SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The UFC’s UK and Ireland-focused partnership with bet365 has been extended for the third year running and expanded to include new markets across Europe.
Continuing as the official sportsbook partner of the UFC for the UK and Ireland, bet365 has secured a widening of the deal’s international scope to cover Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.
The Stoke-based international bookmaker has marked the renewed deal with an enhancement of its Bet Builder. From a marketing standpoint, the firm’s branding will be displayed at the UFC London event at the 02 Arena on 22 July, ahead of a heavyweight bout between the UK’s Tom Aspinall and Poland’s Marcin Tybura.
“bet365 have been such a great partner over the years,” said Nicholas Smith, UFC Vice President of Global Partnerships.
“Not only are they invested in growing the sport of MMA by creating bespoke and educational content, but they share UFC’s vision of innovation and creativity to deliver fans and customers the best experience possible. We look forward to growing and expanding this partnership for years to come.”
Further caveats of the renewed and enhanced deal will see bet365 retain its presenting partnerships with the MMA promotion. This will include its arrangement with the Cage Warriors playlist on UFC Fight Pass, the ‘If You Don’t Know, Now You Know’ series on UFC President Dana White’s social channels, and the ‘One on One’ YouTube channel.
The launch of the One on One series back in March 2022 marked a significant expansion in itself of bet365’s partnership with the UFC. The channel features previews, analysis, and demonstrations of MMA techniques and holds, hosted by commentator Laura Sanko.
Central to the continued rollout of the partnership is an arrangement with sports data and technology supplier IIMG, also an official partner of the UFC. The New York-headquartered company will support bet365’s website and app with features such as the official UFC data feed and in-screen live streaming of fights.
A bet365 spokesperson added: “We are delighted to extend our partnership with UFC for a third consecutive year. 2023 will be our biggest and most exciting year yet for our customers, with the launch of two new enhancements to our UFC betting experience.
“From UFC 290: VOLKANOVSKI vs RODRIGUEZ this weekend, our customers will be able to bet on UFC via our market-leading Bet Builder product, and existing customers will also be offered live streaming for UFC events as an in-app feature.’’
Outside of UFC, bet365 has built up a visible presence in combat sports through its partnership with BOXXER, the Manchester-based boxing promotion.
A spokesperson for the company, alongside BOXXER’s Partnerships Manager Rafael Bertoli-Mitchell, provided a breakdown of the partnership to SBC last year, pointing out shared synergies between the two companies.
