DraftKings, UFC Officially Ink MMA Partnership, Reveal Deal Specifics


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DraftKings finally announced a much anticipated sponsorship deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship that signals a commitment by the daily fantasy sports site to entering the mixed martial arts market.

The details of the deal

The fact that the deal has been in the works has been known for weeks; the partnership was actually termed as “imminent” by one source about two weeks ago.

Here is what is known about how the UFC-DraftKings partnership will work, from the official press release:

What the deal means

When the initial reports and rumors surfaced earlier this month, it was obvious that this was a major offensive by DraftKings to lock down a market that industry leader FanDuel hasn’t even touched yet.

Jeremy Elbaum, Vice President of Business Development at DraftKings, had this to say in the press release:

“The UFC is the fastest growing sports organization in the world, driven by the millions of fans who passionately follow MMA. We’re excited to partner with the UFC to provide its fans with games that provide tremendous payouts and amazing, unique prizes. This partnership reflects DraftKings’ deep commitment to MMA and its fans.”

The financials of the deal aren’t known. Clearly, DraftKings is banking on a few things with this deal:

What to watch for

Now that the deal is done, it will be interesting to see what happens in the MMA-DFS market and beyond: