UFC to offer fighters Twitter incentive

Published May. 13, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

While most leagues and teams are trying to dissuade athletes from tweeting, the UFC is taking the opposite approach, unveiling a plan this week to pay fighters based on how effectively they use Twitter, Yahoo Sports reported Thursday.

The initiative was unveiled at the UFC Fighter Summit in Las Vegas by UFC president Dana White, himself a frequent Twitter user who boasts nearly 1.5 million followers. White often responds directly to tweets from Ultimate Fighting Championship fans.

White set aside $240,000 for the next year to fund the initiative.

The plan laid out by White will divide fighters into four categories based on how many Twitter followers they have on June 1.

At the end of every three months, the fighters who increase their number of followers the most within each category will receive a $5,000 bonus. Payouts will also go to those who up their percentage of followers the most, and the fighters who are deemed most creative with their tweets.

The creativity award will be judged by White himself.

The enthusiastic embrace of social media by the UFC will be felt immediately by the sport's millions of fans, predicted one UFC fighter.

"Wait for it... fighters are gonna flood twitter. They just mentioned the incentive program and everyone picked up their phones," UFC welterweight Dan Hardy tweeted Thursday.