MMA Betting Guide

This MMA betting guide will teach you how to bet on MMA, understand odds (UFC odds and Bellator odds), as well as give some pointers about what to pay attention to if you’re going to bet on MMA.

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UFC Betting: The Best Promotion in Combat Sports

The Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, is a promotion company specialized in mixed martial arts. UFC is currently based in Las Vegas although they host events internationally.

The company was founded in 1993. At the moment, it is the largest MMA promoter in the world. Naturally, because of the popularity of the sport itself, combat sports betting has become a large part of the MMA community.

MMA Betting: How to Predict Winners

MMA prediction skills are not easy to master. It takes some time for bettors to learn how to pick odds, get to know the best picks, etc. A good way to start with pro MMA betting is to explore various experts’ articles on MMA odds, lines, and picks. For example, Ariel Helwani has been covering the sport for years and has a lot of insight into MMA.

A lot of former fighters have turned into commentators and their opinions should not be overlooked. This includes reading about their opinions on the betting moneylines, odds and similar topics.

By doing this, you can learn more about the MMA part of the sports betting world. At this point, you will probably learn the importance of different styles when it comes to fighting picks. Each fighter has their own fighting style. And this is what makes fight promotion competitive sports events to bet on. Each fighting style has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Figuring out which style is going to work better for a specific match is what makes picks fun to play with. In time, you will learn how to bet on the UFC and get to know various insights into fight promotion odds. Making your picks will become easier as you get to know all the fighters and their strengths and weaknesses.

What’s a good striker in MMA?

When we talk about strikers in the combat betting world, we usually refer to a fighter who specializes in kickboxing or Muay Thai techniques. You can recognize a good striker when they are quick on their feet and tend to adapt easily to their opponent’s fighting stance.

The odds can work against the striker when they are fighting an opponent who is more of a grappler. Yet, a good striker can overcome the grappler’s strategies and beat those odds. Making high-quality UFC picks like this can potentially make you very successful at MMA betting.

What’s a good ground game?

Believe it or not, strength is not always a deciding factor when it comes to the ground game in MMA. Both in MMA and UFC betting, you can recognize a fighter with a good ground game by their grappling techniques. Knowing a good ground technique is not enough. In order to win those UFC odds, your picks should be able to implement these techniques fast and adjust to the current opponent.

How to place a bet?

Winning a bet on MMA is pretty similar to betting on other sports. There are many different tactics you can use to increase your chances. We have already talked about the importance of getting to know the sport itself. This will help you make your first predictions. UFC lines are probably the most popular when it comes to MMA betting.

When creating your picks, make sure to take into account some of these factors: Weigh-ins. Is it a ring or a cage fight? What is the size of the cage? Is there a clear favorite? Knowing all of these aspects of a single match along with your picks can increase your chances of winning a bet on MMA. But what about different strategies that you can use? Here is what you can try out, the next time you bet on UFC:

Bet on the winner

There are different types of bets that you can take when it comes to fighting promotion. Yet, sometimes the simplest ways are the best. If you are new to the UFC betting and you are not especially familiar with standard MMA lines, you can decide to bet on the winner. It is probably a good idea to start betting on a favorite of the match if there is one. In that case, your odds might not be the best in a sense of the winnings you can get, but it can help you make a solid start on the UFC betting platform of your choice.

Bet on a submission

A very good feature when it comes to fight promotions is the fact that you can bet on a method of victory. One of these methods is a win by submission. It doesn’t necessarily matter who the winner is, as long as the match ends with this specific method of victory.

This type of MMA betting can be very useful when you know both fighters’ match history. Thus, you have a good chance of making some good combat predictions. If both fighters have a good grappling resume and a history of submissions, it might make sense to go this route.

Bet on a KO

Another good way to place your bets is to bet on the match ending with a knockout. Since we are talking about MMA betting, there is always a chance that the match will end in KO. Again, you do not need to specify who will be the winner. It is the particular method of victory that matters on these types of bets.

MMA Betting: The Underdog

We all like to bet on MMA matches that are easy to predict. Yet, the MMA odds on these UFC betting events tend to be really small. The best rewards come with a higher risk. Finding a match where the underdog actually has a decent chance to win can make you a real pro when it comes to UFC predictions. These kinds of matches also come with higher UFC odds, thus making your reward even higher.

So, how do you make these lines correctly? As we mentioned in the previous section of our MMA betting guide, you can analyze your betting picks before placing your bet. This will give you an insight into each fighter’s technique. You can also check their match history along with their win-loss-tie record. That will give you a general idea about your picks and you can then proceed to check the combating odds. When you find some balanced odds which you can bet on, you will be able to make some lines which can get you bigger rewards.

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MMA Betting: Additional Information

We talked about how you can improve your chances and bet on higher UFC odds. Here is some additional information about different fighting styles. This should help you choose better lines and learn to strategize when making your fighter picks. First of all, you should understand that there are many variations of different fighting styles.

