Aurora Gaming partners with Conor McGregor in crossover deal

Serbian esports organisation Aurora Gaming announced a partnership with UFC athlete Conor McGregor aimed at linking esports, professional combat sports and entertainment. Financial terms and the length of the agreement were not disclosed.

The announcement came ahead of McGregor’s scheduled return to the Octagon on July 11 at 6:00 PM PDT, when he will rematch Max Holloway. Aurora did not specify whether McGregor will appear in content production, promotional campaigns or other collaborative projects.

Aurora Gaming was founded in 2022 and fields teams in Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Apex Legends and Warcraft III. Until now the organisation’s commercial partners have largely been from the esports and gaming sectors.

Aurora’s long-term main sponsor is betting company 1xBet, which also maintains a separate partnership with McGregor. Prediction market platform Polymarket recently became title sponsor for several of Aurora’s rosters.

Adalet Mamedov, Aurora Gaming’s chief executive, called McGregor ‘a legendary athlete who changed UFC forever’ and described the collaboration as ‘a meeting of two competitive cultures that share the same values: a champion’s mindset and the drive to win.’

Aurora described the partnership as designed to expand its audience beyond gaming. The organisation did not disclose whether the deal will include branded merchandise, co-produced media, live events or other commercial activities common in ties between esports and traditional sports.