What do the numbers in a UFC card mean

What do the numbers in a UFC card mean?

If you are a new UFC fan you may have quite a few questions on your hands. One of the biggest is probably, what do the numbers in a UFC card mean? After all, it gets a little confusing when you see, for example, UFC 290 being advertised. It is confusing, but the UFC has a method to their madness when naming cards. 

The PPV naming system

The big-time UFC events are almost always pay-per-view. The number in a specific UFC card keeps the chronological order of each pay-per-view. For example, the first UFC pay-per-view was titled “UFC 1: The Beginning.” Since that point, the UFC has been increasing the number with each card. Therefore, UFC 100 was the 100th pay-per-view event. Additionally, they removed the title at the end.

There are a few exceptions to this rule. Long story short, every once and a while something happens that messes up the card order. Most recently, the UFC held UFC 267 as a non-paper-view event, but it was promoted as a number card. This was largely because the UFC had pay-per-views in consecutive weeks and made UFC 268 a pay-per-view since it was a better card.

Regardless, UFC 267 was pay-per-view quality and featured two title fights. Small changes like that slightly affect how many pay-per-views have been broadcasted, but the overall purpose of keeping chronological order remains. 

What about Fight Night cards? 

Not every UFC event is a pay-per-view. The UFC also promotes Fight Night cards between pay-per-view events. This gets much more complicated, but they are still kept in chronological order. The difference is that Fight Night cards have other identifiers.

The most prominent are location and broadcast partner. An example of this is UFC Vegas 76 which was the 76th UFC Fight Night at the UFC Apex. Similarly, UFC of ESPN 37 was the 37th UFC card broadcasted live on ESPN. 

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Thankfully, Fight Night cards are given more than one name. Along with the aforementioned chronological name, they are also given a name that resembles the main event participants. For example, UFC Vegas 76 was also called UFC Fight Night: Strickland vs. Magomedov. Needless to say, that is much easier to understand than the previous chronological name. 

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