There is always a lot of excitement around MMA – and UFC fighters are revered. Mixed Martial Arts is one of the most bet on sports across the globe, with more people getting involved all the time. People head over to sites such as oddsindex.com to put money on their favourite stars and hope that they can fight their way to a win.
Now, things are taking a step forward as the world of MMA joins forces with the metaverse of NFT (Non-Fungible tokens).
A Big Success
From the surface, it seems as though it has been a big hit with crypto traders as UFC NFTs have sold out – meanwhile, the fighters involved have hit a payout of around just $18,000.
The UFC industry is always looking for ways to make money – and not just through ticket sales for fight nights. There are also the hot dog branders – and now the metaverse. Basically, if there’s a profit to be made, the UFC will certainly explore all possibilities to benefit in some way, shape or form. However, just because the UFC is making money, this isn’t always passed on to the athletes – the ones who put themselves on the line for the sport. This has become a huge source of controversy for sports, especially in the light of the most recent Cryptocurrency sponsorship.
UFC Ventures into Non-Fungible Tokens
The UFC’s latest venture is into the world of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). However, it has been reported that there is to be a 50/50 profit split between the UFC and the featured athletes. The official source of licensed UFC NFTs is UFC Strike – and they sold out their first drop in just four hours.
The first drop includes 35 different fight moments in the pack. In each of these NFTs, both the winner and loser of the fight will receive money. So, based on the figures of 2 fighters being paid per NFT – and all the fighters combined receiving 505 of the money, it works out that each fighter will receive just $18k. However, if a fighter features in two NFTs, then they will receive twice the amount.
A Profitable Face
Fighters being paid for representations of their likenesses has always been a point of discussion between the UFC administration and its contractors. Indeed, back in 2008, the promotions even released (very briefly) each athlete from the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) over that very same issue – including future champions including Cain Velasquez.
This looks as though it could be a sign that progress is taking place and hopefully fighters might be able to expect even more profit from revenue streams from coming from their fights aside from their original official purse.
What is an NFT?
An NFT, which stands for a Non-Fungible Token, is a one off, unique unit of data that uses technology that allows digital content (such as visual imagery of UFC fight moments) to be logged and authenticated on a cryptocurrency blockchain (usually Ethereum). As soon as the content has been logged onto the blockchain, each transaction from transfers to sales will then be recorded on-chain. This creates an easy to access ledger of provenance and its price history.
NFTs have simply made it easy to own, buy and sell digital content. So, before artists and businesses would have had trouble making money from digital art as it would have been possible to screenshot it for free.
However, now creators will mint their work on an NFT marketplace. When a creator mints their work, – this is the creation of an NFT. This involves creating a smart contract that would then be stored on the blockchain. This smart contract will contain lots of vital information – such as the creator of the work, and ensures that the creator (the UFC in this case) and any other involved parties (the fighters) will get royalties when they are sold.