Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is enjoying the type of popularity and growth any organized sports league would love to have. Everyday it seems they add more fans, more fights, and more tournaments. One of the reasons for this surge in viewership comes directly from the online sports gambling community.
Every online sportsbook is different and finding one with the features you need to be successful can be overwhelming. Thankfully, we’ve done the work for you with the following list of features you need for your MMA and UFC betting. Let’s find you the sites with these options and you have a site worth using.
Here are our top online sports betting sites for the UFC:
Top UFC Betting Sites
BetOnline
- Very generous bonus payment system
- Bonus codes for every major event
- Mobile compatible and accessible
Bovada
SportsBetting.ag
BetUS
In fact, if anything has kept up with MMA’s steady rise, it’s been wagering on it online. Both are extremely popular and show no signs of slowing down. Knowing this, you’d think it would be easy to find an online sportsbook worth your time and wagers. However, finding the best site for your MMA action is not to be taken lightly.
Special Offers
All online sportsbooks have special offers from the minute you open the front page. Yet it’s important to remember – while many of these offers look great, they may not be what you’re looking for. A 100% sports betting bonus up to $1,000 looks good on the screen, but how does that help your MMA wager? For example, this seems like a great idea if you have enough time to bet, and if there are enough games going on. Or alternatively, you want to play longer with a single deposit whereas if you want to withdraw on weekly basis, you might want to first look into a website that offers great better payment options. At that point, bonuses wouldn’t matter as much.
When hunting for bonuses, remember to shop around at the beginning and find online sportsbooks which feature offers specifically for MMA. There should be plenty of promotions and special offers before any big UFC fight night. The bigger the MMA event, the better the offers. The good sportsbooks understand this and will have bonuses, contests, and tournaments ready for you.
Watch for Rollovers
Most UFC betting sites will have a bonus for you just for signing up no matter what you are there to wager on. It has become a standard operating procedure and the online sportsbooks use sign-up promotions to help bring in new customers. It is a way to stand out from the competition. The same goes for reload bonuses, which offer to top off your bankroll every time you make a new deposit.
These offers are all match or partial bonuses giving you the opportunity to boost your account balance before you even place a wager. However, you need to keep an eye for the rollover – or wagering requirements. That said, rollovers make perfect sense. Even the best UFC betting sites can’t just hand out free money and not require you to place a few bets first. It’s an insurance policy that players wouldn’t just end up using up the website’s money and then be happily on their way cashing out.
It’s not a sustainable business model to allow players to get bonuses and immediately cash out. Admittedly, some online sportsbooks take advantage and hammer you with huge rollovers. To avoid situations such as that, you will usually have to do some fine-print reading, but it is well worth your time. As a rule of thumb, though, we always stick to the following: a low rollover is better than a big bonus. Plus, we only recommend websites that offer great conditions to a betting person.
Credibility
There are so many online sportsbooks these days you just have to assume not all of them are on the up and up. Some may be scams, others are money traps, and other seem legit but do shady things such as freeze accounts and refuse to pay out winnings. It’s important to avoid these sites and not waste your valuable time or you precious dollars. Do your homework. A little shopping around will show you which MMA betting sites are trustworthy and which aren’t.
Choosing one of the best UFC betting sites out there can be a very smooth process. Take for example Mybookie and Bovada. Both of these sportsbooks have worked long and hard to establish their reputation and today they are synonymous to UFC betting. Understanding why is easy. Both brands share a number of essential features that are necessary for a great betting experience, including:
- Timely coverage of all significant events
- Quick deposits and withdrawals
- No fees on the majority of banking operations
- Great bonuses and promotions for big fight nights
- Proven reputation and trustworthiness
All of these criteria are essential to determining whether a sportsbook can be trusted. By running these quick checks and going off our recommendations, you stand to top the UFC game outside the ring.
UFC Wagers
Many online sportsbooks specialize in certain sports. The big four North American sports leagues are always there. The NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL are quite popular and are always featured as part of the offer. The same goes for NCAA contests. Most sites will have MMA events and fights, but it always helps to study the offer a little better yourself.
To make sure you have found a serious MMA online sportsbook, you want to make sure that there is a variety of wagers as well as fights and markets. If you find a site with plenty of fights featuring a good deal of wagers on each one, you’ve found the sportsbook you want.
Some websites will only cover the top cards, but a well-rounded MMA betting site will make sure that they have every event listed. This is where these sportsbooks differ. When looking for UFC wagers, you are looking for quality, but also quantity. Especially if you plan on making UFC one of the main sports you will bet on.
