A trader on decentralized prediction market Polymarket executed a nearly 100x return in less than a minute, capitalizing on a blunder by a UFC cage announcer.
During Sunday's heavyweight bout, Tyrell Fortune defeated Marcin Tybura. However, announcer Bruce Buffer initially declared Tybura the winner. That incorrect result stood for less than 60 seconds before Buffer corrected himself.
The trader, known as LlamaEnjoyer on Polymarket, saw Tybura's shares spike to 99 cents and Fortune's collapse to 1 cent. LlamaEnjoyer stated they nearly placed a $100,000 bet on Tybura, but stopped, sensing an error. Instead, they bought $676 worth of Fortune shares at 1 cent.
Seconds later, the UFC corrected the announcement. Fortune's shares immediately jumped to $1, securing the trader a $67,000 profit.
The episode underscores the extreme volatility possible in prediction markets during live events, especially when official announcements are misreported. It also raises questions about contract resolution when errors originate from the event's primary source.