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A historic partnership from the UFC is bringing mixed martial arts to virtual reality.
Ahead of Friday’s LFA 144 event at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the Ultimate Fighting Championship announced a partnership with Meta that will bring live events to VR. The first-ever MMA event on VR will be LFA 144, which will also stream on the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass.
The live events will be available on VR in Meta’s Horizon Worlds app which is available on the Meta Quest 2 headset.
“We are excited to offer an unprecedented level of engagement for FIGHT PASS subscribers and MMA fans around the world by producing a live MMA event in virtual reality,” UFC Fight Pass Vice President and General Manager Crowley Sullivan said in a statement. “With Meta providing the VR platform and YBVR lending their production expertise, we’re confident this will be a great experience for fight fans.”
History will be made!
Tomorrow night, #LFA144 is set to be UFC’s first live Combat Sports event in @Meta’s Horizon Worlds 🌎
— UFC (@ufc) October 13, 2022
The “immersive environment” in Meta Horizon Worlds will allow fans to speak with other fans in real time “while enjoying unprecedented VR views of all the thrilling action in the LFA Octagon, including strikes, takedowns, grappling, and more” with a 180-degree panoramic view.
UFC Fight Pass plans to offer similar VR experiences for select combat sports events in the future.
Now we know why Mark Zuckerberg rented out the UFC Apex for an event last month, and now , hopefully the technology will be used for major UFC events moving forward.
