Meta’s Horizon Worlds app will host the immersive experiences

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UFC has agreed a deal with Meta to deliver some of its events in VR through the Horizon Worlds app.

UFC’s Fight Pass D2C platform will deliver both live and on-demand events through the app, which is available on the Meta Quest 2 headset. 

The first event to be featured in this way will be LFA 144, on Friday, Oct. 14, at 9 p.m. ET, from Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The main event will feature a bantamweight world title fight between Tajik prospect Muin “Tajik” Gafurov and Brazilian fighter Diego “Magrinho” Silva. 

Fans will be able to enter an immersive environment in Meta Horizon Worlds where they can see and speak with other fans in real time while taking in VR views of the action in the LFA Octagon. It will be available live and as an ‘always on’ event from 23-27 October.

VR video production and distribution company YBVR will produce LFA 144 in VR180, a virtual reality video format that offers viewers a 180-degree panorama of the event.

The entire main card of LFA 144 will also be streamed live as a traditional broadcast on Fight Pass, and Fight Pass plans to offer similar VR experiences around select combat sports events in the future.

Crowley Sullivan, vice president and general manager of UFC Fight Pass, said: “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.”