Bethesda and the UFC have a weird partnership to promote Fallout 76

In Oceania only, though

There’s a well-known affiliation between Electronic Arts and the UFC. For the past three years, EA has developed an annual iteration of the officially-licensed UFC games. Now, another publisher is nudging in with a non-sports arrangement.

Bethesda and the UFC just announced a partnership to promote Fallout 76 in the Oceania territory (Australia and New Zealand). That seems kind of weird, right? Lengthy role-playing games and mixed martial arts aren’t really a natural pairing.

Things start to make a bit more sense when you consider the face behind this marketing deal. Robert Whittaker, the reigning UFC Middleweight Champion, is now a brand ambassador for Bethesda in the Oceanic region. In a press release, the UFC calls Whittaker a “lifelong gamer.”

Indeed, Whittaker has been playing some games, and relatively complicated games at that. He has a modest-sized Twitch channel where he streamed The Elder Scrolls Online in June — more than a month before this partnership. In February, he was stoked to hit gold rank in League of Legends.

So yeah, it makes sense that Whittaker is up to promote Fallout 76. He probably would’ve played it on his own time anyway. Maybe the UFC isn’t a perfect fit for Bethesda games, but it sure seems like Whittaker is.