Polymarket To Provide UFC, Zuffa Boxing With Real-Time Fan Predictions

Polymarket is partnering with TKO Group Holdings to bring real-time forecasting into live fight broadcasts for the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) and Zuffa Boxing. 

Polymarket will be the exclusive prediction market partner for the events and it will add a storytelling layer later to track fan sentiment in real-time, according to a Nov. 13 UFC blog post. 

Polymarket And UFC Aim For More Fan Engagement

The partnership seeks to provide a more engaging experience for fans. To that aim, Polymarket will power the first-ever real-time “Fan Prediction Scoreboard” within UFC broadcasts, according to the blog post. This will provide a visualization of how fans around the world are forecasting each fight as it unfolds. 

It aims to “transform fan sentiment into a visible, data-driven narrative that measures the unofficial ‘pulse’ of the audience,” the company said. 

“By bringing prediction markets to the broadcast and arena, we’re giving fans a new way to be part of the action — not just watching outcomes but watching the world’s expectations evolve with every round,” said Polymarket founder and CEO Shayne Coplan. 

TKO Group Holdings CEO and Executive Chair Ariel Emanuel said the partnership with Polymarket will unlock “a new dimension of fan engagement” and transform ”passive viewership into active participation.”

UFC and Polymarket will also collaborate to launch a new custom social series titled “Matchup Predictions – Who’s Next?”

That series will run across the UFC’s social media channels, including its Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and X pages after each UFC event. The aim is to “spark social debate and engagement” that will create a “topical market for Polymarket to host on their platform,” it said. 

Other Platforms Integrate With Polymarket

Polymarket has launched a series of similar partnerships recently.

It entered into a multi-year agreement with PrizePicks, enabling the latter to integrate regulated events contracts on its platform. It enables Polymarket to expand its presence in the mainstream fantasy/sports-gaming space. 

News aggregators have also tapped Polymarket for its prediction market data, with Yahoo Finance and Google Finance both announcing that they will plug into Polymarket’s platform to expand their data offerings. 

In June, Elon Musk’s X also announced that Polymarket will become its “official prediction market partner.” 

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) owner Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has also announced a strategic investment of up to $2 billion into Polymarket. As part of the investment, the exchange will become a global distributor of Polymarket’s event-driven data. 

ICE’s investment announcement (Source: ICE)

Polymarket Re-Enters The US Market

The series of new partnerships comes as Polymarket re-enters the US market. 

Coplan said at Cantor Fitzgerald’s crypto conference that the US platform is “live and operational” for select users.

The soft relaunch is a milestone for the prediction markets platform, which was hit with an enforcement action from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in 2022.  The regulator said that Polymarket was operating “event-based binary options markets” without registering as a swap execution facility or designated contract market (DCM).

As part of the enforcement action, Polymarket agreed to pay a civil monetary penalty of $1.4 million. The company also restricted access for US users and moved operations primarily offshore.