UFC announces Meta partnership weeks after Mark Zuckerberg attended an eerily exclusive MMA event

• UFC announced Thursday a partnership with Meta.
• It comes on the heels of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's attendance at an eerily exclusive MMA event this month.

LAS VEGAS — The UFC announced Thursday a partnership with Meta just weeks after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg attended an eerily exclusive MMA event at the Apex in Las Vegas.

Even during the early pandemic era of combat sports, reporters were granted access to cover behind-closed-doors UFC shows that the public was not permitted to attend because of health concerns.

But on October 1, the promotion held an event, where only Zuckerberg, his wife Priscilla Chan, and a limited amount of Facebook executives were attendees, making for a strange and subdued atmosphere.

No official explanation was given as to why news media were banned from the event, with UFC boss Dana White saying he wanted to give reporters the weekend off.

In a statement sent to Insider 12 days after Zuckerberg's appearance, UFC said its broadcast arm UFC Fight Pass will deliver live MMA events "in VR in Meta's Horizon Worlds — an immersive social experience app available on the Meta Quest 2 headset."

The new headset, launched this week, retails at $1,499.99 according to the Meta website.

The project will begin Friday with the LFA 144 event in South Dakota that's topped by a bantamweight title bout involving Muin Gafurov and Diego Silva.

"Fans will enter an immersive environment in Meta Horizon Worlds where they can see and speak with other fans in real-time while enjoying unprecedented VR views of all the thrilling action in the LFA Octagon, including strikes, takedowns, grappling, and more," the statement said.

It is unclear which MMA organizations and what events will receive the virtual reality treatment going forward. However, UFC Fight Pass "plans to offer similar experiences around select combat sports events in the future," the statement said.

Zuckerberg is a 'fucking nerd' who can elevate MMA, a leading UFC voice said recently

The partnership follows a leading UFC voice, commentator and former champion Michael Bisping, calling Zuckerberg a "fucking nerd" who can elevate the company because of his interest in the sport and the potential that has to transcend to a demographic that might not otherwise follow ultimate fighting.

"Mark Zuckerberg was in attendance" at the UFC event, Bisping said on the "Believe You Me" podcast on YouTube, which was "pretty cool to see."

Anthony Smith, a light heavyweight UFC fighter, said Zuckerberg's presence in the MMA scene could bring new fans to the sport.

"This isn't meant as an insult to him, and it sounds like a meathead comment, but someone that's as nerdy as him" can reach fans that UFC wouldn't otherwise reach, said Bisping.

"He's a tech genius," Bisping said. "You've seen him, and he can be described as, quote unquote, a bit of a nerd.

"But to see a guy like him who does have that influence, who does have that wealth, who does have that power, and I don't know what to think about Mark Zuckerberg — he's a fucking nerd, let's be honest — but he's awesome because he's there and he's watching the UFC.

"I believe this will open up, potentially, another realm of people because MMA is wildly popular, but there's still …critics, and there's still people that won't give it a shot.

"But seeing someone that's clearly wildly intelligent as he is, to be an admirer of the sport, and his wife is there enjoying it, it's only going to bring in more fans."

Not everyone will be easy to reach, though, even with Zuckerberg's presence.

Video footage from the event earlier this month showed Zuckerberg's wife, co-founder and co-CEO of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Priscilla Chan, writhing in shock at some of the violence unfolding in front of her.

UFC returns Saturday with an event at the company's Apex TV studio in Las Vegas. A women's flyweight fight between Alexa Grasso and Viviane Araujo headlines the show.

Media, and a crowd of up to 500 people, are expected to attend.