Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Meta rolled out its new partnership deal with a unique virtual reality experience for fight fans Friday night at LFA 144 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
After announcing their new partnership earlier this week, UFC and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, debuted its VR capabilities in effort to give fight fans a memorable cageside experience at LFA 144. Fight fans were able to watch the action live from a virtual front row through Meta’s Horizon Worlds app available on the Meta Quest 2 headset.
From walking out to the arena to witnessing a spinning back kick knockout in real-time, the new UFC-Meta experience looks dynamic and extremely entertaining. Check out some of the bizarre footage below:
This is what it looks like entering the “arena” pic.twitter.com/u5Pct2FWsO
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) October 15, 2022
If you were wondering how the LFA VR looks, this was Yuma Horiuchi’s finish just now #LFA144 pic.twitter.com/Xydi6I8SGL
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) October 15, 2022
Alright that was pretty sick. Spinning back kick KO by Muin Gafurov in VR #LFA144 pic.twitter.com/qfivsTlDuu
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) October 15, 2022
Earlier this month, Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, practically shut down the UFC Apex to watch UFC Vegas 61: “Dern vs. Yan” live in action. Zuckerberg is an avid mixed martial arts (MMA) who enjoyed himself every second he sat cageside, but the Facebook frontman was also in “Sin City” to discuss business and put a bow on the new deal between UFC and Meta.
That partnership made its first appearance at LFA 144 this Friday and looked spectacular. It will be interesting to follow along as the new VR experience is brought over into the Octagon, allowing fight fans to witness some of the biggest fights the sport has to offer like they were sitting cageside.