UFC

Watching fights has always been a big part of sports culture. While boxing was once the king of the fighting world, over the past decade or so, the UFC has fully taken over. As the UFC has grown and the fighters have garnered more attention, people have started planning their weekends around UFC events, and that planning almost certainly involves who they are betting on in each fight.

Comparing online sportsbooks and their UFC betting markets

Whether a sport is team-oriented or individual, the first step to betting on either one is line shopping. With how big the UFC has gotten, all of the premier licensed sportsbooks offer odds for each fight. Now, how good those odds are or how vast the betting markets available are is a different story, which is why we always recommend having multiple sportsbook accounts and line shopping to ensure the best price on any market.

When it comes to the UFC, there are a few shops that stand out among the rest in terms of the quality of the lines or available betting markets. From the perspective of convenience and quality, we’ve found that BetMGM stands out a bit, thanks to its well-organized UFC menu, ability to parlay picks, and sheer number of betting markets it offers each fight.

If making parlays for a given UFC event is something that is valued by a bettor, then DraftKings is another strong shop to check out. Outside of the easiness of making a UFC parlay, DraftKings does offer some of the stronger odds for the sport, along with all of the betting markets that see the most handle.

One book that typically has some of the best odds on the market is the Circa Sportsbook. Now, unfortunately, Circa is not available in a wide range of states, but if a bettor resides in a state in which Circa is licensed, we would recommend adding it to the rotation of books they use when line shopping for fights.

UFC, MMA, and daily fantasy sports

Just because the UFC is not played on a field or court does not mean fans can’t compete in daily fantasy sports competitions for the sport. Many of the premier DFS products have made it a point over the years to increase their attention on MMA competitions, so UFC fans can find highly entertaining and possibly profitable contests on apps like Underdog, PrizePicks, DraftKings DFS, and ParlayPlay.

The two primary contests for UFC and MMA events are Pick' ems and drafting a lineup from a salary cap. Apps like Underdog, PrizePicks, and ParlayPlay focus primarily on the Pick’em contests, which involve choosing the over/under certain stats. The more picks that are put into an entry, the higher the payout could be. Typically, the minimum number of picks required for an entry is two, and the maximum is eight.

Now, the “salary cap” contest is a more traditional contest and one that many people may have done before for other sports like football. This contest style involves drafting a lineup of fighters while staying under a set salary cap with the hopes of that lineup outsourcing either another person or an entire group. DraftKings DFS is the best app to use for a contest of this style, as they offer a multitude of contests for each fight card, which vary by the number of other contestants and the amount required to enter.

What kind of UFC bets can you place?

A UFC fight night is already generally filled with a ton of excitement, but betting on each fight brings the excitement to another level. For any given fight during a card, there are a number of markets that bettors can choose from. Of course, the first of those markets is the outright winner or “moneyline,” which allows bettors to simply choose who will win the fight whether it be through knockout, submission, or decision.

In reality, the moneyline market is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to UFC betting markets, as there are plenty more to delve into. Outside of the outright winner, one of the most common markets that sees the most handle is the total rounds market, which allows bettors to wager on the over/under of how many rounds the fight will last.

Now, if bettors would prefer to bet on something more specific for each fight, they can always bet on the method of victory market. Typically a fight will end in three ways, KO/TKO, submission, or by judges decision. Since this market is more specific than just outright winner, bettors may be able to find odds better prices within this market, for example, Sean O’Malley may be (-145) to win a fight outright, but he may also be (+215) to win by KO.

Fight props are also a big aspect of the MMA betting markets. These markets could be on the simple side like if the fight will go the distance, or they could be more specific like time of finish, which requires bettors to select the exact timeframe and round a fight will end. Depending on the size of the fight, more fight props may be available, so a title fight will likely offer a few more betting markets than one of the first fights of the night.

In-play UFC betting

Betting on UFC events does not have to stop once a fight starts. In fact, live betting plays a big role in bettors maximizing their profits throughout a fight night. Everyone thinks their bet is winning when they place it, at least they should, but sometimes a fighter has an off night. If that happens to be the case, live betting allows bettors to hedge their bets if they start to see the fighter they wagered on start to lose momentum.

