Francis Ngannou Took Half of His UFC 270 Earnings in Bitcoin
Over the past couple of months, we have posted a number of articles on the successful efforts of FTX and Crypto.com to improve the recognition of respective brands within the American sports industry. But it seems that they got themselves a rival in the face of Cash App that has been scooping up some valuable partnerships with sports and Hollywood celebrities.
Table of contents:
- Ngannou acknowledges Bitcoin’s potential and takes half of the winner’s purse in crypto.
- Cash App gathers a celebrity bouquet.
Ngannou acknowledges Bitcoin’s potential and takes half of the winner’s purse in crypto
The recently concluded UFC 270 event gave the fans of mixed martial arts one of the most spectacular main card bouts of late. On that night, the reigning heavyweight champion Francis “The Predator” Ngannou entered the octagon to defend his title against the interim champion Ciryl Gane, the French Muay Thai expert with a professional record of ten wins and one loss prior to the said fight. Maybe some of you even got value out of this punch & kick fest by betting on its result. If not, you have a chance to do so in less than a week when Israel Adesanya will clash with Robert Whittaker in UFC 271.
But we will get back to the outcome of the match in question a bit later because something had happened before the bell rang. Four days before the fight, Ngannou posted a video message on Twitter where he said the following,
“After doing a lot of research on Bitcoin, I really believe that is the future of money, man. Bitcoin is valuable, secure, no one can mess with it. That’s why I take half of my UFC purse in Bitcoin.”
He continued that such a decision stems from his partnership deal with Cash App, the mobile payment service introduced in 2013 by Block, Inc. Ngannou pledged to make Bitcoin more accessible for his fans and followers by giving away $300,000 worth of the first cryptocurrency to all of those who posted the hashtag #paidinbitcoin and followed Cash App on Twitter. Given that Cash App currently has over 1.6 million followers, this marketing approach must be efficient.
As for the fight, it ended with Francis Ngannou defending his title, defeating Gane in five rounds by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46). Obviously, it was a very close fight in which the newfound Bitcoin enthusiast prevailed but only by a slight margin.
Cash App gathers a celebrity bouquet
The Predator isn’t the only jewel in Cash App’s crown. Back in December, the crypto company partnered with the famous singer and Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow, the star of the Avengers movie franchise. She had promised to her fans and followers on Twitter and Instagram to give away slightly more than Ngannou - $500,000 to celebrate the deal. Cash App has also established its presence in the National Football League (NFL) by concluding partnership deals with Odell Beckham Jr. who plays for Los Angeles Rams, and Aaron Rogers, the quarterback for Green Bay Packers. The deals stipulate that the players are to receive their salaries in Bitcoin.