The creation of this partnership stems from a successful initial collaboration between LaLiga North America and UFC at the start of LaLiga’s 2022/23 season with UFC fighters Brandon Moreno and Ilia Topuria. The two superstars traveled to Spain where they experienced a LaLiga match, met with players from Valencia CF and Atlético de Madrid, and created content that was distributed across league, club, and player platforms.
The new partnership will continue collaborations that will feature athletes of both sports. Each year, UFC and LaLiga will organize at least three activations in Spain involving athletes and the participation of LaLiga clubs to promote LaLiga, its teams, and players among UFC fans. In return, UFC will integrate LaLiga into existing digital shows featuring LaLiga players and ambassadors such as UFC Unfiltered and Entre Asaltos podcasts, the Fuera del Octagono Facebook show, and Area de Combate on Twitter Spaces.
In addition to social media collaborations, LaLiga North America will create social content around UFC Fight Weeks to expand awareness of UFC within the passionate soccer community. Coverage will feature tune-in messaging for UFC events and pre- and post-fight coverage, including storytelling around specific UFC fighters tied to their trips to Spain, messages from LaLiga players supporting different UFC fighters, and recap content following fights.
“Hispanics make up a significant percentage of the population in the United States and are at the heart of both LaLiga North America and the UFC’s fanbases,” said Adrian Segovia, Head of Content and Distribution of LaLiga North America. “Our focus will be finding commonalities within the LaLiga and UFC communities and providing value-add opportunities to enhance fan access and create relatable, engaging content.”
“LaLiga is one of the greatest and most popular football leagues in the world, and we’re excited to explore the opportunities to cross promote our sport to their incredible fan base,” said David Shaw, Senior Vice President, International and Content, UFC. “UFC has a significant Hispanic fan base in the United States, not to mention millions more in Spain, and this relationship is way for us to engage more with those fans while creating additional value for our broadcast partners, like ESPN+ in the U.S., by helping to drive viewership of our live events.”
Both leagues will also collaborate throughout the calendar year on campaigns such as Hispanic Heritage Month, International Fight Week, El Clásico, and UFC’s upcoming 30th anniversary, by cross promoting these moments on their respective social channels. UFC will also host LaLiga players and legends at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas for training and knowledge-sharing opportunities.
LaLiga and UFC are both available exclusively on ESPN+ in the U.S.
