Dana White doubles down on Bud Light as UFC sponsor: 'I'm looking at all the good things they do'
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) October 25, 2023
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The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president and CEO Dana White has defended his company's decision to strike a sponsorship deal with Bud Light, following boycott calls from detractors.
On Tuesday, Bud Light's parent company Anheuser-Busch and the UFC, an American mixed-martial arts organization that holds more than 40 live events annually around the world, announced a new "multi-year marketing partnership," according to a statement shared online by the beer brand.
Starting January 1, Anheuser-Busch will become the exclusive "Official Beer Partner of UFC," and as part of the sponsorship, beleaguered brand Bud Light will become the official beer in the U.S., per the statement.
As such, the beer brand will replace Modelo as the official beer of the championship.
News of the deal triggered a storm of criticism for the UFC and reignited boycott calls for the brewer, which has been plagued by criticism for months after partnering with transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney for a small promotion in April.
White addressed questions over the UFC's Bud Light deal when he made an appearance on Fox News' Hannity on Tuesday night. "They were the first beer company that we really did business with," he told host Sean Hannity of Bud Light.
"They were our first real big sponsor when we were getting started, and now we're back with them." One person, AntEvansMMA, posted on X that the deal between the beer maker and UFC was an "expensive lifeline" to save Bud Light.
"As soon as Bud Light destroyed their business with that ghastly stunt earlier this year, I had a feeling it would be a boon for UFC. The first time Bud partnered UFC, it was almost as if they were doing UFC a favor. This time it is UFC selling them a very expensive lifeline."
1 comment:
Yeah, so totally disrespecting women -- we drink beer too, but we usually have better taste to choose the swill that is Bud Light -- by choosing as a "spokeswoman" a man claiming to be a woman -- should fail to figure at all in our evaluation of your company.
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