The Ultimate Fighting Championship has renewed its partnership with Volkswagen Brazil until 2020.
Under the deal, Volkswagen’s Amarok pickup truck brand will continue as the Official Car Partner of the UFC in Brazil for the next two years.
Amarok will get logo placement inside the UFC Octagon at events in Brazil, and will also have rights to produce exclusive content, social and digital media campaigns and on-site activations.
Stefan Mecha, vice-president of sales and marketing at Volkswagen Brazil, said: “Amarok has entered the UFC Octagon to strengthen and highlight the positioning that defines the pickup: a combination of strength and intelligence in a single product.”
SportBusiness Sponsorship understands that UFC aims to diversify its partnership revenue by signing single-territory deals and by excluding certain key markets – such as Brazil – from its global inventory.
Last year, after phasing out AB InBev as its sole Global Beer Partner, UFC inked new Official Beer Partner deals with Modelo in the US and Cerpa in Brazil, whose Cerpa Export brand had centre-canvas branding at UFC Fight Nights in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Monster Energy also renewed its Global Partner deal in January last year, covering all markets except for Brazil.
UFC’s new Volkswagen partnership will go live this Saturday at UFC Fight Night: Assunção v Moraes 2 at the Arena CFO in Fortaleza, Brazil.
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