UFC Internships: How to Become a UFC Intern

You could take a picture of your lunch and accidentally have it show up on the official UFC Instagram account, tag the incorrect names of fighters in a social post, or spill coffee on UFC Hall of Famer Forrest Griffin. Everyone makes mistakes, even a UFC intern. 

All of the above were real errors made during UFC internships – as indicated by former intern Katrina Frye. The mistakes are insignificant when you consider how instrumental these roles can be for budding sports careers. 

A Launchpad To A Career in the UFC

Are you interested in potentially working in mixed martial arts? Look no further than the Ultimate Fighting Championship. At the UFC, you could take numerous career paths, ranging from graphic design to accounting to even government relations. Whatever specific skill set you might be able to practice, a great way to get initial hands-on experience is through UFC internships.

How to Score A UFC Internship

What will you need to get these coveted intern positions? Meeting the requirements listed in sample internships will bring you closer to landing a role. However, four additional key steps will need to be taken beyond those prerequisites: going through the actual application process, doing your research, maintaining confidence, and networking strategically.

Step #1: Look at example internship requirements.

Requirements for various UFC internships overlap quite a bit but do have their differences. Here is what is needed for a few summer 2021 internship roles at the UFC headquarters in Las Vegas:

Global Partnerships UFC Intern

• Earning an undergraduate or graduate degree in sports management, sales, marketing, business development, or a related field
• Strong ability to express yourself both through writing and speech
• Proven interest in and dedication toward growth and learning
• Understanding the importance of treating sensitive information with discretion
• Commitment to teamwork
• Solid customer service skillset
• Engaged, courteous, and gregarious 
• Reasonably capable of working with Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook
• Ready to pass a pre-employment drug screening
• Prepared to submit to a pre-employment background check
• (preferred) Graduate student, or college junior or senior.

Sport Science UFC Intern

• Currently enrolled and working toward a degree in a related field
• Passion for working with highly accomplished professional fighters
• Excellence at analysis and data management
• Demonstrated capability of achieving established objectives and working on set tasks on your own
• Able to closely follow a set of methodological steps and conduct a range of physiological tests
• Impeccable detail orientation and extraordinary diligence
• Able to pass drug and background checks
• (preferred) Background in a weight-categorized sport, interacting with the athletes.

Global Brand Creative UFC Intern

• Pursuing a degree in a creative field, such as advertising, fine arts, or graphic design
• Comfortable working in a Mac computing ecosystem
• Ready to work within the developed standards and visual identity of the brand
• Strong written and spoken English communication skills
• Flair for online design and color schemes
• Basic knowledge of Microsoft Office 
• Aware of the need to maintain confidentiality
• Excited to grow and expand what you know
• Established detailed orientation and organizational capabilities
• Skilled at proofreading and verifying the accuracy of information
• Adobe Creative Suite working knowledge
• Capable of passing drug and background checks
• (preferred) Junior or senior in college.

Step #2: Apply.

As you start the application process for UFC internships, be ready to answer questions. Some will be straightforward, such as when you are scheduled to graduate and how you heard about the position. Two of the more complicated questions that the UFC often asks interns are the following:

• What do you want to learn from the internship?
• What are your eventual career plans?

Also, be ready to link to your profile if you are seeking a creative internship.

Step #3: Do your research. 

Whether you want UFC jobs or internships, it is important to know about the company before your interview. You also want to know about the industry. Finally, learn whatever you can about the person who will be interviewing you.

Step #4: Maintain confidence.

It is extremely challenging to develop UFC careers because so many people love the sport and want to be professionally involved. Keep focused and stay sure of yourself. Confidence is essential to your forward progress.

Step #5: Network strategically.

Finally, you want to make connections however you can. Networking will help you land jobs in any field, but it is particularly critical to getting attention in competitive markets. Knowing more decision-makers can help you land UFC jobs and positions elsewhere in the sports industry. At Jobs In Sports, The Network is a rapidly growing community of sports industry professionals. Join today for FREE.