MMA Title Challenger Mei Yamaguchi Sponsored by Bitcoin Cash Fan Roger Ver

MMA fighter Mei Yamaguchi from Japan is set to fight Angela Lee for the Atomweight World Championship title at One Championship’s ‘Unstoppable Dreams’ in Singapore and, bitcoin cash promoter Roger Ver will be sponsoring her in that match.

In a video announcing the sponsorship deal, Ver sat down with Yamaguchi to discuss MMA and cryptocurrencies. He was excited to demonstrate how Bitcoin Cash worked and sent her $1,000 in bitcoin cash (0.0642 BCH) in real time. Yamaguchi, in turn, discussed her MMA career.

“I am the CEO of Bitcoin.com, and we are proud to sponsor Mei for this fight cause we want the whole world to know what a great athlete she is and she wants the whole world to know what a great currency bitcoin cash is,” Ver said.

Yamaguchi, who grew up in California initially learned karate after being inspired by Jackie Chan films. Then, she began practicing ju-jitsu and went on to become a mixed martial arts fighter. She now has 27 professional fights under her belt, with a 16-10-1 record.

Towards the end of their sit-down, Roger Ver displayed Yamaguchi’s bitcoin cash address for people to donate. This wallet address is different from the wallet Roger Ver initially sent $1,000, and t the time of writing this article, the wallet only has 23 transactions and a total of 0.053 BCH ($77) in it.

This is not the first time a cryptocurrency is being used to sponsor and promote Sports. In January 2018, Dash sponsored MMA fighter Rory MacDonald for his fight against Douglas Lima. Rory was paid 320 DASH ($271,000 at the time) for promoting the coin. He went on to win the fight and claim the Welterweight gold title for himself.

Fans of another cryptocurrency — dogecoin — have crowdfunded multiple athletic sponsorships over the years. In 2014, Dogecoin raised $50,000 for the Jamaican Bobsled Team which had qualified for the Winter Olympics, but could not afford to go to Sochi, Russia. In the same year, the community successfully raised $55,000 to sponsor NASCAR driver Josh Wise. Wise took part in the event in a car which had Dogecoin branding and finished in the fifteenth position.