Francis Ngannou has landed a crypto sponsorship outside of the UFC per Sports Business Journal. The UFC Heavyweight Champion will receive his fight purse in Bitcoin via a partnership with Cash App.
Notably, the UFC’s official cryptocurrency sponsor is Crypto.com. Per the report, the UFC is not involved in this promotion and Ngannou will convert his pay via the Cash App promotion. At this time, its not known what the Commission rules are regarding this conversion.
Per the SBJ report, the activation is being done opposite the UFC’s Crypto.com sponsorship.
This is one of Ngannou’s deals outside of the typical UFC bubble of sponsors. He also has a deal with watchmaker Jacob & Co.
Francis Ngannou will be wearing this timepiece from Jacob & Co. when he weighs in on Jan. 21, per a release.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) January 12, 2022
It’s the Epix X Chrono and it retails for $50k. pic.twitter.com/S6cCpuZNGA
Payout Perspective:
The growing schism between Ngannou and the UFC continues and while the rules allow for Ngannou to seek out deals not sponsored by the UFC, this particular deal cuts against the promotion’s crypto sponsorship. While I’m not sure that converting pay to Bitcoin (which is very volatile) is a good move, the sponsorship deal reflects that there is money to be made in the endorsement market if you have the contacts and the visibility to market a product.
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