UFC Betting

UFC or the "Ultimate Fighting Championship" is the world’s most well known and competitive Mixed Martial Arts promotion. The company was established back in 1993 and is headquartered out of Las Vegas, Nevada, although it holds events in countries all around the world. In its nearly 30-year history, the UFC has held well over 500 events, most of which can only be watched on Pay Per View channels.

As sports betting has grown in the United States, so too has the popularity of betting on UFC matches. The UFC has several official betting partners including DraftKings in the United States, Neds in Australia, and Stake.com in Latin America.

UFC Betting
What is UFC betting?UFC betting odds
What is UFC betting?

What is UFC betting?

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.

What is UFC betting?
UFC betting odds

UFC betting odds

Since UFC betting is based on just two fighters, the odds are mostly based on past performances. If the two fighters have faced each other before, then that is taken into account when making the odds. If this is their first matchup, then the sportsbooks will take into account recent performance as well as each fighter’s fighting style.

As you can imagine, it is often difficult for a sports bookie to find the right odds for a matchup, so if you do your research into each fighter, you can certainly take advantage of mis-lined fights.

When betting on the UFC, you will also notice that bets on the number of rounds in the fight can be posted with fairly high odds. Make no mistake, over the past five years, the average percentage of fights to go the distance has been 51%.

So there is a slight edge to fights going the distance, and then on top of that, you need to select the specific round it will end in. The odds are stacked against you here, but if you find that a certain fighter tends to land more knockout blows, then there may be an incentive to put a wager in on an early round finish.

UFC betting odds