The well-known Bitcoin Cash advocate Roger Ver will sponsor the Japanese MMA fighter Mei Yamaguchi in the upcoming fight for the ”Atomweight World Championship” title. The two of them recently took to the internet to announce the sponsorship deal, as well as to delve into both cryptocurrency and MMA. Ver argued that this sponsorship will bring greater visibility to Bitcoin Cash, and follows other similar sponsorship deals for other cryptocurrencies.

Yamaguchi is set to square off against Angela Lee at the One Championship’s Unstoppable Dreams event in Singapore. The victor will walk off with the coveted Atomweight World Championship title. Yamaguchi grew up in California and was inspired to begin practicing karate after watching Jackie Chan movies. She subsequently moved on to ju-jitsu before finally setting her sight on the world of MMA. So far, she has participated in a total of 27 professional fights.

Ver’s decision to support Yamaguchi is reportedly due to Ver’s desire to showcase how great an athlete Yamaguchi is, as well as to spread awareness of Bitcoin Cash to a larger target demographic. Ver and Yamaguchi both participated in the reveal video for the partnership, and whilst Yamaguchi discussed MMA, Ver focused on the subject of cryptocurrencies. He demonstrated the speed of the Bitcoin Cash network by sending Yamaguchi 0.0642 BCH – worth approximately $1,000 – during the video.

Moreover, Ver took the opportunity to showcase a Bitcoin Cash address linked to Yamaguchi in the video. This link will allow people to donate money directly to Yamaguchi. However, the Bitcoin Cash address displayed is separate from the address Roger Ver sent $1,000 to since the donation wallet has only got a total of 23 transactions and a mere $77 in it.

This is, however, far from the first foray into sports sponsorships for cryptocurrencies. Just this past January, MMA fighter Rory MacDonald received support from Dash for a total of 320 DASH, or what was then worth $271,000. Therefore, Roger Ver is far from a pioneer in the MMA field. Furthermore, the Dogecoin cryptocurrency has previously helped crowdfund a myriad of different athletic sponsorships.

For example, the Jamaican Bobsled Team raised around $50,000 back in 2014 to afford the trip to the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Dogecoin also helped raise approximately $55,000 during 2014 as well, which was used to sponsor the NASCAR racer Josh Wise. Wise’s car subsequently featured Dogecoin branding and helped showcase the cryptocurrency to the world. It now seems Ver is set on doing something similar with Yamaguchi.

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