MMA has been one of the fastest growing/most popular sports in the world for some time and (while the sport is cyclical at times) the overall “staying power” of the sport is far from diminishing. With that in mind, fans who want to be more want to become bettors – and bettors want to cash in.
However, if you are new to the wide world of gambling, you may be asking? What types of wages do I look for in MMA and, more importantly, how do I avoid losing money? Fear not, friend! We have the answers you seek. Just have a look at the list below!
Bet on the Money Line or Bout
This is probably the best place to begin and easiest bet to make because what makes these bets easy for the new bettor is the little amount of work that goes into making a bet on a full fight. You just have to pick who is going to win a given contest outright.
Money line betting is often the only option for bettors wishing to bet on boxing matches. With a money line bet you simply bet on which fighter will win the match and your potential winnings are determined by the odds associated with each fighter. Bets on the favorite will obviously payout less than the same bets on the underdog. The most popular way to bet on the UFC is by just choosing who you think will win the fight (this is also known as betting on the money line or outright betting). Whether you’re new to sports betting or a betting pro, our How To Bet and Sports Betting Strategy and Advice pages are for you. You can get started with our Sports Betting 101 Section — including 10 Sports Betting Tips for Beginners — or head to more advanced sports betting strategy — like Key Numbers When Betting Against the Spread — to learn. Boxing Moneyline Betting. Two boxers will enter, one will (usually) leave victorious. If you bet on the winner’s moneyline, you’ll win your wager. A panel of three judges score every bout, so even if both boxers are left standing at the end, a decision will be rendered, and one will usually be declared the winner. Monkey Knife Fight – More or Less. One of the more popular games on Monkey Knife Fight, More or Less has you choosing which athletes are in for big nights. It is up to you to decide which player.
However, it would be beneficial to those new bettors out there that are specifically betting on UFC fights to look at the fighters records on Sherdog.com or the UFC-partnered FightMetric, LLC to see how many strikes a given fighter throws or what their submission game is like. These bets are also simple because they tend to favor fighters on winning streaks (obviously.)
When “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey was in her prime, she was 12-0 with almost every finish coming by way of submission due to her trademark armbar and a significant portion of those victories came in the opening five minutes. This led to her having a career fight time of just over 27 minutes prior to her first loss at UFC 193, a career fight time that was just over the length of one full title fight (5 rounds, 25 minutes total.)
This made her a safe bet for much of her career.
Place an Over/Under Bet
In combat sports, over/under betting refers to the length of time that a particular fight will go, specifically the number of rounds (up to five in a UFC title fight or main event, see above. This bet is also good for newbie bettors because the end result doesn’t matter, your only concern is did your fighter beat the clock?
Examples of a fight that might be safe to place an over/under bet on would be a Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson or Joanna Jedrzejczyk title fight. The two have more tactical styles than other fighters (Johnson has 11 wins by way of decision with his Polish counterpart having nine. Specifically, her last four consecutive bouts have gone the distance.)
It’s not that they prefer to be more evasive (it might look that way,) it’s just that the name of the game in any sector of combat sports is to hit and not get hit and the two use their speed to their advantage, letting the damage build up over time.
Jedrzejczyk is a stand-up fighter who lands 6.87 significant (fight-altering) strikes per minute with an accuracy rate of 50 percent. She absorbs just 2.43 significant strikes per minute, defending against them 68 percent of the time.
Johnson, also more of a striker than anything else, connects with 3.49 significant strikes in 60 seconds with 53 percent accuracy while only taking 1.71 returning shots in the same amount of time and defending against strikes 67 percent of the time. Although this approach is considered boring by some fans, it makes for another safe bet on your part.
Make a “Method of Victory” Bet
This is again a case of simply examining tendencies. Rousey would be an obvious pick for a submission win just as Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino (17-1-0, 1 No Contest overall in MMA, 2-0 in the UFC) is always the favorite to score a knockout victory as 15 of her fights have ended in such a fashion.
Although, it also helps to know that you will see more UFC fights end by way of a decision than in any other noteworthy promotion in the sport and you can have a better guess during which fights that might occur courtesy of this breakdown by weight class.
Per BetMMA.tips at the time of this writing (June 28,) you are most likely to see fights go to the judges in the 115-pound to 155-pound weight classes (women’s strawweight to the male-only lightweight.)
