Every UFC broadcast uses a specific vocabulary that commentators assume you already know, and this is a reference for the 40 terms that come up most — grouped by category so you can find the one you just heard.
Striking terms
Jab — a quick, straight punch thrown with the lead hand, used to gauge distance and set up bigger strikes rather than to end a fight on its own. See the jab, explained for why commentators treat it as the most important punch in the sport.
Cross — a straight punch thrown with the rear hand, typically the harder-hitting counterpart to the jab.
Hook — a punch thrown in a horizontal arc, aimed at the side of an opponent's head or body rather than straight ahead.
Uppercut — a punch thrown upward, usually at close range, aimed under an opponent's chin or into the body.
Overhand — a punch thrown in a looping, downward arc over an opponent's guard, often used by shorter fighters to close distance against a taller one.
Check hook — a hook thrown while stepping laterally away from an opponent, used to counter someone advancing straight forward.
Leg kick — a kick aimed at an opponent's thigh, used to slow movement and drain power over the course of a fight rather than end it in one shot.
Teep — a straight push kick, usually to the body or hips, used to control distance rather than do heavy damage.
Grappling terms
Takedown — any technique that brings a standing opponent to the ground, ranging from a wrestling-style shot to a trip or throw.
Sprawl — the defensive move of shooting the hips back and legs out to stop an opponent's takedown attempt.
Clinch — close-range grappling while both fighters remain standing, often against the cage, used to control positioning or land short strikes.
Guard — a ground position where one fighter is on their back with the other between their legs; it's a defensive position that also opens up submission attempts.
Mount — a ground position where one fighter sits on top of the other's torso, generally considered one of the most dominant positions in the sport.
Side control — a ground position where the top fighter is perpendicular to the opponent, pinning them from the side rather than straddling them.
Back control — a dominant position where one fighter is behind the other, usually with hooks in and an arm around the neck, setting up a rear-naked choke.
Scramble — a fast, chaotic exchange on the ground where position hasn't been established yet and either fighter could end up on top.
Finishes and submissions
Rear-naked choke — a chokehold applied from back control, cutting off blood flow to the brain from behind; see the full breakdown of why it's the most common submission in the sport.
Guillotine — a chokehold applied from the front, usually when a takedown attempt is stopped and the attacker's neck is caught under the defender's arm.
Triangle choke — a chokehold applied with the legs, trapping an opponent's head and one arm between the attacker's thighs.
Armbar — a joint lock that hyperextends the elbow, typically applied with the attacker's legs controlling the opponent's arm and body.
Ground and pound — striking an opponent while in a dominant ground position, rather than working purely for a submission.
Tap out — the act of signaling surrender, usually by tapping the mat, the opponent, or verbally, ending the fight immediately once a fighter does it.
Scoring and officiating
Significant strikes — meaningful strikes landed at range or in a dominant position, tracked separately from strikes considered less consequential, like glancing clinch shots.
Octagon control — a scoring factor judges weigh alongside strikes and takedowns, covering which fighter is dictating where and how the fight happens.
Unanimous decision — a result where all three judges score the fight for the same fighter.
Split decision — a result where two judges score the fight for one fighter and the third scores it for the other.
Majority decision — a result where two judges score the fight for the same fighter and the third scores it a draw.
TKO — technical knockout, a stoppage called by the referee (or a corner, or a ringside doctor) because a fighter can no longer intelligently defend themselves, without them being knocked fully unconscious.
Doctor stoppage — a fight ending because a ringside physician determines a fighter's injury is too severe to continue, independent of how the fighter or referee feel about carrying on.
Point deduction — a penalty a referee can assess for a foul, subtracting a point from a fighter's score on all three judges' cards for that round.
Card structure and broadcast terms
Main event — the final, most prominently promoted fight on a card, usually featuring the biggest stars or a title on the line.
Co-main event — the second-most prominent fight on a card, positioned directly before the main event.
Prelims — the undercard portion of an event, broadcast before the main card and typically featuring lower-billed fighters.
Weigh-in — the event, usually the day before a fight, where each competitor is confirmed to be at or under their division's weight limit.
Fight week — the stretch of media obligations, weigh-ins, and buildup in the days immediately before an event.
Tale of the tape — the side-by-side comparison of two fighters' physical measurements — height, reach, record — shown on a broadcast graphic before a fight.
Business and matchmaking terms
Purse — the guaranteed pay a fighter is contracted to earn for a given fight, separate from any post-fight bonus.
Ranked contender — a fighter listed in their division's official top-15 rankings, as opposed to an "unranked" fighter outside that list.
Title eliminator — a fight explicitly framed as determining the next challenger for a division's title.
Catchweight — a fight contested at a weight limit that doesn't match either fighter's usual division, agreed to for that bout only.
The Takeaway
These 40 terms cover most of what a commentary team says without pausing to define it, and once they're familiar, the shorthand stops sounding like jargon and starts sounding like a description of what's actually happening. The best way to make them stick is to watch an upcoming card with this list open and match each term to the moment it describes in real time.