Great Interface Makes UFC Betting Simpler
It may seem like a small thing but there is nothing better than an online sportsbook with a fast, easy-to-use interface and navigation. Like the lobby in an expensive restaurant, a site’s interface needs to look the part to inspire its customers. It serves another purpose too, though. MMA is a very quick sport and things change in the matter of seconds. Naturally, you need a highly-responsive UFC betting site to allow you to sort your wagers without any technical delays.
The punches are fast, the knockouts are fast, the fights are fast. When you take this into account, you quickly realize you’ve got to be able to make a wager fast. And that goes for the desktop as well as mobile devices. You need an interface that works with you, allowing you to get your wagers booked ASAP.
Events and fight nights see tons of action come through every online MMA betting sportsbook. If the interface of the website is slow, you are missing out on odds and wagers. What is there one moment is sure to change in the next. Find a site with a minimal amount of steps to place a wager and then get to know the interface to help your future self get that bet in as quick as you can.
UFC Betting Guide
The world of UFC has been taken to whole new heights with the recent increases in betting on Mixed Martial Arts Fights. The sport of MMA itself has become one of the most watched events each week, available on regular TV and also on Pay-Per-View services such as DAZN. Betting on MMA has registered some solid numbers in recent years, with MMA events going from being a once-a-month occurrence to weekly and several-times-a-week events. Some of the top fighters to bet in the Ultimate Fighting Championship today are:
- Jon Jones
- Khabib Nurmagomedov
- Henry Cejudo
- Tony Ferguson
- Max Holloway
Knowing what to expect and which fighters to back is one thing. But do you know how to place a wager quickly and efficiently while avoiding any unnecessary complications?
Four Steps to Start Betting on UFC
- First you need to find an offshore sports betting site where you can place UFC wagers. Shopping around for a good site may take you a while, but not too long in any event. Especially if you follow off one of our recommended sportsbooks out there. The best MMA betting sites share the same specifics, such as a great selection of fights – both main cards and supplementary – and a variety of possible wagers, such as spread, moneyline, and total. Reputation is equally important, so it wouldn’t hurt to double-check with that as well. And not least of all, you want to make sure that the odds you are offered are decent.
- Once you have a UFC site that you can trust, you need to sign up. That will take you a few minutes. You will notice that the sportsbook asks you for a lot of personal information. This is done to make sure that no underage individuals are making wagers.
- After you sign up, the next step is to deposit funds into your account. Bettors will have access to all sort of payment options, including bank cards and e-wallets. Direct bank transfers may also be possible, depending on the operator. Many offshore betting sites are also focusing on Bitcoin as a quick way to cash out your money reliably.
- The final step is to log on using your username and password and place your MMA wagers right away. Once you do that, the game is on for you and you can start turning profit on your UFC betting.
Top Offshore UFC Sites
We may sound like a broken record but the importance of finding a respected and reputable online sportsbook is worth its weight in gold! With MMA, you won’t find as many online sportsbooks that offer wagering on fights and some sites are definitely better than others.
Below, we will list our top five online sportsbooks for betting on MMA. There are many other sportsbooks that we recommend for other sports but for strictly betting on Mixed Martial Arts, we find that these to be the best options with thoroughly-developed offers.
- Bookmaker – Bookmaker releases great UFF odds and lines ahead of most other sportsbooks. As a bettor, you can expect to find a number of bonuses, re-ups and pick from a number of possible wagers – both outright winners and parlays. All main cards, big MMA stars and small timers are covered at Bookmaker.eu, including names such as Nurmagomedov, Barboza, Ramos, Whittaker, and a whole bunch of other fighters, established and up-and-coming.
- Bovada UFC – When it comes a reliable and stable UFC betting site, Bovada is among our top choices. Since its creation, MMA betting has been part of the company’s offer, putting it way up on the list of sportsbooks that offer great odds and lines for the sport. Bovada also covers a number of excellent events worldwide, including fights in places like Abu Dhabi, Vancouver, Mexico City, Copenhagen and more. The oddmakers at Bovada UFC are always busy with bringing you the best possible betting opportunities on current fights in the world.
