The Ultimate Fighting Championship has announced its biggest corporate sponsor with the announcement of Bud Light as the exclusive beer sponsor of both the UFC and its sister promotion, World Extreme Cagefighting.

"Landing Anheuser-Busch and Bud Light is huge for us, our fighters and especially our fans," said UFC president Dana White. "We’ve got the No. 1 selling beer in the world and one of the top marketers in all of sports as our sponsor.

"If our TV ratings, pay-per-view buys and venue sellouts weren’t enough, this definitely cements UFC as a major player in sports business."

Last year during a TV special on MMA, White admitted that a major hurdle his company had yet to overcome was reaching deals with blue chip corporate sponsors.

The Bud Light lol will appear in the centre of the mats in UFC and WEC cages as well as on bumpers during UFC pay-per-view events, in the background at weigh-ins and press conferences, as well as being the presenting sponsor of at least two pay-per-view events per year.

The deal will commence at UFC 84 on May 24, headlined by BJ Penn v Sean Sherk, Tito Ortiz v Lyoto Machida and Wanderlei Silva v Keith Jardine.

"UFC has developed a huge following in recent years and is wildly popular with the 21-to-34-year-old fans we want to reach," said Tony Ponturo, vice president of global media and sports marketing for Anheuser Busch, Inc.

"The number of people attending live events, buy the pay-per-views and talking about UFC around the water cooler continues to grow. It’s just a great place for us to be."

Bud Light joins Harley Davidson as the company’s major blue-chip sponsors.