SerpApi.Org
By M. Marin
NASDAQ: MRDN
READ THE FULL MRDN RESEARCH REPORT
Meridianbet Official Partner of UFC Fight Night Serbia, UFC’s 1st MMA event in Serbia
Meridian Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MRDN) licenses and operates online sports betting and gaming platforms globally. Its subsidiary Meridianbet has been named Official Partner of UFC Fight Night Serbia, the first MMA (mixed-martial-arts) event the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has ever held in Serbia, which will take place on August 1, 2026, at Belgrade’s Belgrade Arena. Meridianbet will be the event’s exclusive sponsor in the sports-betting category. Meridianbet was founded in Serbia in 2001 and has operated in the market continuously since then.
The Meridianbet brand will be highly visible, as the partnership includes branding inside the Octagon during the event, logo placement across official event promotions, including the fight poster and round cards, an in-venue commercial at Belgrade Arena and a digital and social media campaign across UFC’s omnichannel promotional activities. Moreover, the event will reach a global audience via international distribution through UFC’s broadcast partners, including live broadcast in the U.S. on Paramount+.
Source: Company presentation
Meridianbet represents the largest contributor to MRDN consolidated revenue. MRDN noted that the Meridianbet partnership with UFC, part of TKO Group Holdings, marks its highest profile alignment with a global sports brand thus far, although Meridianbet has sponsored combat sports for years. UFC is a globally recognized MMA organization. Its more than 40 annual live events are distributed to an estimated one billion broadcast and digital households across 210 countries and territories and its MMA athletes represent 75+ countries.
MRDN believes the partnership reflects its longstanding commitment to sport in the communities where it operates. Meridianbet has engaged in multiple other community sponsorships, ranging from supporting clubs, youth academies and local sports programs to community initiatives in health and education.
Sponsorship consistent with Meridian promotional activities aligning its brand with high profile sports figures or brands
The sponsorship is consistent with Meridian’s promotional activities aligning its brand with high profile sports figures or brands. For example, MRDN recently formed an agreement with Serbian-born former soccer player Dejan Petković who became the company’s Global Brand Ambassador. Dejan Petković, known as Pet, is currently a television personality and analyst. He is regarded as one of the best known and popular foreign players in Brazilian football history and has launched Pet TV in Brazil. The company believes that appointing well-known sports figures as brand ambassadors to help market the brand and company operations creates a strategic and cost-effective way to reach existing and prospective customers.
The UFC sponsorship comes as Meridian continues to advance its B2B and B2C expansion strategy and as core Meridianbet operations continue to scale. Meridian remains focused on growth, organically and using strategic M&A that prioritizes acquisitions in high-barrier markets with limited licensing to complement organic growth and further its goal to diversify its revenue base across geographic markets, by operating segment and by channel. Reflecting what we see as its growing traction, Meridianbet new customer registrations grew 41% in 1Q26 compared to 1Q25.
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