February 1 marks the beginning of Black History Month. The UFC announced today that it will launch a month-long celebration of Black History Month commemorating the achievments made by African American and Black UFC athletes throughout the organization’s history.
The press release notes that Alistair Overem, Kamaru Usman, Derrick Lewis and Curtis Blaydes will headline three of the four events produced at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
As part of its campaign, the UFC will produce a two-part special as part of ESPN’s Black History Month-themed programming. Also, ESPN will show two episodes of UFC Ultimate Knockouts featuring African American and Black athletes.
Payout Perspective:
It will be interesting to see how the presentation will look like and whether the company will allow some of the athletes to speak out about social justice issues. Notably, the UFC remained silent during the Black Lives Matter protests this past June after the death of George Floyd. While its contracted athletes were able to speak up about Black Lives Matter, the company remained mute about it. Also of note, Dana White supported President Donald Trump.
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