How Bud Light Won UFC Back: Global Ambition Meets a Worldwide Footprint

Bud Light hopes the deal will bolster its reputation among mixed martial arts fans. UFC hopes AB InBev can help promote its sport around the world.

Nov. 9, 2023 3:04 pm ET

The third round of a UFC bout got under way in 2012, when Bud Light was a sponsor of the mixed martial arts promoter. Bud Light is returning as UFC’s beer sponsor next year. Photo: Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

Bud Light’s partnership deal with UFC last month was a rare win for the beer brand this year, an annus horribilis dominated by a damaging consumer boycott over its collaboration with a transgender influencer.

The brewer, which had first sponsored UFC from 2008 until 2017, took back the official U.S. beer rights from Modelo, the same brand that surpassed Bud Light this spring as the top-selling beer in the U.S. Its parent, Anheuser-Busch InBev, was praised by UFC Chief Executive Dana White for having core values in line with the mixed martial arts promoter.

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