The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is the world’s premier mixed martial arts (MMA) organization, known for high-octane matchups and a diverse roster of fighters. Betting on UFC adds an extra layer of excitement, allowing fans to engage with the sport on a deeper level. Whether you’re a seasoned bettor or new to MMA betting, understanding UFC odds is crucial for making informed wagers.
A general view inside the Octagon prior to the start of a UFC Fight Night event.
Unlike other sports, UFC isn’t seasonal… in fact, there’s a new card just about every weekend. First and foremost, you can bet on UFC almost every week of the year. The calendar is constant. You’ve got the numbered events, of which there have now been more than 300 of, but there are also crucial ‘Fight Night’ cards that provide excellent opportunities to bet on UFC between the flagship promotions.
Understanding the Basics of UFC Betting
Before you can start wagering, it’s essential to understand how the sport works. You’ll need to know the rules, fighters, and how to calculate UFC odds before you can make any accurate selections.
MMA is a sport, not a league or an institution. The UFC, on the other hand, organizes the fights. In other words, the Championship is to MMA as the NBA is to basketball. Everyone can become a mixed martial artist, but not all these fighters can compete with the best in the UFC. Interestingly, MMA rules can vary significantly from one organization to the next, while all UFC fights must obey the rules we mentioned before.
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The Rules of the Cage
Before you can learn anything about how to bet on UFC fights, you need to know the cage’s rules. If you’ve ever heard the phrase, “Two men enter, one man leaves,” you’d know that these fights aren’t for the faint of heart. While not a fight to the death, knockouts occur, and injuries aren’t uncommon when you’re receiving such blows. If you’re at all interested in profitable betting and understanding UFC odds, you need to know the rules:
- Fights must occur in a ring or fenced area (the cage), and mouth guards are mandatory.
- Regular fights are typically three rounds, while main events and bigger fights last five rounds of five minutes each, with a one-minute rest in between.
- Three judges evaluate the match from various vantage points outside the ring.
- They keep an eye on the fighter techniques such as striking, grappling, control of the cage, aggressiveness, and defense, using a 10-point scoring system.
- The referee may not be one of these officials.
- Butting with your head, hair pulling, and throat strikes are just three of the many fouls a fighter can commit.
- If a fighter commits a series of these offenses, the referee may call for a DQ.
- Certain fouls can result in points being deducted from the scorecard.
Some fighters skirt the lines of these rules, which can affect your UFC predictions. They use these regulations to create or enhance their styles, and, if you know the rules, you can understand how combatants’ techniques and judges’ votes can influence the outcome of a fight. That’ll help you learn how to bet on UFC matches.
UFC fighters must adhere to a strict set of rules within the octagon.
UFC Weight Classes
Every contest pits two fighters of the same sex against each other. Weight limits hinder extreme size advantages. Here are the UFC weight classes / divisions:
- Heavyweight (265-pound maximum)
- Light heavyweight (205 pounds)
- Middleweight (185 pounds)
- Welterweight (170 pounds)
- Lightweight (155 pounds)
- Featherweight (145 pounds)
- Bantamweight (135 pounds)
- Flyweight (125 pounds)
- Strawweight (115 pounds)
Men compete in every division except strawweight. Women compete in the featherweight, bantamweight, flyweight and strawweight divisions.
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Understanding UFC Betting Odds
Before you can start wagering on the fights, you need to know how to read the odds and use them to your advantage. Like many other sports, the negative value represents the favorite in UFC betting odds. Underdogs, on the other hand, have a higher number, usually indicated by a plus sign.
For example, let’s say that Robert Whittaker goes up against the insane Israel Adesanya. Adesanya has been a fighter-to-watch since 2018, and is considered one of the best strikers of all time. Now, let’s imagine that you get the following UFC betting odds for this fight:
- Adesanya +150
- Whittaker -110
Adesanya beat Whittaker at UFC 271, and if they went head-to-head today, Israel would likely be the favorite. Now, let’s say you're going to be betting on UFC matches between these two combatants. If you wagered $100 on Whittaker, you could win $110 if he’s victorious. However, if you bet on Adesanya, you’d need to put down $150 to win another $100.
Types of UFC Bets
While it’s essential to understand the odds as part of knowing how to bet on UFC fights, you also need to know what types of bets you can place:
- UFC Moneyline: A moneyline wager is probably the simplest type of bet to understand. You need only pick a winner, and if your fighter walks away with the victory, you’ll get your cash.
- UFC Over/Under: Over/Under bets are relatively easy wagers to place when betting on UFC fights. A bookie will list a particular round, and you need to bet on whether the fight will end before or after that time in the round. Over/unders look similar to other sports, but they’re unique in that the “.5” means halfway through the round.
- UFC Prop Bets: There are a lot of different types of prop bets. If you want to have some fun, you need to know how to bet on UFC events that fall under this category. For example, you can bet on whether a fight will “Go the Distance.” That means that the match needs to last the full five rounds. You can also wager on “Inside the Distance.”
- UFC Round Betting / Total Rounds: A Round, or Total Rounds bet requires a bettor to pick the round they think the match will end in. There are five rounds, and you need to select just the round, not a specific time.
- UFC Method of Victory Wagers: If you want to learn how to bet on UFC online, you need to know your fighters. These men and women follow different disciplines, and each one prefers to end their matches uniquely.
There are four ways a match can end:
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- Knockout (KO)
- Technical Knockout (TKO)
- Decision (Judges)
- Submission
Depending on a fighter’s style, he might prefer a knockout over a submission, while others might find themselves locked in battle until the judges render a decision. For a Method of Victory bet, you simply need to pick how you think a match will end.
