Anthony Smith says Mark Zuckerberg presence at UFC Vegas 61 “can only do good things” for the sport of MMA

Anthony Smith believes that Mark Zuckerberg’s presence at UFC Vegas 61 ‘can only do good things’ for the sport of MMA.

Zuckerberg and his wife did have ringside seats at UFC Vegas 61, which took place last Saturday, October 1st, in an otherwise empty Apex arena, as White closed the event to fans and media.

Dana White and the UFC have come under criticism for renting out the event to Zuckerberg exclusively.

Dana White has adamantly disagreed taking to ‘Twitter’ saying:

“Mark Zuckerberg did NOT rent out the UFC Apex. That’s total bullsh*t.”

Speaking on the ‘Believe You Me’ podcast with Michael Bisping, Anthony Smith weighed in on Zuckerberg’s presence at UFC Vegas 61:

“The couple videos and clips of him kind of watching the fights, it’s like he just discovered something. Like he’s seeing something that just is amazing to him. Look how focused he is. He is just so in-tune. I watched him watch it, like he’s learning something.”

Image via @lionheartasmith on Instagram

Smith doubled down on Meta CEO’s interest in MMA as very positive saying (h/t Sportskeeda):

“Think what you want about Zuckerberg, I know that politically, there is a lot of argument there. A lot of people don’t like him, they don’t like his business, they don’t like the transparency. I don’t give a sh*t about any of that stuff. Someone as rich and powerful and with as big of a voice as he has, kind of putting his co-sign on what we do, is only going to bring our sport higher. And people with that kind of influence can only do good things for our sport.”

One of the many explanations behind Mark Zuckerberg’s Fight Night appearance and the empty Apex arena was a possible metaverse collaboration with the UFC. Dana White posted a picture at UFC Vegas 61 of himself and Mark Zuckerberg all smiles cageside.

Do you agree with Smith that Mark Zuckerberg’s interest in the sport is very positive?

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