How To Bet on MMA: UFC Betting Guide

There's no sport that gets the blood rushing quite like MMA. With every fight at huge stakes, MMA betting is among the most sought-after sports betting options on many sportsbooks. With MMA betting sites, you can get even more excitement from every action in UFC - and beyond - by wagering on your favorite fighters and matches.

Best MMA Sportsbooks: Top-3

Although MMA is exciting, it's also fairly niche in online sportsbooks. We recommend using big international brands—specialized, smaller bookmakers usually lack coverage of MMA events and don't provide sufficient bet markets.

Bet365: Well-Rounded Sportsbook For All

Bet365 is, without a doubt, one of the most recommended sportsbooks in the world. There's a good reason for that: this British gambling platform features basically everything betting and gambling-related. Traditional sports, esports, slots, etc. - and, of course, this includes bets on UFC and beyond. Bet365 is consistently above average in MMA match coverage, betting markets, and MMA odds provided.

Betway: Good MMA Coverage on Events

Betway is an international brand founded in 2006 with offices worldwide. It operates in nearly all corners of the world where sports betting is allowed and regularly partners with top sports teams and athletes. For MMA betting, specifically, Betway has always been a good hub, with good event coverage and adequate bet lines and odds.

BetUS: Top Bookie For USA Bettors

BetUS is the brand to go for traditional sports betting on the territory of the US. It's a massive hub that operates in US states where sports betting is legal and secures partnerships with many sports athletes, most prominently NBA players and orgs. BetUS also features MMA betting on its site. BetUS is also known for its fantastic sports betting bonuses and top-of-the-line odds.

MMA Betting Markets: Basic UFC Bet Lines

MMA Bets Overview

While MMA is arguably one of the most exciting sports disciplines to follow, its betting markets are not particularly broad, especially compared to larger-scale team-based sports like soccer or basketball. Most UFC events will feature a modest bet line selection—but there's an appeal in simplicity!

For most of the MMA matches, we'll have to deal with a very limited number of betting markets. Of course, the bigger the bout, the more the bet lines - but even then, we won't be looking at hundreds of different bet markets like in soccer. For the vast majority of MMA fights - UFC or not - we're going to see these four bet types:

Moneyline: Odds to Win

The classic moneyline bet option is ever-present, and MMA is, of course, no exception. However, the physical nature of MMA makes moneyline bets a bit different from other sports. Fighters' physical shape influences the outcome a lot, so unlike other sports disciplines, even things like win streaks don't seem that important. That's not to say they're not good indicators!

Most moneyline MMA bets are two-way (win or lose), although some bookmakers rarely introduce the option to bet on the draw. Draws are very rare in MMA and, unlike betting on something like football, offer higher odds than regular. Astronomically higher, even!

Totals: Rounds To Win

Similarly betting on tennis sets, round totals are a very popular option in MMA bets. The bet is crystal-clear simple in this case - punters wager on the number of rounds it will take to end the match. Tracking the athletes' stamina is paramount if you wanna bet on this market!

There's a key difference in MMA round totals, however. It's common to see bookies set the totals spread to something like 1.5, 2.5, and so on. These half-points are not "betting hooks" in this case! In MMA betting, they actually indicate the round's timer, as well. As in, betting on a round total of 3.5 means the bout will end before the third round reaches its half point (or two and a half minutes, since an MMA round is five minutes).

Round Totals Example

Let's say you want to wager on the upcoming hyped-up UFC 301 match between Alexandre Pantoja and Steve Erceg. We place a wager on a round total of 4.5. However, the match ends in the third minute of round four. In this case, the round will end in a loss—the timer has run out.

Prop Bet: Method of Victory

MMA matches can end in four ways: victory by referee's decision, victory by K.O. (knockout)/ DQ( disqualification), victory by submission, or, much rarer, with a tie. This bet market will typically be seen on the big UFC fights—lower divisions or less popular events will most likely miss out.

