The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Crypto.com will be paying UFC fighters in Bitcoin for special fan bonuses at upcoming UFC Pay Per View (PPV) events.
Fans can hop on crypto.com’s website and vote for their three favorite fighters for the event. The fighter receiving the most votes will get a bonus of $30,000, second place $20,000 and third place $10,000. All bonuses will be paid in Bitcoin based on the exchange rate at the time.
“Fan Bonus of the Night'' voting will open at the next UFC event, UFC: 273 Voklanovski vs The Korean Zombie (Chan Sung Jung) on Saturday, April 9.
“Crypto.com has been an official UFC partner for less than a year, and I’m telling you they are already one of the best partners we’ve ever had,” said UFC President Dana White in a statement. “They’re constantly coming up with new ideas about how we can work together to connect with the fans. This new Fan Bonus of the Night is an awesome way to get fans more engaged in our events while rewarding the fighters for bad-ass performances.”
Other than the actual payments being in Bitcoin and fans voting on a cryptocurrency website, there does not appear to be anything that would require cryptocurrency or blockchain technology. Voting will not be done on the blockchain, for example. Instead, it will be handled like most online polls: with a centralized entity, in this case, Crypto.com, tallying the votes and then revealing who wins.
Fans will be entered to win prizes when they vote. Ten UFC themed NFTs, two UFC Fight Pass subscriptions and five $200 UFC Store gift cards will be given away to fans per PPV.
This isn’t the MMA promotion’s first foray into cryptocurrencies. UFC already sells NFTs representing various fighters. 50% of the proceeds of the sales of UFC NFTs go to fighters, compared to just 30% for traditional apparel.
UFC has been criticized for its low pay compared to other sports leagues, a perception it has been fighting against. Several former fighters have filed a class action lawsuit against the promotion, arguing that it utilized monopolistic practices to keep fighter pay low. That lawsuit has been working its way through the courts since 2014.
Cryptocurrency’s biggest gathering “Bitcoin Miami 2022” is currently being held at the Miami Beach Convention Center until April 9.