UFC’s Oleinik lands sponsorship with billion dollar cannabis fund

UFC heavyweight Aleksei Oleinik now represents one of the most lucrative cannabis brands on the New York Stock Exchange.

UFC heavyweight Aleksei Oleinik (52-12-1) is set to fight Walt Harris at UFC on ESPN 4 on July 20th in San Antonio, TX. The 41-year-old Russian goes into the fight off a loss to Alistair Overeem in April that dropped his overall UFC record to 6-3.

The Harris fight is the first bout for Oleinik since he signed an endorsement deal with an organization worth upwards of a hundreds of millions of dollars. That org’s prime interest is something the UFC’s drug-testing partner does not want anywhere near the sport: cannabis.

ETF Managers Group LLC (ETFMG) is the entity that signed the deal with the Boa Constrictor. Bloomberg reports that ETFMG, an issuer of investment funds traded on the stock market, is now the ‘official training sponsor’ of Oleinik.

EFTMG is best known for the fund EFTMG Alternative Harvest ETF (which uses the name MJ when being traded on the stock market). That fund has about $1.1 billion invested in cannabis-related companies.

Bloomberg spoke to EFTMG’s chief marketing officer, Tricia Vanderslice, about the unusual partnership with Oleinik. “It’s definitely not something you see as a common practice,” she said. “We like to look at unique marketing that does justice to both the sector our product represents and the audience that we’re trying to hit and speak to and educate.”

Vanderslice further explained that the sponsorship deal is designed to attract investors who don’t necessarily follow financial media, but may be fans of the UFC.

“You hit that group of Average Joe investors that might be using E*Trade, they might be using Robinhood, and a big piece of that is brand awareness,” Vanderslice said.

Bloomberg reports that it is somewhat unusual for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) to market itself to potential investors through sport. There are prior examples, such as The Invesco Series QQQ tennis circuit. However, promotions of specific ETFs and mutual funds generally require disclaimers informing potential investors of fees and risks that are involved with trading.

Oleinik’s promotion of ETFMG and their ‘MJ’ stock exchange logo — which so far mostly involves Oleinik sporting the initials on his apparel during social media posts — doesn’t seem to include those necessary disclaimers.

This isn’t the first time the burgeoning world of legal cannabis has crossed paths with MMA. Last month Aurora Cannabis Inc. announced an exclusive partnership with the UFC to conduct research into the relationship between CBD products and athlete health.

That partnership is set to net the UFC an annual fee of $15 million. That news provoked a strong reaction from one of MMA’s most well-known cannabis supporters.