Artificial intelligence has taken over almost every industry in the past few years and has even found its way into sports. Many sporting clubs, organizations, and various other institutions have started making use of AI to not only track an athlete’s performance but also raise their credibility. Now, there are talks about plans for Dana White to introduce AI to the world’s premier MMA organization, the UFC.

It is a much easier process to analyze soccer games, football games, and NBA, but that can not be said for mixed martial arts because it’s a different affair altogether. Analyzing a mixed martial arts fight has no clear-cut correct solution as the critical aspects, motifs, and factors to consider tend to change with the context and the fights, respectively. But Dana White is set to solve that particular problem after joining hands with IBM, one of the oldest tech companies out there.

UFC to develop an enhanced fight analysis with IBM partnership

A few months ago, Dana White expressed his disgust with the ranking system, while stating, “Rankings are definitely a problem… AI will be here soon.” We did not have any specifics when the 55-year-old’s new undertaking would begin, but now there are reports that the UFC has signed a deal with the ‘Big Blue’, International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation, which happens to be the promotion’s new official global AI partner.

The UFC’s agreement with the global powerhouse in technology and consulting will witness the coming together of ‘Watsonx‘, which is a platform developed by IBM, mostly used for analytics, in addition to the UFC’s content platform, which undoubtedly has an unmatched global reach. The ‘WatsonX’ platform has designed a one-of-a-kind UFC Insights Engine to present a novel experience for viewers.

The UFC Insights Engine is something that fans might love because it will provide a unique way to look at fights. This AI tool will give fans access to exclusive features and in-depth reviews of ongoing sports events. An interesting aspect of this tool also includes a look at how fighters behave inside the Octagon, and will constantly predict the live fight’s outcome. Viewers will also witness the AI’s calculation regarding the ways to win the fight, and this data will be updated in real time. From the looks of it, the dynamics of fight predictions are set to undergo a vital transformation with its advent.

“This partnership with IBM is one of the most significant milestones for UFC and a game changer for how fans will experience our sport,” stated Grant Norris, the Head of Global Partnerships at TKO, after the UFC-IBM deal became public news. On the other hand, IBM’s own chief believes that AI is a must-have for organizations. Believe it or not, according to him, all kinds of businesses could be in a pretty difficult position if they take too much time to make that switch.

Dana White and the IBM CEO’s verdict on AI

Dana White, who’s talked about introducing AI into the official UFC rankings, holds the belief that people who handle the rankings system aren’t doing their work as efficiently as they should while claiming that he “cannot handle the incompetence.” This is exactly why he believes that there’s an urgent requirement for AI in the UFC, and has doubled down on its implementation. But at that time, he only mentioned its implication on the rankings system. “Do you know what’s f—ing great about technology? We’re not far away from AI actually doing these rankings,” White stated over a couple of months ago.

Meanwhile, IBM’s CEO and Chairman Arvind Krishna claims that the importance of artificial intelligence is growing every single day. That’s particularly because he believes acquiring labor services could hit rock bottom anytime, according to certain reports. To tackle that problem, AI will come in pretty handy to “replace” that said labor. “I think the AI spending from our clients is going to go up, I think the automation spending is going to go up, the labor demographics are going to get even worse… technology is a way to replace labor, so that means more technology will get deployed by our clients,” said Arvind Krishna.

Also, Krishna mentioned that it’s vital for businesses to consider using AI as soon as they can because, in a matter of a few more years, the ones with AI technology will see a gradual rise in their growth, and vice versa. “This is one of those where, if five years from now, you’re not using it (AI) in every part of your business, you’re going to be fundamentally disadvantaged,” the IBM Chairman-CEO added.

Now, although the UFC has a new AI partner, we don’t know when the Insights Engine too will come into effect. Regardless, it will be quite an interesting sight to see how the AI tool revolutionizes the way we tend to look at MMA bouts. What do you think? Let us know in the comments down below.