Live Betting on UFC
There’s nothing like the thrill of placing live bets. However, before you start making these wagers, here’s another of our UFC betting tips: Prepare. If there’s one thing you need to know about how to bet on UFC online, it’s that the matches are incredibly fast-paced. They’re violent, unpredictable, and quick, much like the fighters themselves.
The in-fight betting options are much the same as the regular types of bets. You’ll find betting markets like Fight Result, Round Betting, Over/Under, and Method of Victory. Now that you know one of the most crucial things about how to bet on UFC matches during play, you need to know where you can place your wagers. Some of the best options would be BetMGM, FanDuel, and DraftKings.
UFC Future Champion Special
As the name implies, this type of bet allows you to pick the season’s future champion. However, it involves taking quite a significant risk. You’ll need to make several UFC predictions as you try to figure out how different match-ups will end. If you’re lucky, you can speculate which fighter will come out on top, several matches in advance.
UFC Betting Tips and Strategies
For our guide about how to bet on UFC, we’ve gathered some of the best tricks to get you started. Here are some of our top UFC betting tips to help you get the most out of every wager:
- Know Your Fighters: Knowing your fighters is, by far, the most critical UFC betting tip we can give. If you don’t study the fighters before you start wagering, you’ll never learn how to bet on UFC. Before you make any picks, look at historical records.
- Watch Out for Southpaws: Another one of our essential UFC betting tips is to watch out for the Southpaws. These fighters tend to stand with their left foot forward and have a powerful punch on that side.
- Don’t Dismiss Underdogs: Betting on the favorites might be safe, but you won’t make much unless you’re putting down a few hundred dollars. On the other hand, wagering on an underdog comes with its own set of risks. That said, it’s been known for underdogs in the UFC to make significant impacts. Study a fighter’s track record and judge them on that rather than how new they are to the sport.
- Go Line Shopping: Lines swing in MMA betting as heavy as the haymakers that win and lose the money. Oddsmakers agree on favorites most of the time, but constantly vary on details - such as the degree of favoritism or prop bets offered. The best bettors capitalize on odds from multiple sportsbooks to clinch the best opportunities for profitability. More books = more money!
- Value Reach: Reach isn’t the end-all and be-all, but it can certainly end otherwise close contests. Either way, it’s always a valuable, natural tool for those who have the advantage and demonstrate a continuous ability to weaponize it.
- Accept That Size Matters: On the simplest level, force equals mass times acceleration. The heavier the weight, the heavier the blows and impact when they connect, in addition to grappling pressure/strength.
- Analyze Fighter Records: Looking at fight history for the MMA bettors consider wagering ignites inspiration for successful bets. Has the matchup occurred before? Has a fighter who is going against a potent striker suffered frequent knockouts lately? Does either fighter show a history of poor performances or strong ones against their opponent’s style or caliber of competition? What stage of the vicious combat career cycle are the fighters in?
Here is a short list of some of the best UFC fighters of all time:
- Georges St-Pierre
- Anderson Silva
- Jon Jones
UFC Betting Strategies: What NOT To Do
- Blindly Pick Popularity: Visibility correlates to marketability and oftentimes success, but not necessarily viability in a particular matchup.
- Chase Extreme Parlays: Singular seconds and mistakes end fights as fast as the referee starts them in a combat sport where the goal is for trained martial artists to incapacitate opponents or cause enough duress to gain victory. As such, bettors absorb incredible risks when electing to chase parlays in MMA.
- Misgauge Experience: As such, never assume that the more experienced and/or aged fighter will automatically win or lose. Treat each individual fighter and matchup with customized care.
- Conflate UFC & WWE: Despite questionable judging, the UFC is 100% a legitimate competition overseen by ...
UFC Betting Apps
If you want to know how to bet on UFC on the go, we’ve got you covered. There are several amazing mobile apps available to American players so that you can get your UFC odds or place bets from anywhere, at any time. Our top five apps are:
- BetMGM
- PointsBet
- Fanduel
- DraftKings
- BetRivers
FanDuel and DraftKings have long been industry leaders, and when it comes to betting on the UFC via mobile, it’s no different. Their applications are easily accessible, show their UFC odds clearly, and provide excellent gambling experiences to US bettors. BetMGM and PointsBet also have top-notch apps available.
Recent Efforts to Tighten Betting Oversight in UFC
The UFC announced Wednesday it has partnered with ProhiBet to tighten its oversight of betting within the company. Integrity to "strengthen its current integrity controls by adding expertise in data intelligence and fraud prevention." Along with that, the UFC Athlete Conduct Policy was amended to outline the gambling rules and associated discipline.
These efforts largely stem from Shayilan Nuerdanbieke's first-round victory over Darrick Minner last November. ESPN's David Purdum and Marc Raimondi reported a day after the fight that it had been flagged because "several sportsbooks in multiple states reported suspicious wagering."
"The odds on Nuerdanbieke defeating underdog Minner moved dramatically in the hours leading up to their UFC Fight Night matchup in Las Vegas," the report said. "Bettors were convinced that not only would Nuerdanbieke win, but he would do so in the first round."
Purdum and Raimondi followed up in December to report the FBI was even "collecting information and has spoken to people regarding the Minner vs. Nuerdanbieke fight." That same month, the UFC announced it had suspended Minner's coach, James Krause, indefinitely.
"One of the foundations of UFC's success is our dedication to embracing regulation and compliance to promote safety and fairness in our sport," UFC general counsel Riché T. McKnight said.