In the case of the method of victory prop bet, we also need to guess the winner of the competition. It would probably be too easy otherwise! If the bookie lets us bet on a tie, we'll be looking at 7 outcomes we can bet on in this case.

Method of Victory Prop Example

Let's say we want to bet on the upcoming bout between Dione Barbosa vs. Ernesta Kareckaite. We place our money on Ernesta Kareckaite to win by K.O.. The match does end in K.O., but in Dione Barbose's favor instead. In this case, even though we guessed the match end right, we don't get our wager - we got the fight's winner wrong.

Combo: Round and Method

We can mix and match some bet types. The most popular option is betting on both the match-ending round and the method of victory. This bet is exactly as it sounds—we need to bet on three factors at once: the winner, the way the match ends, and the exact round it ends.

Combo Bet Example

We could bet on the match between Alessandro Costa and Carlos Gomez to end round 3 in favor of Gomez with submission. Getting this bet right would net us incredible odds - for example, bet365 put them up at a whopping 101.00 for this particular outcome.

Best MMA Events To Bet On

The main and most advertised event for Mixed Martial Arts is, for sure, the UFC. However, there are more events than just that - and UFC itself is a lot more many-faced than just one event! Let's see how these different events stack up for MMA betting.

UFC

Still, this event deserves the most attention due to its sheer popularity. After all, it's in the name - it's the Ultimate Fighting Championship! UFC celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2023 and has, over time, become the largest MMA event in the world. UFC includes 11 weight classes (or divisions): 8 men's and 3 women's, and its events are running near year-round. Its popularity, cultural significance, and, of course, number of events make UFC the best bet when it comes to wagering on MMA. Most sportsbooks will include events that are part of UFC and will feature more extensive betting markets than just the bare-bones moneyline. Let's take a short look at the UFC events hierarchy.

Bellator MMA

Founded in 2008, Bellator MMA is the second-largest MMA promotion in the USA. It's rapidly growing, even compared to the UFC. Even though it changed owners in 2023, it was acquired by the Professional Fighters League, seeking to continue the brand name. In addition to UFC-style single-fight events, Bellator hosts divisional tournaments with a more familiar style.

Bellator MMA's schedule makes it attractive for online betting, too—it matches the pace of UFC Numbered Events with nearly monthly bouts. Bellator is featured in most sportsbooks, although its betting markets might be a bit lacking compared to premier UFC matches.

Cage Warriors

The Americans are not the only ones running top MMA events! Cage Warriors is an Irish-English MMA venture with more than two decades of history. Don't think of it as some minor event organizer that's not worth betting on - Cage Warriors has seen a ton of worldwide-renowned talent fight in its rings. Yes, it does include Connor McGregor!

MMA Betting Tips

MMA is a very exciting sport, and it's completely unique compared to many other popular disciplines. This can be both a blessing and a curse—it might be harder for newcomers to know what to look at and what to expect from MMA betting. Here are some basic tips to get you started.

Closely Monitor The Fighters

While monitoring players' health and form is a go-to advice in practically any sport, it's the most important aspect of MMA betting prep. Any past injuries and weaknesses are sure to be exploited during the bout, and their impact is multiplied tenfold compared to sports like football.

It's not just the physical shape you have to watch —fighting styles are a big aspect of MMA, too. As they say, "styles win fights." There's not going to be a spreadsheet showing which fighting style counters which, but some styles are better than others. Look out for that, too!

Don't Be Fooled By Underdogs Bets

This term is rather undefined when it comes to MMA. The cliche of "anything can happen in MMA" has plagued the MMA betting community for a very long time. We're going to put out a word of warning here! It doesn't mean that betting on the underdog is going to be more profitable than other sports - a good writeup on the issue here shows that it's exactly the opposite. A 32% winrate of underdogs is a very small figure - compare it to soccer, where underdogs win 45% of the time.

Upsets DO happen, and due to the violent nature of the sport, they hit harder - but they're not some golden grail of MMA betting. So, reconsider if you want to base your MMA betting strategy on underdogs betting!