What is UFC? It stands for Ultimate Fighting Championship, which is an organization that promotes a modern combat sport called mixed martial arts (MMA). And I’m going to go ahead and say it—MMA fighters are absolutely insane. But if you’re a sports fan in the 21st century—and especially if you’re a gambling sports fan—you have to have a working knowledge of this stuff. This quick Q&A should get you up to speed.
What exactly is MMA?
MMA is a combat sport that incorporates techniques from a wide variety of disciplines such as boxing, wrestling, karate, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, etc. Have a quick look.
So what is UFC again?
As above, UFC refers to an entity that promotes MMA. It was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. Its current president, Dana White, is credited with growing the UFC into the massive business that it is today. While other companies also promote MMA, none is as large or attracts the same caliber of fighters.
What is the UFC’s main competitor?
In the US, it would probably be a company called Bellator MMA, founded in 2008 and based in Santa Monica, California. As of now, the gulf between the UFC and Bellator is vast.
Where can I find the UFC rules?
The UFC follows the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. These cover all sorts of things ranging from proper attire (including the type of open-fingered gloves) to various types of fouls. Here is more detail if you’re interested.
What is the octagon?
This term refers to the “ring” in which the fighting takes place, shaped obviously like an octagon. The standard octagon is 30 feet in diameter and is surrounded by a fence that measures six feet in height.
How many rounds are in a fight?
A typical fight consists of three rounds, each lasting five minutes. A fight that determines the champion of a specific weight class (see below) can involve five rounds of five minutes each.
How is the winner of a fight determined?
A fight can end with a knockout (a fighter is unconscious), a technical knockout (a fighter isn’t exactly unconscious but is deemed to be unfit to continue fighting), a submission (a fighter indicates verbally or via tapping that he or she is conceding the fight), a disqualification (an intentional and severe violation of the rules), or a decision (made by three judges at the end of a fight).
How is a decision scored?
Rounds are scored individually, with the winner of a round getting ten points and the loser getting nine (or perhaps only eight if the round was particularly lopsided—anything less than eight is extremely rare). The scores of all three (or five) rounds are then added for a total. Given that there are three judges, the fighter with the higher total score from two or more judges is the winner.
What are the different weight classes?
On the men’s side, there are eight divisions—flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight. On the women’s side, there are four divisions—strawweight, flyweight, bantamweight, and featherweight.
What is the annual revenue of the UFC?
It seems to be somewhere in the range of $1 billion (and growing), putting it in the same ballpark as Major League Soccer.
What sort of media rights deals does the UFC have?
The UFC has a media rights agreement with ESPN that is valued at more than $1.5 billion over five years, contributing a sizable chunk to the revenue above.
How are fighters paid?
Fighters are considered independent contractors, not employees. They are paid per fight, and the exact amount depends on the individual contract. Of course, those with more experience who are more likely to draw a large audience get more. The range is anywhere from $10,000 to $3,000,000 per fight.
Fighters can also get a bonus for winning and for participating in what are deemed the fight of the night and the performance of the night. Some contracts may even give fighters a percentage of pay-per-view sales. As might be expected, how much revenue the UFC shares with fighters has been a point of contention.
Other sources of income for fighters can include endorsement deals (for those with a powerful personal brand on social media) and any other side businesses. At the end of the day, the average fighter makes about $160,000 per year—some a lot more and others a lot less.
Where are the fighters from?
Fighters hail from every continent except Antarctica.
Where have UFC events taken place?
Events have taken place on five continents, with Africa and Antarctica being the exceptions.
Have there been any deaths in the UFC?
While injuries are par for the course, and deaths have occurred in non-UFC MMA competitions, no deaths have occurred under the watch of the UFC.
In case you were wondering, there was a time in my life when I thought about doing the whole UFC/MMA thing. Ultimately, however, I opted to sip on macchiatos and blog instead.