Also, many fighters tend to specialize in multiple fighting techniques. Additionally, good fighters can sometimes get out of their comfort zone and implement new fighting styles in order to win a match. As you can imagine, this can make picking your UFC lines a bit more difficult, but at the same time, more interesting.

Fighting Styles in MMA

When betting on MMA, it’s important to understand the plethora of different martial arts styles. Here are the fighting styles that you are going to see in most competitive matches:

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

This fighting style focuses more on the ground fight. Opponents tend to defeat each other by using different locks, chokes and other ways of submission. Serious injuries can be prevented by players tapping out, or in other words, admitting a defeat.

Boxing

Fighters whose main fighting style is boxing utilize a lot of punches. They tend to use primarily their hands as their main weapon in the ring. Naturally, since this is MMA, we will rarely see a fighter who uses boxing techniques as their only fighting style. Thus, fighters use a lot of kickbox fighting styles as an addition to the basic concepts of boxing.

Karate

Karate as a fighting approach might not be the most popular style among the MMA fighters. However, it is the martial art that is present in the most variations in MMA. We’ve found the UFC odds to be the most fun to play when some of the contestants are using this fighting style.

Judo

Judo, with its takedowns and locks, is probably one of the most popular fighting styles in MMA. Just like boxing, judo is usually combined with some other fighting techniques. The reason for this is the fact that there aren’t many strikes available in this fighting style. On the other hand, judo can be very effective for ground fights.

Wrestling

Even more popular than judo are the wrestling fighting techniques. When bettors choose the MMA lines, they usually prefer fighters who are good wrestlers. Wrestling techniques are all about submitting the opponent and controlling them. Thus, this fighting style is perfect for MMA. Again, we’ve found the matches with these types of players to have some of the best UFC odds.

Muay Thai

When it comes to striking and good defensive techniques, Muay Thai is one of the most popular styles the fighters like to use. In addition to that, contestants who prefer this style of fighting usually go through a more rigorous training because of the nature of this martial art.

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How to Study the MMA Fighters?

Now that you know what fighting styles are available, you can study different fighters. Here is what you should pay attention to:

Check if any of the fighters had recent injuries. Injuries are a common thing in MMA. Even though fighters claim that they’ve recovered in full before the match, some injuries might be too big for them to be able to fight the next match with full capacity. Knowing these things can sometimes help you bet against a match favorite and get some decent odds for it.

Get to know their coaches. This may sound like too much work for some bettors. But looking at the fighter’s coaches and their professional history can give you an insight into their training. That can help you compare each fighter’s capabilities.

See who are their training partners. Training partners are an essential part of every fighter’s career. Thus, knowing these details can be very helpful when there are no favorites for the specific event. Remember that sometimes these training partners may not be famous in this industry. This doesn’t mean that they are necessarily bad training partners. Take your time and do your research thoroughly.

Look at more than just the numbers. When looking at the player’s statistics, take a more detailed look at the numbers. Don’t take into consideration just their overall records, but also what types of opponents they had to deal with in these matches. This can help you get an idea of each fighter’s strengths and weaknesses.

Follow relevant news channels. This will probably take you some time and experience to get accustomed to. Finding the correct news sources about the MMA fighters can give you a lot of good information. In time, you will find out more about which sources are more trustworthy than others and which ones are more helpful for you.

We hope that this MMA betting guide will help you get your foot through the door and get to know this part of the online betting industry. If you liked this page, you can also check out our other articles and reviews on the topics of UFC and fight promotions on this website.

MMA Betting Guide FAQs

How to bet on MMA?

Sign up at a legal online sportsbook in your state and you can place an online bet for real money.

How do you read the odds?

Odds that are preceded with a minus sign are for favorites and the underdogs are preceded with a plus sign: Alexander Volkanovski (-450) vs Chan Sung Jung (+350)

What are the MMA Lines?

When you bet on MMA or bet on UFC the most common bet you will see is called a Moneyline bet. Basically, this is a single bet which you can place using any of the available types of bets for combat predictions.

Why are the UFC odds changing during the match?

If you are making your lines in form of live betting, the odds will probably change during the match. Some bettors prefer to make their UFC predictions live, as the fight is taking place.
We too find these kinds of picks to be more interesting. That being said, expect the odds to change according to the current situation in the ring or cage if you make these kinds of bets.

What types of bets can I use with MMA odds?

Some popular types of bets that you can use when you bet on UFC include:
Moneyline
Over or Under
Number of Rounds
Method of Victory

What methods of victory can I bet on?

Decision
Knockout
Submission
Referee Stoppage
Doctor Stoppage
Corner Stoppage
Disqualification
No Contest

UFC Betting & MMA Betting: What’s the difference?

UFC is a promotional company within the sport of MMA. So you could engage in MMA betting that does not involve UFC 278 or UFC Vegas 60, for example, and only the latest Bellator event.

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