- Intertops – Intertops is very well-known among MMA betting enthusiasts and mainly thanks to the fact that the sportsbook has been around for over 21 years. The UFC offer stands out immediately, and can be selected from the left-hand side. Once you end up in the main UFC betting panel, you will be able to pick from ‘next games,’ ‘top bets,’ and ‘outright’ winners. You will find a special main panel where any of the high-profile games will be featured, such as the fight between Dustin Poirier and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
- BetOnline – BetOnline usually has some of the most competitive odds in the industry. There are many times when you will find one fighter at inflated odds at one website but can find him at a much lower price at BetOnline. While they focus on common types of wagers, such as spreads and money lines, BetOnline also adds total rounds, which is a cool type of bet. Plus, the sportsbook offers a lot in the way of competitive odds and there are hundreds of viable UFC bets every month.
- MyBookie – MyBookie has an outstanding offer for UFC games. That begins with the User Interface which is intuitive and polished to guarantee maximum comfort. Once you have this sorted out, you will end up betting at one of the many available markets. Moneylines are given a slight preference here which is no bad thing. There are some great future bets featured as well, such as the Jeremy Stephens vs Yair Rodriguez fight, and of course – all events in immediate proximity will be heavily focused on. The best part? There are props as well, so you can bet on whether Paul Felder will beat Barboza by KO, TKO or submission.
Types of MMA Bets
Betting on MMA is not as prominent as betting on some other sports and the options for wagering on fights are fixed to specific nights of the week. Now you would say that it’s the same for any other sport, but we all know that’s not entirely true. Below, we will list some available options for betting on MMA at many of the various online sportsbooks.Moneyline – Moneyline wagering is a basic wager on a specific fighter to win the fight. The moneyline displays odds, either in favor of or against that individual fighter, and your winnings or return is based on those odds.
Totals – Total bets are the over/under round bets that you can wager on an MMA fight. These type of wagers also have odds attached to them, with the round number usually being either Over/Under 1.5 or 2.5 rounds. For championship title fights, the line is sometimes set as high as 4.5 rounds because of the title fights being 5 rounds instead of the standard 3 rounds.
Parlays – A parlay bet is a combination of two or more bets placed together on a single ticket, and that is usually more beneficial than playing a straight spread wager. As you bet on more fighters or/and outcomes, your potential yields grow, but so do the risk of a loss, hence the better profits.
Basically, all fighters must win for you to cash out. These bets are great to play if you like a fighter that is really high in odds and not really beneficial to play flat. By backing the fighter with high odds, with another fighter with smaller odds, you significantly increase your winnings on that fighter and decrease the amount of money you could lose if things don’t exactly go according to plan.
Props – Props will ask you whether a specific outcome will come to pass. For example, is Rodriguez going to win via KO, KTO or a submission (as previously specified). Those are the most common props there are to be honest, as all UFC fights take place or are re-scheduled well ahead of time.
UFC Betting Odds and Lines
UFC odds are one of the last to be added and released, mainly because the oddsmakers usually want to wait until after the weigh-in to make sure fighters will actually turn up and that the fight will actually take place. The UFC is a big business and fights do sometimes get upset, but the organization has become very adept at rotating fighters and guaranteeing spectacles for the crowds.
Another reason why the best MMA betting sites will wait until closer to fight time is to see what the fighter looks like at the weigh-ins. Many times, you can look at a fighter and see that they are dehydrated and look unhealthy, which will place the advantage on their opponent’s side. Yet, some fighters have been known to appear a little under-the-weather at their weigh-ins to keep the psychological warfare going!
Live Betting on UFC
UFC is one of the few sports that Live Betting is not available. Most fights are only schedule for 3 rounds, championship title fights being 5 rounds, and each round only lasting 5 minutes. It is difficult for online sportsbooks to place a live betting odd on the fight because of the limited time and determining who is winning.
UFC Betting Strategy
Finding a strategy that works in UFC is much more difficult than in other sports because it is a fight and anything can happen in a fight. Just think how Andy Ruiz knocked out Anthony Joshua – granted, that was boxing, but it still goes to show that an underestimated (and rightly so) player can cause big upsets.
That being said, you can usually look at a fight and find some strategies that pay off time and time again. Building your bankroll is what is most important so look for those little strategies that help you win your wagers on your fighters.
Below, we will list three strategies that we have found to be successful and pay off in the better part of UFC fights.
Play Fighters Fighting In Front Of Home Crowd – The UFC are known as marketing masterminds and they do what they need to do to keep putting people in the seats. Part of that marketing requires placing fighters in advantageous positions where they can win in front of their friends and family. If tickets aren’t being sold, the company can’t stay in business, it is that simple.
