Mark Zuckerberg attending UFC Vegas 61 set the stage for Meta partnership

It seems that Mark Zuckerberg's presence at the private UFC Vegas 61 event set the stage for a Meta-UFC partnership. Earlier this Thursday, the premier MMA promotion announced a partnership with Meta to offer a Virtual Reality (VR) experience for future on-demand MMA events.

According to the announcement, UFC Fight Pass will now offer a VR experience for live and on-demand MMA events through the Horizon Worlds app using the Meta Horizon Quest 2 VR headset.

In a report by MMA Fighting, Fight Pass vice president, Crowley Sullivan was quoted as saying:

“We are excited to offer an unprecedented level of engagement for Fight Pass subscribers and MMA fans around the world by producing a live MMA event in virtual reality, with Meta providing the VR platform and YBVR lending their production expertise, we’re confident this will be a great experience for fight fans.”

The honor of the first event to be produced in the VR format goes to LFA 144, which takes place this Friday on Fight Pass. The event, produced in VR180 will provide MetaQuest 2 users with a 180-degree panoramic view of the broadcast.

Additionally, the headset also enables users to interact with other fans in real-time. A few other combat sports events on Fight Pass are also slated to move to the VR180 format soon.

Interestingly, the partnership announcement comes just days after Mark Zuckerberg unveiled an all-new MetaQuest Pro headset. According to the oculus website, the new headset is priced at $1,499.99.

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When UFC Fight Pass announcer Christopher James spilled the beans on highly exclusive UFC Vegas 61 event

When news surfaced that the October 2 fight card was going to be a closed event with neither the fans nor the media in attendance, Fight Pass announcer Christopher James expressed his belief that the event was going to be a testing ground for Meta.

In a tweet, the broadcaster stated that he believed that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was aiming to test out the company's new Meta Glasses at the event:

"According to a rumor I heard this is why: Mark Zuckerberg rented out the Apex. They are testing out the new meta glasses. You will be able to watch the fights from home and feel like you were really there."