Tip: How to Spot an Upset
Never forget to expect the unexpected. Holly “The Preacher’s Daughter” Holm KO/TKO win over Rousey at UFC 193 didn’t come simply because Holm landed a head kick at the right time. She won because everyone knew Rousey’s one-dimensional game-plan ahead of the fight: get in close, strike if necessary, force a clinch, use the clinch to set up a judo throw, use the throw to lead to the armbar submission win.
Holm then lost to Miesha “Cupcake” Tate (a wrestler) in her first defense of the UFC women’s bantamweight (135-pound) championship because she still has no real ground game. Conor McGregor is coached by a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion in Dillon Danis, yet each of his three career defeats (one in the UFC) are through submissions. This is MIXED martial arts, never forget that just because one method seems like a sure thing, especially if you are betting on a style vs. style bout.
Bet on Proposition Lines
Bet On Fights Online
For some, prop lines can be pure fun to bet on because there are so many things that can be bet on in this particular area of gambling as a whole. You can bet on if the fight will win the UFC-specific KO, Submission, or Fight of the Night awards and come out the winner of that fight regardless of who the actual winner is.
Sometimes a bet doesn’t even have to revolve around the fight itself (such as a bet on whether or not Johny “Bigg Rigg” Hendricks will miss weight he has missed weight three times now, including his most recent at UFC Fight Night 112.) Additionally, you can have multiple prop bets on one fight.
For new bettors, the best approach may be to take bets that are more of a sure thing and let those profits build up over time, because you will lose. That is bound to happen and underdog bets are supposed to be more tantalizing so that you place big money on them and then the house (a sportsbook, Vegas, etc…) wins big. The exception to the rule would be UFC 193 for those that noticed the trend and bet on Holm.
In short, just be responsible with your money. Do yourself that favor by doing your research. Hopefully, the above post helps out!
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.If you’ve ever heard of over/under bets before, these are going to seem
fairly similar. In a basketball game, you would typically bet on if the number
of points scored by both teams was over or under a certain amount. This would be
the same for football as well as most other sports. Combat sports, like MMA, are
a bit different, though. There aren’t really points or things like that you can
add up, but you’re actually betting on the length of the fight. Yes, we know
there are points awarded for winning rounds, but those don’t work with this type
of bet.
In MMA, you are betting on how long the fight lasts. The easiest way to
understand this would be an example. Here’s an over/under bet you might see.
- Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson 2.5 Rounds
- If you took the under, you would win if the fight ended before the 2.5-minute
mark of the second round. - If you took the over, you would win if the fight ended after the 2.5-minute
mark of the second round.
It does not matter who wins the fight or how they win; it just matters WHEN
it ends. This creates some new ways that you can leverage your predictions of
how you think a fight is going to go. Have you ever been getting ready for a
fight and thought to yourself, “There is no way this fight makes it out of the
first round with these two beasts.” Well, now you can bet on that knowledge
without worrying about who is actually going to finish the other.
When to Use This Bet
How Do You Bet On A Fight
Over/under bets are great when you have a strong idea of how the fight is
going to go. Sometimes this bet is placed in conjunction with picking a winner
and sometimes it is not. If you think a fighter is going to come out and destroy
the other guy in the first round, you can bet that fighter to win and take the
under. You’d be seeing a great payday if you’re right
The most common lines that you will see are the following:
- Over Under 1.5 Rounds
- Over Under 2.5 Rounds
- Over Under 3.5 Rounds
Over/Under 1.5 rounds is common when you have two extremely aggressive
fighters that are going to be coming out swinging for the fences. You’ll see
this more often with heavyweight fighters as they’re much more likely to finish
things quickly with their superior knockout power.
Over/Under 2.5 rounds is the most common that you’re going to see. As most
fights outside of Championship events are 3 rounds, you’re basically betting if
the fight is going to have a stoppage or go the distance. If you think that the
fight is going to go to the judges, bet the over. If you think someone is going
to finish it before the last 2.5 minutes, bet the under.
Best Fighter
Over/Under 3.5 rounds is the most common that you will see in Championship
fights that are scheduled for five rounds. Again, this all comes down to how you
think the fight is going to go down. Remember, that in a lot of Championship
fights the fighters start out slowly in the first round and feel each other out.
This means that if you bet the under, it’s a bit less time that they’ll actually
be going at it.
Las Vegas Boxing Odds On Upcoming Fights
The bottom line with this bet is that it gives you added flexibility in
betting when you think you know how the fight will go, not just who is going to
win.