Mark Zuckerberg has become a big fan of combat sports.
The Meta META CEO has begun practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in recent years and has even competed in and won tournaments.
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Zuckerberg has told frequent interviewer Joe Rogan that he became enthralled with mixed martial arts during the pandemic.
“The crazy thing is I don’t know. It really is the best sport,” Zuck told Rogan. “There’s just something that’s so primal about it… There’s a certain intensity to it that I like.”
While he may have embraced the sport relatively late in his life, if the training videos on his Instagram page are any indication, he is very serious about fighting.
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But over the past few months, Zuck has embraced the sport in a way that is more tangible to his business at Meta.
Meta deepens its ties with the Ultimate Fighting Championship
On Wednesday, the UFC, which is part of TKO Group Holdings (TKO) , announced a multiyear partnership with Meta for the social media platform to be the official fan technology partner for the sports league.
Meta will collaborate with UFC to “immerse fans deeper into UFC content than ever before,” and Meta will become the UFC’s official AI glasses partner.
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“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 UFC President and CEO Dana 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 next few years will be an absolute game changer for fans of this sport.”
In addition to Meta working with UFC to “creatively use their groundbreaking AI glasses in compelling ways at UFC events,” the company will also be integrated into UFC assets in all Pay-Per-View events, including branding in the Octagon.
Meta’s fledgling Threads microblogging platform will also be UFC’s official social media partner.
Financial details of the arrangement were not made public.
Meta and the UFC have much more than sports in common
After publicly excoriating the previous administration during the thick of the 2024 campaign season, Zuckerberg made his move to cozy up to the incoming one.
Recently, Meta added Dana White, chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and a very public ally of Trump, to the company’s board of directors.
Zuckerberg and Meta are hoping the Trump administration can use tariff pressure to get the EU to relax its regulations on the company, according to new reporting from the Wall Street Journal.
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The Journal reports that Meta wants Trump to “respond aggressively” to any fine with the hope that pressure from the U.S. would force the European Commission to “water down” any punishment.
“This is not just about fines—it’s about the Commission seeking to handicap successful American businesses simply because they’re American while letting Chinese and European rivals off the hook,” a Meta spokesperson told the Journal.
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