Feb 21, 2014
The fight game and fighters have grown increasingly technical and strategic over the last 20 years. In the early days of the UFC, for example, going to the ground with a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter meant the end. In today’s MMA, every fighter is built like a hybrid machine, complete with a complex toolset that allows him or her many paths to victory—knocking an opponent out, executing a submission, or simply by maintaining dominant control..
It’s for this very reason that statistics are becoming a bigger part of the story of a fight. Routinely, concepts like ‘significant strikes’ or ‘time in control’ are tossed around MMA circles, but understanding that data during a fight is hard when you’re just watching what’s unfolding on the television or computer screen.
The new FightTrax data visualization hopes to change how fans, media and even fighters view UFC fights. With live, in-fight tracking of every punch thrown, every takedown executed and every position change, FightTrax is designed to use data to tell a deeper story about the fight. It can be used as a companion experience to watching the fight live, or as a great way to review past fights to gain greater insight..