Take a look at what’s clicking on FoxBusiness.com.
In between the fun of the bouts on battle night time, you might discover a brand new companion listed on the canvas of a UFC octagon: FRE Nicotine Pouches.
In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, FRE turned the “official nicotine pouch companion” of UFC and the remainder of TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (TKO) affiliated properties, together with Zuffa Boxing, PBR (Skilled Bull Using), and UFC BJJ, in addition to IMG-owned World’s Strongest Man and Components Drift.
FRE has been quietly constructing a sports activities portfolio that reaches these performance-obsessed audiences throughout the nation, however the announcement of the partnership with TKO final month was a landmark title sponsorship.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXBUSINESS.COM
TKO Group Holdings, Inc. and FRE Pouches, a client product from Turning Level Manufacturers, partnered to change into UFC’s “official nicotine pouch.” (FRE Nicotine Pouches / Fox Information)
UFC turned the primary main U.S. sports activities property to have an “official nicotine pouch” companion, making this a deal that modifications the panorama of a class that can have an estimated $50 billion market by 2033.
Summer time Frein, chief income officer at Turning Level Manufacturers, the branded client merchandise firm that markets and distributes merchandise, together with different smoking equipment, spoke with Fox Enterprise about how FRE wished to get into sports activities. And TKO’s properties, particularly UFC, made an excessive amount of sense.
“Clearly, firstly, we wished to select one thing that aligns with our model, and our tagline is ‘Personal Your Edge.’ When you consider individuals who personal their edge, sports activities instantly come to thoughts. And when you consider TKO — I mentioned this to somebody final week — the place the hell do you personal your edge greater than knocking somebody out in an octagon,” Frein mentioned in a current interview.
UFC, BUD LIGHT TEAM UP TO MAKE ALREADY HIGHLY ANTICIPATED SUMMER OF FIGHTS THAT MUCH BETTER: ‘A FAN DELIGHT’
“The shoppers who’re on the occasions overlap with our client base very straight, each from an grownup nicotine client perspective, however simply the traits of them. What they consider in, what they embody (has) lots of overlap with us as nicely by way of being aggressive, performance-driven and that type of factor.”
The UFC has an viewers that’s over 90% adults, 21 years or older, making it a great platform for accountable advertising of grownup client merchandise like nicotine pouches. However, from an athlete’s perspective, analysis into how nicotine might improve sports activities efficiency has been ample.
Smokeless tobacco has been broadly utilized by athletes to reinforce efficiency, with nicotine serving as a central nervous system stimulant amongst different anatomic results. And whereas nicotine had a nasty fame resulting from its correlation with tobacco-based merchandise like cigarettes, the stimulant wasn’t the reason for poisonous well being penalties. After all, it stays an addictive chemical.
The expansion of the worldwide nicotine pouch market reached roughly $4.3 billion in 2025, and it’s solely going to surge from there. FRE has moved quick to determine itself earlier than it totally matures, and a deal like this with TKO proves that.
FRE Nicotine Pouches turned the “official nicotine pouch” of various TKO Group Holdings, Inc. properties, together with UFC and Zuffa Boxing. (FRE Nicotine Pouches / Fox Information)
“We began off with PBR final 12 months. We rolled into some NASCAR and ARCA Collection racing, and all of these foundational parts gave us the boldness that we have been not off course. Sports activities made lots of sense for us,” Frein added.
“I feel [TKO was] additionally searching for companions and shoppers that had overlap, so we have been constructing upon one another there. The shoppers anticipate that. You have got seen UFC shoppers and followers at occasions. They trip for that model. So, in the event that they companion with manufacturers that don’t make sense, I don’t assume these followers can be quiet about that. I feel our model made lots of sense for that purpose, too.”
Frein identified how FRE units itself aside for its shoppers with its number of flavors, and, extra importantly, nicotine strengths. FRE pouches go from three milligrams as much as 15, a power not many opponents have of their product. Regardless of the place a client could also be on a nicotine pouch journey, FRE prides itself on that selection to assist present shoppers with how they want to have the product.
“Shoppers advised us they use nicotine and use these pouches, specifically, of their life for quite a lot of causes. One is to transition off of merchandise they don’t need to use anymore, totally different nicotine merchandise they don’t need to use anymore. They really feel like this can be a higher choice for them – extra discreet, much less judgment, that type of factor. Then, we hear them say what you’re saying. They use it for moments of their day that they discover to be useful to them,” Frein defined.
FRE has additionally listened to its prospects relating to the pouch itself. The pouches function a pre-primed moisture expertise pouch that Frein says shoppers “desire.” Their selection additionally goes into the pouch depend, providing 20-count tins or 100-count “Mega Packs.”
And as Frein talked about, FRE’s push into sports activities goes past its work with TKO. It not too long ago partnered with 23XI Racing, Michael Jordan’s auto racing firm, and driver Riley Herbst for choose NASCAR Cup Collection races. It additionally signed because the “official nicotine sponsor” for Taylor Reimer Racing throughout 4 ARCA Menards Collection occasions in 2026.
FRE Nicotine Pouches branding on a 23XI Racing NASCAR automobile for the NASCAR Cup Collection. (FRE Nicotine Pouches / Fox Information)
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXBUSINESS.COM
As tobacco-less nicotine merchandise have been reframed from a legacy behavior to a deliberate, performance-based alternative, FRE has made a calculated wager on sports activities, and partnering with TKO makes the longer term thrilling from a enterprise perspective.
“I feel what the partnership with TKO and NASCAR and Taylor Reimer within the ARCA Collection has carried out for us is open individuals’s minds,” Frein mentioned.
“Open doorways, given us credibility as a model and as an business that we will make it work. We’re going to have a seat on the desk. We’re going to market successfully and responsibly, frankly. So, I think about that, simply given the prior piece of the conversations round athletes and them pondering in a different way and having this part of their lives, it’s going to open doorways to different avenues.”
Observe Fox Information Digital’s sports activities protection on X and subscribe to the Fox Information Sports activities Huddle publication.
