UFC: Striking Accuracy Percentages and the Normal Distribution

Analyzing UFC data from 1993-2021 using the Normal Distribution

Authors

Affiliation

Brendan Karadenes

St. Lawrence University

Ivan Ramler

St. Lawrence University

Welcome Video

Introduction

For this activity, you will be examining striking accuracy percentages in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) from 1993 to 2021.

Specifically, you will use the normal distribution to calculate proportions and quantiles of fighter’s striking accuracy percentages.

About the UFC

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is a premier mixed martial arts (MMA) organization, founded in 1993, that has grown to become the largest and most recognized name in the sport. The UFC features some of the world’s most skilled fighters, who compete in a range of weight classes and employ a variety of fighting techniques, including striking¹ and grappling². The organization has revolutionized the sport by introducing a structured set of rules, weight divisions, and a scoring system to ensure athlete safety and fair competition. With events held globally, the UFC has a massive following and has led to the mainstream popularity of MMA. The UFC’s events are broadcasted to millions of viewers worldwide, making it a dominant force in the combat sports industry.

Analyzing this data is useful for several key reasons. It provides insights to the highly competitive and consequential nature of professional fighting. It also provides ways to compare how the top fighters compare to the average athletes. Although not directly applied in this module, further analyzing these data can help determine the most important factors that go into striking accuracy and give insight on what makes a successful fighter.

Activity Length

This activity would be suitable for an in-class example or quiz.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the activity, you will be able to:

1. Analyze the normal distribution
2. Calculate proportions and quantiles from normal distributions
3. Use statistical software to solve normal distribution problems

Methods

For this activity, students will primarily use basic concepts of the normal distributions and the idea of quantiles and proportions.

Technology Requiremens

The provided worksheet will likely require software capable of calculating normal distribution tail probabilities and percentiles. (e.g., StatKey)

Since the data are provided, instructors are encouraged to modify the worksheet to have students further their analysis of striking accuracy and other variables.

Data

The data set contains 1673 rows and 14 columns. Each row represents a fighter and their career statistics.

Download: ufc data

Variable Descriptions

Variable	Description
fighter_name	First and last name of fighter
height_inches	Fighter’s height in inches
Weight	Weight in lbs. of the fighter
Reach	Wingspan in inches of the fighter
Stance	Fighter’s orientation
birthyear	Fighter’s birth year
SLpM	Strikes landed per minute
Str_Acc	Striking accuracy percentage
SApm	Strikes attempted per minute
Str_Def	Striking defense percentage
TD_Avg	Takedown average per fight
TD_Acc	Takedown accuracy percentage
TD_Def	Takedown defense percentage
Sub_Avg	Submission average

Data Source

Kaggle - UFC Data

Materials

We provide an editable Microsoft Word handout along with it’s key.

Class handout

Class handout - with key

Conclusion

In conclusion, the UFC normal distribution worksheet provides students with a valuable learning opportunity in several key areas. It allows them to understand and practice using the Normal distribution. Also, student’s will be able to properly analyze and interpret percentages and quantiles of the distribution. The striking accuracies provide a real-world example to engage into level statistics students.

The data set can also be used to allows students to analyze several factors that go into winning a fight and gives them the opportunity to compare performances over different years. Overall, this worksheet allows students to investigate almost 20 years of the UFC and draw conclusions about fighter performances over the years.

Footnotes

1. Striking refers to offensive techniques that involve hitting an opponent with various parts of the body, such as fists, elbows, knees, and legs. Striking techniques include punches, kicks, knees, and elbows. The goal of striking is to damage or knock out the opponent. Martial arts disciplines that focus heavily on striking include boxing, Muay Thai, kickboxing, and karate.

2. Grappling involves maneuvers and techniques used to control, throw, or submit an opponent without striking them. This includes techniques like clinching, takedowns, throws, joint locks, and chokeholds. The aim is to dominate the opponent through superior positioning and leverage, often leading to submissions. Grappling is a core component of martial arts such as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling, Judo, and Sambo.