Why Verizon’s Total Wireless is doubling down on UFC

One year after originally signing with the UFC, Verizon’s Total Wireless brand is ready to keep swinging. The prepaid wireless provider announced Wednesday that it’s renewing its sponsorship deal with the MMA company, this time on a multiyear basis, and with some additional assets.

Sponsorships in combat sports like boxing and MMA aren’t as widely sought-after as they are in more mainstream sports properties like college football or the Olympics, but with big fights drawing viewership and buzz, they’re becoming increasingly hard for some marketers to resist.

Between the nature of UFC—which thrives on violence and intense rivalries—and ties between the company, its president Dana White, and President Donald Trump, it remains a tricky proposition for some brands, but David Kim, president of Verizon Value, said the storytelling opportunities and brand mentality of UFC outweigh any potential risks of tying up with the company, which he described as “the biggest” and “the baddest” in combat sports.

“The best fighters in the world want to be a part of the UFC,” Kim told Marketing Brew. “Our aspiration is to be the best, [to] give customers unparalleled access [to] things that most carriers probably wouldn’t do.”

Connect the punch

Total Wireless first signed on as the official wireless provider of the UFC in the US early last year in an effort to boost brand awareness and connect with customers in stores, Kim said. He declined to share specific results from the first year of the partnership but said that “the growth we’ve seen in brand awareness is a direct reflection of this partnership.”

One of the ways his team has been able to get people into stores is via meet and greets with UFC fighters. Total Wireless has hosted events in markets like New York with light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira and former heavyweight champ and current commentator Daniel Cormier, and there have been lines of fans “out the door” to meet them, Kim said.

The events, which are largely targeted toward urban markets, have given Total Wireless an opportunity to connect with potential customers over something they’re passionate about, Kim said, adding that many current Total Wireless customers are already UFC fans.

“They get the opportunity to experience the UFC just by visiting one of our locations, and that enables us to have a parallel path to talk about our brand proposition, our value proposition, our rate plans, our devices that we sell,” he said.

On Friday, ahead of Saturday’s Justin Gaethje v. Paddy Pimblett lightweight fight, Total Wireless is hosting its next meet and greet with lightweight Michael Chandler at one of its Las Vegas locations, and Kim said the events are set to continue throughout the year.

In addition to continuing in its role as the official wireless partner of the UFC on a multiyear basis, the renewed deal makes Total Wireless the UFC’s first broadcast headset partner. UFC commentators will wear Total Wireless-branded headsets as they broadcast, and Total Wireless branding will remain prominent in the Octagon across US events. Total Wireless is also supporting the UFC Foundation, a nonprofit supporting various community initiatives, and will have a presence on UFC social accounts.

Tale of the tape

Beyond meet and greets, partnering with individual fighters is an important element of the UFC deal, Kim said, and going forward, fighters and other UFC personalities are set to appear in Total Wireless campaigns.

Fighters tend to have deep ties to their communities, and fights often bring large groups of people together to watch, an energy that Kim said his team hoped to tap into since the wireless provider often emphasizes connectivity among families and local communities, he said.

“When you watch a combat sport, whether it’s boxing or the UFC, that’s a community event,” Kim said. “It brings people together, and that’s what we love about combat sports, because that’s what our brand is designed to be [about].”

Kim said opportunities to associate with the “fighter mentality,” leverage athlete backstories, and provide in-person experiences are more important to him than any political associations of the UFC.

There could also soon be more eyeballs on UFC fights: The organization made Paramount+ its exclusive streaming partner in the states as of this year, a move away from the more common pay-per-view model, which can hamper growing viewership. Streaming fights stands to make the sport more accessible, a positive for both Total Wireless and the UFC in what Kim said he hopes will be a “long-standing” partnership.