While Bud Light has been a punching bag recently, the beer brand is now stepping into the Octagon in a bid to fight back and win back customers.
UFC announced that Bud Light will be the official beer of the world’s biggest Mixed Martial Arts promotion after signing a partnership with Anheuser-Busch.
The multi-year deal will mean that the beer brand will have a heavy presence within UFC content, both in its broadcasts and online.
“Anheuser-Busch and Bud Light were UFC’s original beer sponsors more than 15 years ago. I’m proud to announce we are back in business together,” UFC CEO Dana White said in a statement.
“There are many reasons why I chose to go with Anheuser-Busch and Bud Light, most importantly because I feel we are very aligned when it comes to our core values and what the UFC brand stands for,” he added. “I’m looking forward to all of the incredible things we will do in the years ahead.”
Bud Light came under heavy fire from supporters and saw a huge decrease in sales after a marketing campaign featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney earlier this year. It was overtaken as the top-selling beer in the U.S. by Modelo – which had been UFC’s official beer sponsor until this deal was struck.
White said on The Sean Hannity Show that the decision to partner with Anheuser-Busch “was the furthest thing about money.
“These guys employ 65,000 Americans, thousands of vets they employ. They spend over $700 million a year with U.S. farmers, you know, buying their crops for their product,” he added. “And there’s many, many other reasons that I did this.”
Alluding to the backlash that Bud Light faced for the failed marketing campaign, White also added that fans “might not love” every business decision, but insisted “it wasn’t a tough decision at all,” and that “this is more about core values to me than anything else.”