While they have been around for centuries, combat sports come in many different shapes and sizes. There are boxing odds, UFC betting and other forms of mixed martial arts that deliver the heavy blows in this popular area of sports betting.
Fighters train hard and fight hard. Whether it's in the octagon for a UFC fight or in the ring for a boxing bout, there is no place to hide for the competitors. Whatever the boxing or MMA discipline is, it basically boils down to a thrilling test of skill, strength and endurance.
MMA is a sport stripped down to something raw and powerful. At the end of the day, while different fighting strategies and different styles are used, it is just two combatants going toe to toe, no holds barred in a flurry of punches, kicks and grappling. With regular fights, sportsbooks are filled with MMA betting opportunities.
In the case of boxing alone, there are many different organisations from the WBO to the IBF and each of those have weight divisions. Both in men’s and women's boxing, the sport is separated into classes of weight which include things like a featherweight, lightweight and middleweight.
The most famous, headline-grabbing boxing bouts are the ones for the heavyweight titles. That’s like the star division of the sport. Heavyweight titles are arguably the most prestigious and boxing betting options like Method Of Victory, Round Group Betting and Round Betting are popular markets for those.
MMA has grown increasingly popular as well, having entered an age of superstars through the UFC. The Ultimate Fighting Championship puts on weekly events right around the world, with its many different divisions for both male and female fighters.
There’s the likes of Women’s Bantamweight, Women’s Strawweight, Flyweight, Middleweight and Heavyweight divisions that exist in the UFC, which does provide one of the bigger arenas of MMA betting.
With all of the fights that the UFC hosts, it means that there are a lot of wagering options for fight nights. The fight night cards, which are usually on a weekend, carry on right throughout the calendar year.
The biggest market in UFC betting is the straight Money Line odds on picking a winner.
Other regular markets for UFC odds include picking the method of victory that a fighter wins by (KO, Technical Knockout, Submission, Decision or qualification) and what particular round that will happen in.
While the boxing and UFC odds takes the lion’s share of attention in MMA, when it comes to filling out betting options in a sportsbook, there are a lot of different types of sports to explore for further MMA betting picks.
Mixed Martial Arts encompasses many different disciplines under its banner. So looking for MMA betting, you may see different sports such as boxing, karate and Muay Thai in a sportsbook.
When the Olympics come around it is possible to find even more betting available on combat sports like wrestling and judo.
Amateur boxing is for the development of fighters. Fights at the amateur level are shorter and points are awarded for clean punches, so it emphasises skill and technique over power. Protective headgear also has to be worn in amateur boxing, including the Olympics.
Muhammed Ali, regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight boxing fighters in history, lost five times during his professional career. Arguably the most famous of those was his first loss when Joe Frazier beat him at Madison Square Garden in 1971. His other losses were against Ken Norton, Leon Spinks, Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick.
A TKO is a decision to stop the fight. That can be done by a fighter’s corner or the referee. The TKO means a Technical Knockout, basically it’s when a fighter is taking a beating and the fight needs to be stopped for safety reasons, but that fighter has not been knocked out.
Remarkably boxing has been following the same set of rules since 1867 since the Queensberry rules were introduced to the modern sport. That’s when gloves were mandated for the sport and it provides a code of conduct.