The UFC’s NFT programme, UFC Strike, has sold all 100,000 of its NFT packs in a single day. UFC Strike is a partnership with Dapper Labs, the brains behind NFT programmes run for the NBA and NFL. The programme saw the UFC selling 100,000 packs of NFTs associated with many of its recent highlight moments and finishes. This marks the UFC’s second major partnership with blockchain enterprises, after cryptocurrency website, Crypto.com became a major sponsor with its name emblazoned across UFC uniforms for walkouts.
https://twitter.com/UFCStrikeNFT/status/1484163860273811462
For the last few years, blockchain technologies have been picking up influence in the combat sports world. Karate Combat was initially sponsored by cryptocurrency concerns, while the streaming website DAZN minted NFTs last year for Canelo versus Saunders. Even a few fighters have started asking to be paid in cryptocurrencies, including current UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, who was paid half his purse, on his own request, in Bitcoin.
Whether or not the recent price crash in several major cryptocurrencies impacts this trend remains to be seen.
What is an NFT?
An NFT – or non-fungible token – is essentially a small digital code that cannot be forged. Similar to cryptocurrencies, NFTs use blockchain technology to create these codes, but unlike cryptocurrencies, each NFT code is unique. NFTs are usually associated with digital art assets, however, the art assets in question can be accessed without having the piece of digital code itself. The NFT is merely an arbitrary digital asset.
This odd state of affairs has led to some controversy surrounding NFTs. As with conventional cryptocurrency, NFTs have a high rate of power consumption to mint and transfer them. There have also been scandals involving digital art being sold in association with NFTs without the knowledge of the original artist, which is tantamount to art theft. As the UFC is producing these MMA NFTs themselves, the rights owners are involved. In addition, many of the fighters featured may also benefit from the sales, a rare instance of fighters being able to tap into revenue sources instead of the UFC solely benefitting.
Featured Image courtesy of UFC STRIKE Twitter
