Combat Sports Sponsorship Is Booming: Brands, Take Note
If you're in brand marketing and combat sports sponsorship isn't on your radar yet, now's the time to fix that. The last few months alone have made the opportunity impossible to ignore. And it's not slowing down.
Amanda Serrano vs Lucrecia Manzur headlines the first ever boxing event to be broadcast on TikTok
A Merger Worth Watching
The PFL-MVP merger is the one to watch. Bringing an elite professional league together with the influencer-entertainment energy of MVP tightens the bond between "proper sport" and mainstream entertainment, and it lifts the commercial ceiling for both. For brands, that means a bigger, more varied audience under one roof, and more ways to show up in it.
TikTok Is About to Become a Broadcaster
In a few weeks, MVP's next event will stream live on TikTok, a genuine first for the platform, headlined by names like Amanda Serrano and Jully Poca. That's a brand-new broadcaster stepping into combat sports, with an audience that skews younger and more digitally native than almost any traditional broadcast deal could offer. If you're trying to reach that audience, watch this space.
UFC Shows No Signs of Slowing
UFC just delivered two of its biggest pay-per-views ever: UFC Freedom 250 and UFC 329, the latter featuring Conor McGregor's short-lived Octagon return. And they're not easing off: Islam Makhachev, Alex Volkanovski, and Sean Strickland are all expected to fight before year's end. That's sustained, marquee-level attention, not a one-off spike.
Boxing Is Just as Loud
It's not just MMA right now. Boxing's riding the exact same wave, and the fluidity between codes and promotions is wild. There's genuinely always something massive hitting the mainstream headlines.
Zuffa Boxing is a big part of that. With Turki Al-Sheikh and Dana White behind it, this isn't a side project. It's serious fight promotion firepower, and Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn is exactly the kind of monster fight that proves it.
Meanwhile Matchroom, one of boxing's genuine superpowers, heads to Australia next week. And their talent agency doesn't stop at boxing, either: MMA stars Tom Aspinall and Ian Machado Garry are on their books too. The lines between codes and promotions have never been blurrier, and that's exactly what makes this space so rich for brands right now.
And speaking of massive news, the fight we've waited years for might finally be happening. Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury looks closer to reality than it's ever been. If it lands, it's stratospheric, one for the ages in the heavyweight division, and the kind of moment that pulls in audiences who don't normally watch boxing at all.
The Deals Are Already Happening
Scroll LinkedIn right now and you'll see partnership announcements from brands across completely unrelated sectors, all finding their way into combat sports. F42 is currently working on two live deals in this space, and brand appetite is real and growing. This is a young, digitally fluent, hugely engaged audience, and it's wide open for brands willing to move.
Why F42 Consulting
This is exactly the space F42 Consulting lives in. F42 knows what brands actually want, what activation genuinely works, and which fighters and promotions are the right fit, not just who's biggest, but who's right for you. If you're a brand thinking about combat sports sponsorship, or a fighter or promotion looking to build the right partnerships, get in touch.