There’s no need to wait.
Yesterday, Rush Street Interactive (operator of both the BetRivers Sportsbook and PlaySugarHouse Sports gaming enterprises) announced a partnership with IMG ARENA, a sports betting service and content hub, to debut the first-ever UFC Event Centre.
And today, it all goes live.
The UFC Event Centre and UFC’s official data feed will be available during UFC 254 on RSI’s North American sites: BetRivers.com and PlaySugarHouse.com.
UFC 254 begins before lunch thanks to Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Russian fans
UFC 254: Khabib vs. Gaethje features a lightweight title bout between undefeated Russian star Khabib Nurmagomedov (28-0) and American Justin Gaethje (22-2) in the main event. And the early preliminaries begin at 11 a.m. in a nod to Khabib’s Russian fans, who will be viewing several hours ahead. At press time, Khabib was a heavy favorite, with a moneyline price of -315 at BetRivers. Gaethje is +250.
And with RSI and IMG’s new partnership, the UFC Event Centre will become a perfect headquarters for all the action and MMA betting. The UFC Event Centre is the gaming industry’s first sports betting product created specifically for a major sports brand, developed by IMG ARENA to capture the full UFC experience.
It will deliver more features and “fastpath data” points for UFC events than any betting product previously available.
Key elements will include:
- Official data delivery in less than two seconds
- Live betting data points
- Live statistics, including knockdowns, submissions, takedown attempts and takedowns landed
- More than 50 positional and striking statistics
- UFC event and bout schedules
- Fighter information and rankings
- Weight class/division information
- Mobile-first design
- 3-D visualizations of live UFC action
- Live in-round betting for every UFC event
Gaethje’s last fight broke previous records for UFC betting handle
Gaethje’s last fight in May, an upset win over Tony Ferguson at UFC 249, became the most-bet UFC fight in the history of DraftKings Sportsbook at the time. That fight was one of the first major sporting events to be held after coronavirus lockdowns.
The UFC brand has continued to gain momentum ever since, with a steady series of fights this summer.
IMG has strong worldwide presence in sports betting industry
And now, the UFC Event Centre will create a new avenue for fan engagement. IMG ARENA already works with more than 460 leading sportsbook operators worldwide, providing always-on services including 24/7 live streaming and on-demand virtual sports products designed to put fans in the middle of the action.
IMG ARENA’s clients include the ATP, UFC, the PGA TOUR, European Tour, the FA Cup and Serie A. And in 2019, more than 175 million hours of IMG ARENA content was watched by 56 million unique viewers around the globe.
Now, IMG and Rush Street Interactive, which continues to build brand strength as it prepares for a public stock offering, are teaming up to deliver some world-class UFC content.
And best of all, fans can check it out now. The product goes live today with UFC 254.
Lead image credit: AP Photo/Felipe Dana
