MMA study reveals the UFC ranks last in several major categories compared to rival promotions
01/06/2025 12:30 PM
From PPV buys to social media trends, 2024 was another outstanding year for MMA promotions around the world and specifically, the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
However, that isn't to say that the UFC dominates the sport across the board; in fact, a new statistical study has now revealed where the promotion curiously lags behind several of its rivals.
MMA study reveals the UFC ranks last for percentage finishes and more
If you're looking to bolster your MMA knowledge in 2025, we'd highly recommend following data scientist Nate Latshaw on social media.
The Philadelphia-based researcher is an expert in sports analytics and earlier this week, revealed the results of his year-long study into the brutal sport that we all adore – with several fascinating (and surprising) results from across the MMA world.
Most notably, out of the 10 major MMA promotions worldwide (Cage Warriors, KSW, Brave CF, RIZIN, LFA, CFFC, PFL, ONE, Oktagon MMA, and UFC), the Ultimate Fighting Championship would rank last in terms of fight-ending finishes.
According to Latshaw's data, only 44.8% of UFC fights in 2024 ended via either a KO/TKKO or submission, the lowest of any of the other MMA promotions – compared to 65.9% in Cage Warriors (1st), 63% in KSW (2nd), 61.8% in RIZIN (4th), and 53% in the PFL (8th).
It was the same story across more specific categories including knockouts, submissions, and first-round finishes; where the UFC ranked last for KOs (28.7%), second-last for submissions (16.2%), and last again for first-round finishes (20.3%).
Latshaw also expanded upon how knockout rates have changed across the last 10 years by weight class – dropping from 33% in 2015 across all divisions (male and female) down to 29% by 2024.
Granted, there could have been a fair few more KO/TKOs this past calendar year had the UFC not decided to introduce their new glove design in the Summer.
Knockouts dropped significantly after the new gloves' introduction, so much so that Dana White confirmed that the promotion would be returning to the old design after UFC 309 in November.
If you find yourself with a spare few minutes before the first UFC event of 2025, Latshaw's fascinating X thread is well worth a read-through in full.
A quick statistical recap of the UFC in 2024
2024 was yet another outstanding year for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, with over 512 fights put on across 42 unique shows (both PPV and non-PPV) for a grand total of 101 hours of fight time.
The event that saw the most knockouts was UFC on ESPN 54: Blanchfield vs Fiorot in March – that card was eight KO/TKO's being scored, five on the prelims and three more on the main card.
174 post-fight bonuses were handed out: with fighters earning approximately $9.95 million from either Fight of the Night or Performance of the Night checks.
- UFC 311: Arman Tsarukyan strangely suggests he's not '100% invested in MMA' days out from title fight
The best night to get a post-fight bonus was, of course, UFC 300, which featured four $300K checks being given out – although Max Holloway would ultimately leave with two of them.
Underdogs also had a solid turnout, with 146 wins to 367 losses against the betting favorites; the most of which came at UFC 267: Strickland vs Du Plessis with seven – could we see a similar stat at UFC 312: Du Plessis vs Strickland 2 in February?
