Beginner guide: how to watch your first UFC event

Pick a main card to start

For your first UFC experience, focus on the main card instead of watching every early prelim. Main card fights often have more experienced fighters and higher stakes.

Learn the basic positions

Before fight night, quickly study a few basic positions like mount, guard and back control. With this knowledge the ground exchanges make more sense.

Follow one fighter per division

Choose one or two favorite fighters per weight class. It makes future events easier to follow and gives you a reason to care about rankings.

Understand the stakes

Is it a title fight, a number one contender bout or a debut. Knowing what is on the line adds emotion to every round.

Watch with open scoring in mind

After each round, ask yourself who did more damage and who controlled the action. Even if you disagree with the judges, you start to think like one.