Professional Fighters League Kicks Off 2021 Season With New SMT-Driven Fighter Performance Metrics

The Professional Fighters League (PFL) has expanded its partnership with SMT to include proprietary technology that combines live scoring with real time biometric and positional data.

New to the 2021 PFL season is Fighter Performance Rating (FPR), a metric that shows fans how rounds are won or lost based on weighted stats collected by ringside spotters. These stats are relayed to SMT inputters stationed at SMT’s Remote Production Studio at its Durham-based headquarters. At the end of each round, the resulting scores are integrated into on-air graphics, providing fans with analytical insight into the fighting styles and strategies of each fighter.

This new technology is in addition to the real-time technology SMT has been providing to the PFL since its 2019 inception, including live punch speed data transmitted by SMT developed sensors worn inside PFL gloves. Each fighter is outfitted with a tag for each glove, each with unique IDs that transmit data to 16 SMT developed readers that are positioned around and under the decagon, or “SmartCage.”

SMT’s fighter tracking data, dubbed “Cagenomics,” also includes kick speed, power ratings, heart rate tracking, and energy exerted. This data is displayed on the stats prompter for the commentators and is integrated into on-air graphics. SMT’s OASIS Platform seamlessly integrates and combines live scoring with this biometric and positional data to enhance the analysis, storytelling and graphic presentation of the PFL’s regular season, playoffs, and championship events.

“The Professional Fighters League continues to advance the sport of MMA with SMT’s ever-evolving technology and enhanced visual presentation,” says George Greenberg, Executive Producer, PFL. “With access to advanced biometrics, MMA athletes can better train and compete armed with new performance measurement data, analysis and tools.”

The third PFL event of the regular season takes place Thursday, May 6, on ESPN and ESPN+ in primetime in the United States and will be held in a state-of-the-art bubble environment at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J., with no fans in attendance.

“SMT is thrilled to partner with the PFL to reinvent the way fans experience MMA events,” says Robbie Louthan, SVP, Business Development, SMT. “Bringing PFL fans the absolute best viewing experience is at the forefront of SMT and the PFL’s shared vision. SMT thrives on building technology that tells the stories of the fighters, their strategies and their challenges.”