1xBet ties ambassador deal to McGregor’s UFC 329 return
1xBet has named Conor McGregor its global brand ambassador, an announcement timed to the Irish fighter’s return to the UFC on 11 July. McGregor headlines UFC 329 against Max Holloway at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, as the main event of the promotion’s 14th annual International Fight Week.
The card also features Paddy Pimblett against Benoit Saint-Denis in the co-main lightweight bout, along with a heavyweight fight between Gable Steveson and Elisha Ellison and a light heavyweight meeting between Robert Whittaker and Nikita Krylov. McGregor’s fight remains the draw the promotion has built the week around.
1xBet linked the appointment directly to the comeback. The operator’s statement framed the deal as the start of a new chapter alongside McGregor’s re-entry into competition, rather than a standalone sponsorship.
“We’re proud to welcome UFC legend Conor McGregor as 1xBet Global Brand Ambassador. As one of the greatest icons in combat sports prepares for his long-awaited comeback, we’re excited to begin this new chapter together.”
A rematch, moved up a weight class
McGregor and Holloway first fought in August 2013, when McGregor won by unanimous decision in a featherweight bout early in both careers. UFC 329 repeats the pairing at welterweight, with Holloway moving up two divisions for the rematch.
The fight marks McGregor’s first appearance since July 2021, when he broke his leg against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. That injury kept him out of competition for five years. Before the layoff, McGregor’s rise to the UFC featherweight title included a 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo at UFC 194 in 2015, one of the fastest finishes in a UFC title fight.
McGregor turns 38 on 14 July, three days after the fight. The Holloway rematch is his chance to reset a run that has produced one win in his last four appearances, and the first test of whether a fighter closing on 38, after a five-year layoff, still draws the subscriber numbers that make him worth an ambassador fee in the first place.
Another line in a recurring sponsorship portfolio
The 1xBet deal adds to a run of betting-sector ambassador roles McGregor has held, including previous partnerships with Parimatch, Betsafe and Duelbits. Sportsbooks have repeatedly paid for association with McGregor around his fights, betting on his crossover reach with fans who follow combat sports rather than football or racing. The 1xBet announcement follows the same timing as those earlier deals, landing in the weeks before a McGregor fight rather than mid-cycle.
McGregor’s activity outside the cage extends to Forged Irish Stout, which he owns, and a stake in the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. He also appeared in the 2024 film Roadhouse alongside Jake Gyllenhaal.
1xBet’s licensing gap
1xBet operates under a Curaçao eGaming licence and says it holds local regulatory approvals in more than 35 markets, but it does not hold a UK Gambling Commission licence. The UKGC revoked 1xBet’s licence in 2019 following a Sunday Times investigation, and the operator remains barred from the UK market along with the US, Russia, France and Spain. An ambassador deal built around a global broadcast will reach audiences well beyond the markets where 1xBet can legally take a bet, a gap that has followed the brand through previous celebrity partnerships as well.
A streaming deal, not a pay-per-view
UFC 329 streams live on Paramount+, under the UFC’s current broadcast agreement, rather than through the pay-per-view model that carried McGregor’s past fights on cable providers. The switch removes the per-buy price point that once measured a McGregor card’s commercial pull, replacing it with subscriber reach on a single platform. For a sponsor buying visibility rather than a cut of PPV revenue, that shift arguably suits an ambassador deal better than the old model did.
A comeback with money riding on it for both sides
UFC 329 sits inside the UFC’s International Fight Week, a fixture that typically draws heavy betting turnover on combat sports regardless of card quality. For 1xBet, the ambassador deal puts McGregor’s name in front of that audience before a single punch is thrown. Whether the arrangement pays off for the operator depends on how the fight itself plays out on 11 July, and on how much of that attention 1xBet can convert in the markets where it is actually allowed to operate.
Source: 1xBet
