper Labs to launch an NFT collectable product called UFC Strike. The collectable experience was made available to fans on 23 January, with the UFC and Dapper Labs, the makers of NBA Top Shot, first starting with 100,000 ‘Fully Loaded’ NFT packs. These packs consisted of three NFTs that captured recent moments from UFC fighters like Derrick Lewis, Amanda Nunes, and Rose Namajunas.
Why Is This Important?
Impressively, UFC Strike sold all 100,000 NFT packs in a single day. While it’s impressive, it’s not surprising. For starters, these NFT moments included crowd responses, multiple camera angles, and announcer commentary, which helped bring these incredible moments, strikes, grappling, and finishes to life. Each NFT moment had audio and video content, and the second round of UFC packs (another 100,000) will go live at the end of January.
🙏Thank you for helping make HISTORY with our very first @UFCSrikeNFT pack drop this weekend. Read our blog post here for a full recap on the launch.🚀
Secondly, NFTs have moved into several sports, including football — Premier League star Son Heung-min partnered with an NFT company last year — so it was only a matter of time before the UFC joined in. Dapper Labs is also an innovator in NFTs, having already worked with both the NBA and the NFL to create unique experiences for sports fans. According to Tracey Bleczinski, UFC Senior Vice President of Global Consumer Products, Dapper Labs’ reputation and vision are the main reason the premier mixed martial arts organisation selected it for this project.
A Sign of the Times
For years, sports have been regarded as a business. Today, clubs and leagues make a considerable amount of their wealth from merchandising and partnerships. However, what’s changed is that now leagues and teams no longer look only at conglomerate companies like Emirates or retailers like Nike for stadium and kit sponsorships. In the last few years, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, which also revolutionised the financial industry, have taken over this role. Likewise, online gambling, and now NFTs, are also considered ideal industries for sports bodies to move into.
Many football clubs in the Premier League have also partnered with online casinos and sportsbooks. Tottenham Hotspur, for instance, first announced its multi-year partnership with William Hill, which, according to betspin.com, a casino review site, offers some of the best live casino bonuses, in 2018. In turn, the casino and sportsbook has a presence on Tottenham’s digital channels and LED perimeter advertising boards. Fans can also access and place bets on William Hill’s mobile app via the Tottenham stadium’s WiFi. By gaining in-stadium access, fans can take advantage of the casino operator’s different bonuses, which allow them to claim extra money or play for free while never missing a moment during a match.
Similarly, the UFC has also partnered with Crypto.com in a deal that sees the crypto exchange’s name displayed on UFC uniforms. Crypto.com also recently purchased the naming rights to the Staples Center in Los Angeles, home to the Lakers and the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings. Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers also followed suit and made crypto trading platform Bitci.com its official sleeve sponsor for the 2021/22 season.
The UFC partnering with a second blockchain enterprise to launch its NFT collectable experience is a sign of the times. Today, cryptocurrency, blockchain, online gambling, and NFTs are as important to the commercial success of a sports league or club as retailers and airlines were twenty years ago in the industry. That UFC Strike sold out in a single day shows the potential that NFTs have not just in the world of sports but in the mixed martial arts business alone.