UFC pins down Snapchat partnership

Mixed martial arts promotion the Ultimate Fighting Championship has agreed a multi-year partnership with social media platform Snapchat.

Under the deal, Snapchat will cover a selection of events via its ‘Live’ product, commencing with UFC 200: Cormier vs. Jones 2 on July 9 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Fight fans at UFC events that have the Snapchat mobile app on their iOS or Android devices will be able to contribute video and photo Snaps to one collective, curated Snapchat Live Story. These Live Stories will then be available for Snapchatters globally to view for 24 hours following the event.

UFC said it currently has more than 46 million followers across all social platforms around the world. On Snapchat, UFC captures press conferences, athlete and celebrity Q&A’s, open workouts, media day events, weigh-ins, behind-the-scenes moments during Fight Nights and first-person accounts by athletes. UFC also hosts a weekly show on Snapchat entitled “Cookin’ with ‘The Menace’” featuring UFC featherweight Dennis Bermudez.

Following UFC 200, the partnership will next produce Live Stories during UFC 202: McGregor vs. Diaz 2 on August 20 at T-Mobile Arena and UFC 205 on November 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“Collaborating with Snapchat gives us a great opportunity to align our partners with exciting live content that was previously not accessible to our fans,” UFC executive vice-president of global marketing partnerships Michael Mossholder said.