A UFC broadcast throws a lot of numbers at you in a short window, and most of them go by without any explanation. The four you'll see on almost every broadcast are the Tale of the Tape before the walkouts, a significant-strikes counter during the round, a takedown/control-time readout, and a round-by-round strike tally between rounds. None of them require betting knowledge or a stats background to use — they're built to be read at a glance.
Tale of the Tape
Right before the fighters walk to the cage, the broadcast cuts to a split-screen graphic comparing the two fighters side by side: age, height, weight, and reach, sometimes with career record underneath. This is the Tale of the Tape, and it exists purely to set physical context before the action starts — a five-inch reach gap or a decade-long age difference shown here is often the first thing a commentator will reference once the fight is underway.
It's a snapshot, not a prediction. A size or reach advantage matters more in some styles of fight than others — a longer fighter who likes distance can use five extra inches of reach far more than a fighter who plans to close in and grapple from the first bell.
Significant Strikes: The Number You'll See Most
Once the fight starts, a running counter in the corner of the screen tracks "significant strikes landed" for each fighter. This is the single most-quoted number on a UFC broadcast, and it has a specific technical definition: a significant strike is any strike landed at distance (fighters not clinching or on the ground), plus power strikes landed in a clinch or on the ground. Strikes that don't meet that bar — mostly light strikes in a clinch or on the ground — don't count toward the total, even though the fighter is clearly landing something.
The number is usually shown as landed-over-attempted (for example, "42 of 78"), which doubles as an accuracy read: a fighter landing 42 of 78 is connecting on just over half of what they throw. A wide gap in this number across a round is one of the clearest single signals of who's winning it — but it's a volume-and-accuracy stat, not a damage stat, so it can undersell a fighter who's landing fewer strikes but much harder ones.
Takedowns and Control Time
When a fight goes to the mat, the broadcast switches to a different pair of numbers: takedowns (how many times a fighter has put the other on the canvas) and control time (how long a fighter has spent in a dominant position — on top in guard, in side control, or with back control). Control time is the more telling of the two, because a single takedown followed by two minutes of being controlled on the ground counts as one takedown but tells a much bigger story about who's winning that stretch of the fight.
Neither number captures what happens once a fighter is in that position — whether they're doing damage, working toward a submission, or just holding position to run the clock. Grappling stats beyond takedowns covers the numbers that fill in that gap when you want more than what the broadcast shows.
The Round-by-Round Recap
Between rounds, most broadcasts flash a quick recap graphic: strikes landed and takedowns for that specific round, not the fight total. This is worth watching for separately from the cumulative numbers, because a fighter can be well behind on the overall strike count and still have clearly won the most recent round — which matters more to judges scoring round by round than the running total does.
Records, Rankings, and Recent Form
During the introductions, the broadcast usually lays a fighter's record and current divisional ranking under their name — "No. 4" or "Interim Champion" next to a record like "18-3." If a fighter is unranked, that line is simply left off rather than shown as "unranked," which is worth knowing so you don't mistake a blank space for a stat. Some broadcasts add a short "recent form" strip alongside it — win or loss, method, and opponent for the last one to three fights — which is a faster way to see whether a fighter is heading into the cage on a hot streak or trying to snap a skid than scanning their full record.
Reading the Numbers Without Betting on Them
None of these graphics are designed with judging criteria in mind, and none of them are a substitute for watching the fight itself. A fighter can lose the significant-strikes count and still win a round on effective aggression, octagon control, or a near-finish that doesn't show up as a stat at all. Reading the numbers alongside what a judge actually scores is more useful than treating any single graphic as the final word on who's ahead.
The Takeaway
Every number on a UFC broadcast is measuring something specific and narrow — strikes at distance, time spent in a position, strikes within a single round — not "who's winning" in any complete sense, so the most useful way to watch them is as evidence to weigh alongside the fight itself, not a scoreboard that settles the question on its own.