UFC taps Polymarket to add betting signals for live fight coverage

Polymarket has signed a multi-year deal with TKO Group Holdings to become the official prediction market partner for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Zuffa Boxing, bringing real-time forecasting into live fight broadcasts.

A UFC blog post on Thursday said Polymarket will add a data-driven storytelling layer that tracks fan sentiment in real-time, including a “Fan Prediction Scoreboard” that converts crowd expectations into a live readout of the audience’s shifting pulse during each event

Polymarket is a blockchain-based prediction platform where people trade on the outcome of real-world events. The company’s founder and CEO, Shayne Coplan, said the partnership will give fans a “new way to be part of the action — not just watching outcomes but watching the world’s expectations evolve with every round.”

Current UFC fight available for betting on Polymarket. Source: PolymarketThe UFC and Polymarket will also launch a social series that highlights potential post-fight matchups across UFC’s major platforms to generate debate that Polymarket will turn into topical markets

Ariel Emanuel, the executive chair and CEO at TKO, added that fans will be able to transform “passive viewership into active participation.”

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The rise of prediction markets

Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, which let users bet on everything from whom US President Donald Trump will pardon to the price of Bitcoin on a particular day, became especially popular following the 2024 US presidential election.

Since then, they have been expanding rapidly. On Nov. 6, Google announced it would integrate Kalshi and Polymarket into its search results as part of its AI-powered upgrade, enabling users to view real-time probabilities for future market events.

Bets on the price of Bitcoin. Source: Polymarket.com Polymarket also teamed up with fantasy sports platform PrizePicks to bring its event markets into the PrizePicks’ app, letting users make predictions on sports, entertainment and cultural outcomes.

Prediction markets have faced backlash this month. A Columbia University study reported that roughly 60% of Polymarket’s activity appeared to be wash trading and that a quarter of its total volume over the past three years may have come from artificial trades. The study has not been peer reviewed.

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