Placing bets on MMA is becoming one of the fastest growing activities in the world of online sports betting, undoubtedly due to the sport exploding onto mainstream media over the past decade. Despite this, there are still people with little experience and knowledge of MMA, due to only just taking an interest into the events of the UFC’s famed octagon.
MMA is short for Mixed Martial Arts and includes combat disciplines such as wrestling, boxing, Muay Thai, Taekwondo, kickboxing and more, all covered in one sport. There are a host of authorities which stage fights. The UFC is the most popular promotion to host and cover the events, with its skyrocketing popularity allowing for legendary fighters to be created, such as Conor McGregor. While the UFC is the most popular MMA organisation, there are others all over the world ensuring there is usually a fight happening somewhere!
In this guide you will be run through the fundamentals of betting on MMA, including how to place your bet, the different bets you can place, and the methodology behind winning money on the sport.
Table of Contents
How to bet
If you want a way to get into the sport and gain interest in fighters, then betting on MMA can be a great way to do so. Make sure that you use trustworthy and reliable sites to safely place bets. You can find top MMA sites here that will fill all the criteria of safe betting sites. MMA events normally consist of a number of different fights meaning you’ll have a multitude of potential bets in one night. The most common bet in MMA is to bet on the winner of the fight, which is known as match betting.
Another favoured method is to bet on the number of rounds that the fight will last; you will be presented with a predetermined over/under line. You will need to predict if a fight will go over or under a specified number of rounds. For example, if the over/under line is set at 2.5 you will have the choice to bet that the bout will last for at least 3 rounds (Over) or at the most 2 rounds (Under).
Also popular with MMA bettors is to bet on the round and method, which is done by not just predicting when the fight will end but also how that result will occur. Your bet will be successful if you predict that the fight will end in a specific way in a specific round, obviously boasting better odds and more money to be made. For example, betting on Nate Diaz to win by submission in Round 4.
It is due to the fact that different fighters have different specialties that it may also be smart (if you do your research) to bet on the winning method of the fight. For example, some athletes are much more skilled on the floor, getting wins through making opponents submit, making betting on said fighter winning by submission a strong bet for an upcoming fight. Similarly, if a fighter has won their previous 5 fights by knockout, then it might be sensible to back this as an outcome of the fight.
In play betting is another option when it comes to betting on MMA. Fights can change very quickly, and this allows you to place bets during the events of the fight meaning that if you feel someone is going to have a defensive round or create attacking problems for their adversary you can capitalise. Obviously, the odds will change as the bout ensues but predicting a knockout in the correct round could be made easier after seeing how the first few rounds have gone for both fighters.
Lastly, outright betting is a great option for people looking to make long term bets which can last for months on end. The most common market of these to bet on is that of unconfirmed fights. This offers the chance to get ahead of the odds as often odds will change once a fight is confirmed and both parties begin their training camps meaning that people who bet on an unconfirmed bout can get an odds boost. Even more enticingly usually these bets will have a time limit to be scheduled by and if there is no confirmation of the fight before this time limit the bet will be refunded, making it fairly low risk with a better reward for thinking long term.
When to bet
UFC events are now massive, attracting crowds of people to sell out arenas and pay money to watch it at home through pay per view. When a fight card has a lot of high profile fights on it, or it has one particularly huge fight, it will be a PPV card where the event will be labelled with a number (UFC 267) and these are the ones as a new bettor to tune into to gain an understanding for the sport.
Bookmakers now also know the hype around MMA betting and often have promotional offers with boosted odds or special bets for these events which can be used to your advantage.
