The UFC has headline-making weekend after headline-making weekend through a calendar year, which leaves punters with plenty of UFC odds to pour over. Billed as one of the top organizations for Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) the title fights come thick and fast from the UFC across many different weight divisions for both men and women.
But punters have a lot more to look at than just the UFC for MMA odds as there’s action from Bellator, along with other disciplines like kickboxing, Muay Thai and the likes of Taekwondo.
When the Olympic Games swing around then that is when more disciplines of MMA are likely to be found within a sportsbook. Besides all of that, there is another major sports betting market for combat sports. That is, of course, the fantastic showmanship world of boxing.
The main action for UFC odds comes from the match outright market where punters simply back a winner. But given there are only two options to pick from, it’s a market that doesn’t always necessarily represent the best value for the punter.
So some of the top alternative markets for sports betting on MMA include the method of victory and rounds betting. These add some variables like how a fighter may win the bout, by knockout or by a decision, while the specific round when the fight will be settled can also be selected by the punter.
Boxing betting follows in the same kind of vein as MMA odds in that the key markets are simply the bout’s outright odds, method of victory and round betting. It’s also common to see round group betting for boxing odds.
That is where three rounds are grouped together in one betting selection, such as Rounds 3 through 6 for when the fight will end. An extra condition of which fighter will be the winner in a round group selection can also be taken.
The heavyweight division is the pinnacle of boxing for sports betting. It’s the division that gains the most attention and has throughout history, created some of the most famous names in the sport.
But as with MMA, there are many different classes and divisions for both men and women. When you look deeper at the number of boxing and MMA markets around, there are plenty of fights to look forward to on a weekend.
In no way shape or form are the above the limitations of boxing betting and MMA odds. There are other options like Will The Fight Go The Distance and the Over/Under market of Total Rounds. So there are plenty of ways to look at sports betting for combat sports.
With fights generally only cropping up on the weekend, punters have a lot of time to look at stats and study markets well ahead of an actual bout. The beauty of a fight night is that because potentially fights can end quickly, there are always plenty of bouts in play on a given night.
The betting lines for MMA odds are simply the market that a bookmaker has priced up for the outcome of the match. Which fighter will win? Who is the favorite, who is the underdog? For MMA odds the favorite will be a - (minus) quote and the underdog a + (plus) quote.
It is possible to look at props bets even on MMA sports with the right bookmaker. Props are calls on events that could happen within a fight and are based on statistics. An example could be how many punches a fighter will land in a bout, or even what color trunks they are wearing.
When you look at a night of UFC then you will see several fights happening at the same venue on that night. That’s the fight card. The headline is always the last one (usually a title fight) and card bets in MMA are betting on the outcome of multiple fights from the same fight card.
Handicap bets on the UFC and Boxing can be found but is a less common approach. All fights are scored by judges and therefore there are winning margins on the points from them. So backing a fighter for a -1.5 handicap means that would have to score a victory by more than two points on the judges' cards for the bet to be won.