UFC to launch its first-ever live betting product

UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), in partnership with IMG Arena –a sports betting service and content hub– is debuting its first live-betting product, in an attempt to capitalize on the growing sports gambling market and change the way people wager on fights.

UFC Event Centre will provide a host of new opportunities for live betting during each fight of every UFC event.

Both the UFC Event Centre and UFC’s official data feed will be made available globally through licensed partnerships with sportsbooks and gaming operators, including IMG Arena’s existing portfolio of more than 300 operators.

The product will feature more than 50 betting opportunities per bout, including 20 new types of wagers updated in real-time. These live, or in-game, bets are a lucrative area of betting, but they’ve been less prevalent in MMA because the action is fluid and many of the statistics are subjective, Bloomberg reports.

“In-game betting is the fastest-growing part of the sports-gaming industry,” said Lawrence Epstein, UFC’s chief operating officer. “Some of the stuff we’re doing is stuff that hasn’t been done with respect to UFC in the past.”

UFC currently trails other sports in live betting. IMG Arena said that only 8% of bets placed on UFC are done after the bout starts; in tennis, it’s 70%. The Event Centre aims to help that imbalance.

The new options will include odds on things like the number of take-down attempts, whether a fighter will get knocked down, total strikes landed, and the amount of time a fighter spends on the mat.

Though almost every U.S. sports entity is trying to capitalize on gambling, Las Vegas-based UFC’s approach is different from its peers’. Leagues like the NBA, NHL and MLB have crafted deals with data companies to create betting products, and separate marketing deals with sportsbooks to license their logos. UFC has chosen to do it all in one package.

The product was developed by IMG Arena, formerly IMG Gaming, which acts as a middleman between sports organizations and betting operators. Its traditional sports partners include tennis’s ATP World Tour and golf’s PGA Tour, and it works with more than 300 operators around the world.

“The demographics of the UFC fan is right in a sportsbook’s sweet spot, in the context of men aged 21 to 44,” said Freddie Longe, executive vice president, and managing director of IMG Arena. “The UFC brand is extremely powerful and already resonates strongly with the key demographics of global sports betting consumers. Through this partnership with UFC, we have been able to develop official products that will help unlock significant value for both UFC and our global sports betting partners.”

About a third of UFC fans regularly visit gambling websites, according to the promoter. Epstein said the sport further lends itself to wagering because there’s no off-season. While other sports typically go dark for months at a time, UFC runs year-round.

The goal for UFC, which Endeavor bought in 2016 for about $4 billion, is to deepen its connection with current fans and attract new ones. Epstein said he has witnessed firsthand how gambling availability drives interest.

“It’s fun to go to a Vegas sportsbook at 11 o’clock at night and watch everybody go crazy over the University of Hawaii game, which no one would care about but for the fact that it’s the only college-football game left,” he said. “We’re for anything that increases fan engagement.”

“The UFC Event Centre and its official data feed will be a game-changer for how UFC fans engage with our events through sportsbooks and gaming operators,” said UFC President Dana White. “We have the most passionate, die-hard fans of any sport, and they’re going to love the option to place bets live during a fight. Betting operators are also going to love this product because, unlike other sports, UFC has no off season. The action will be non-stop for fans and sportsbook operators.”