Now, on the flip side, the fighter a bettor wagered on could also come out looking dominant, so in this case, a bettor may look to double down on that fighter with a live moneyline, or they may bet them to win the fight via knockout. While this sounds simple, and many sportsbooks have strong live betting platforms, they also are constantly updating the odds, so bettors must act fast and keep a close eye on the odds at all times to ensure they are getting the best price possible.

Even if a bettor doesn’t have a wager placed prior to the fight, live betting allows bettors to use the advantage of monitoring the momentum throughout the fight. One punch or kick can change everything, so if a fighter looks stunned after taking a hit, that may be a good time to see what live lines are posted.

UFC events

Like most businesses, the UFC started at humble beginnings, but now there are nine different formats for a UFC event. The highest tier of those events are numbered events, which are almost always pay-per-view and feature the premier title fights or fights between some of the biggest name fighters in the UFC.

Other UFC events that require some sort of subscription service, typically ESPN+, include UFC “Fight Night” and The Ultimate Fighter Finale. However, all of the other UFC events are free to watch across different networks, including ABC, ESPN, FOX, FX, Fuel TV, and Versus.

The number of fights each year does vary, but on average, including Pay-Per-View fights, there are typically a little over 40 per year. In total, by the end of October 2024, there will have been 308 numbered events and 246 “Fight Night” events, with no signs of the company slowing down anytime soon.

Betting on future UFC fights

With how big the UFC has gotten, once a fight card is announced, those fights have lines posted on most of the top sportsbooks. Whether it’s a title fight or a fight to earn a shot at the title, once Dana White announces which fighters will be going to battle in the ring, bettors are able to start placing their bets.

Occasionally, some sportsbooks will even offer lines for fights that have not yet been confirmed but are in the negotiation phase. With how big some of the fighters have gotten, these negotiations may take a while or even fall through, but if they do fall through, a licensed sportsbook will void any bet placed on the potential match.

Other MMA events & contests

From the outside looking in, it may seem like the MMA atmosphere is strictly owned by the UFC, but in reality, there are other organizations that are out to challenge the UFC. In the U.S., the PFL, or Professional Fighters League is the closest thing the UFC has to a competitor. Additionally in the U.S., Invicta FC is the leading all-women’s MMA promotion, and has featured some of the top women’s fighters in history before they broke into the UFC.

Around the world, there are plenty of MMA promotions that have given some of the biggest names in the sport their start. For example, the Rizin Fighting Federation, ONE Championship, KSW, and Cage Warriors, which is the head promoter in Europe and gave fighters like Conor McGregor their start.

PFL - Professional Fighters League

Since 2018, the Professional Fighters League has been one of the bigger names in the MMA community. In a market dominated by the UFC, other MMA corporations need to do something that makes them stand out, which is exactly what the PFL did. Instead of having events all year round, with different title fights happening at different times, the PFL has its fighters go through a regular season, postseason, and championship just like a team-oriented sports league would.

Throughout the regular season, fighters will receive points for the results of their fights, which creates standings for each weight class. From there, only the top four fighters by points in each weight class advance to the postseason.

Bellator

If the UFC is the number one mixed martial arts entity in the United States, then Bellator is number two. Bjorn Rebney launched Bellator in 2008, and since 2023, it has been owned by the Professional Fighters League. While Bellator may not have the same following as the UFC, there are certainly plenty of high-level fighters who compete within the organization, and throughout the years, many of them have made the transition to the UFC.

In terms of the Bellator’s schedule, it is very similar to the UFC, as there are events nearly every month at varying locations around the world. Up until 2024, the events were titled in chronological order, for example, Bellator 300. Once the company was acquired by the PFL, there was a PFL vs. Bellator event at the start of 2024, and since then, there has been a Bellator event close to every month, with the most recent being Bellator Champions Series 3 in June 2024. By the end of 2024, there will have been 316 Bellator events to have taken place since it was launched.