While the UFC has been around since 1993, betting on the sport really didn’t hit the mainstream until the mid 2000s. Of course, you were able to place wagers while in Las Vegas, where the promotion is based, but widespread adoption of UFC betting didn’t come into play until sports betting became more accepted in the United States.
Today, any legitimate sportsbook will offer the ability to wager on UFC matches, and the sport is quickly becoming one of the most popular choices on a betting card. It has even surpassed boxing, a sport that was once thought of as the most popular sport to bet on in the world.
How to bet on UFC
Betting on the UFC can be quite straightforward in terms of betting types. The most common way to bet on the UFC is to pick the outright winner of the match which is usually just called a bet ‘to win the fight’.
If you dive a little deeper into UFC betting, you can actually bet on how the match will be decided. For example, the choices are usually by a decision, or by knockout, technical knockout, disqualification, or submission.
You can even get more specific and place a wager on which round the match will be decided in, or on the rare occasion, if the match ends in a draw. Finally, you can place a wager on the over under of total rounds in the match, or just a straight-up bet on if the fight will go the distance.
Some sportsbooks even offer prop bets for fighters, which can include the number of takedowns, or even the total time of the fight. As sports betting becomes more popular, online sports betting sites are getting more creative with the types of bets they have to offer.