The UFC and Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch announced they came to a deal.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced that Bud Light will become its official sponsor as part of a partnership with Anheuser-Busch, despite the beer facing a significant months-long boycott over its decision to promote a transgender influencer.
“Anheuser-Busch and Bud Light were UFC’s original beer sponsors more than fifteen years ago. I’m proud to announce we are back in business together,” UFC CEO Dana White said in a statement about the partnership on Tuesday. “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. I’m looking forward to all of the incredible things we will do in the years ahead.”
Bud Light’s sales have suffered over the past six months or so, while parent company Anheuser-Busch’s U.S. division confirmed in an August earnings report that the boycott cost the company some $395 million.
In April, the company suffered a conservative-led backlash after it produced a Bud Light can with transgender activist and influencer Dylan Mulvaney before it was posted to social media. The company later released a statement saying it did not want to be part of a “discussion that divides people,” while Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Michel Doukeris later distanced the brand from the Mulvaney controversy and said there was never any partnership.
After the UFC-Bud Light announcement, a number social media users suggested a boycott of both Bud Light and the mixed martial arts promotion. Some took issue with Mr. White’s comment that Bud Light and the UFC “are very aligned when it comes to our core values” and immediately made reference to the transgender controversy that erupted earlier this year.
“Are you saying that UFC is okay with Bud Light promoting the evil transgender ideology of Dylan Mulvaney? Signed, millions of fans who will boycott you too,” asked conservative host Liz Wheeler on X, formerly Twitter.
Hi @DanaWhite, when you say @UFC & @BudLight “are very aligned when it comes to our core values,” are you saying that UFC is okay with Bud Light promoting the evil transgender ideology of Dylan Mulvaney? Signed, millions of fans who will boycott you too.
— Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) October 25, 2023
“No one is drinking Bud Light at any tailgate I’ve been to this fall. Brand is dead,” said Outkick’s Clay Travis. “Lighting that money on fire would have been less embarrassing than what’s about to happen. Fighters are gonna hate this. Fans will hate it. The customers aren’t coming back,” wrote former Republican congressional candidate Robby Starbuck.
Bud Light just spent $100 million on a UFC sponsorship deal to try and cancel out the chicks with dicks ad. No one is drinking Bud Light at any tailgate I’ve been to this fall. Brand is dead: https://t.co/RfCe4AxurB
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 24, 2023
On a multitude of UFC and Bud Light posts on X, users called for boycotts of both brands.
Current UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland was critical of the transgender influencer earlier this year, writing on Twitter that “to be rich and famous you use to have to be exceptional, go to the moon, win a championship, cure a disease.” But now, according to the fighter, you only have to “wear a dress, make a tiktok [and] bam you’re on a budlight can (sic).”
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