This is also very important on the regional level as the regional promotions rely much on ticket sale more than the larger promotions like UFC and Bellator. If you see that an event is being held in New Jersey, and the main event is between a fighter from New Jersey and a fighter from California, chances are they are bringing the fighter from California in to take a loss to the home town ticket seller.
Avoid Betting On Fighters Off Layoff – Turn on any UFC event and at least one time throughout the event you will hear a commentator talk about cage rust. Some people say that it doesn’t exist but more times than not, fighters that are out of the cage for more than a year do not do as well as fighters who are active, fighting several times a year.
Don’t Bet Late Replacement Fighters – Unlike other sports, many times a fight will be changed late due to injuries, failure to make weight or for personal reasons. When this happens, more often than not the promotion will attempt to replace one of the fighters. Many times that means the replacement fighter has much less time to train and most importantly, has a significantly less time to cut weight, forcing them to come in with less cardio and less power in a fight.
3 Advanced UFC Betting Tips
Some of the more advanced UFC betting tips that we feel are the most important to your success are found in this section of this MMA betting guide. These tips are suggestions based on experience. They are not a defining rule book as how you should do your UFC betting, but at least a guiding blueprint to help you max out your chances of success.
- Look For Underdogs With Finishing Ability– One of the biggest misunderstandings in UFC betting is that the favorite will always win. It is true that the favorite will win more times than not but not always. From 2013 until 2017, the favorite has won in the UFC 67% of the time over the underdog. That means that 33% of the time, the dog won and paid off for whoever had him. If you can find one of those underdogs that have the ability to win a fight, you can significantly increase your winnings with a much smaller wager thanks to their inflated odds. For example, when Ronda Rousey fought Holly Holm, Rousey was an overwhelming favorite and no one really gave Holm much of a chance of winning the fight but Holm proved the world wrong because she has some of the best striking power in the UFC. Anyone that had Holm, cashed in an 11-1 victory. That means if you had the courage to place a $100 wager on Holly Holm, you cashed in a nice $1100 return.
- Bet Style Advantages – If you’ve been around the sport of MMA, you’ve probably heard the slogan “Styles Make Fights”. When one fighter, that is a striker with low level takedown defense, is fighting another fighter that is a grappler and has high takedown efficiency, chances are the grappler will hold a distinctive advantage if the fight hits the ground. Watch for these type of advantages as you can set the advantage on your side for gambling.
- Watch For Fighters Getting The Push – When you hear people talking about certain fighters getting a push, in most circumstances, it is true. Take Conor McGregor as an example. He came into the UFC with a big following and the UFC immediately picked up on his ability to draw a crowd. They started to give him fights that would build him up and now, he is one of, if not the biggest draw in the world for Mixed Martial Arts. Bottom line, the promotions are not going to dedicate a significant amount of money into promoting a fighter and then put him in a fight that they think he or she will lose.
UFC Betting Picks
Although not impossible to find, it is much harder to find reliable websites that will give you decent winners each week in MMA. MMA betting hasn’t been around as long as football, baseball and basketball so there aren’t as many experts in the industry to give out free tips. Now, just because there aren’t many experts around the industry doesn’t mean there aren’t people out who still try to call the outcome of a game successfully and offer their advice to other UFC betting enthusiasts. In our experience, your personal experience should remain the guiding principle.
Mobile Betting
MMA mobile betting has been fairly popular, thanks to its flexibility and accessibility. While in the past you would need to be at a desktop computer to place your MMA wager, these days you can be anywhere so long as you have an Internet connection. There’s no need for you to actually be at home to check up on the latest UFC odds, let alone make a wager.
One of the best ways to guarantee yourselves a smooth betting experience is to find the best MMA betting apps out there. Not all sportsbooks have them, but those that do will offer you a very comfortable way of placing your next MMA wager via a dedicated app. The two top online sportsbooks that we recommend for mobile betting are MyBookie and Bovada. Both of these online sportsbooks allow you to bet from anywhere and anytime!
The Season
One of the nicest parts of being an MMA fan is there really isn’t a season. This is one of the only year-round sports that do not truly have a rest period. You can find MMA events in nearly every week, throughout the year. It all depends on the promoter who will usually start putting the word out months ahead of the event.
MMA Leagues to Bet On
Without any doubt, the biggest league or organization in Mixed Martial Arts is the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), also known as the UFC. The UFC has been around since 1993 and has gone through some major changes over the years. The company was recently sold by Zuffa to their current owners William Morris Endeavors, also referred to as WME-IMG. The cost for WME-IMG was a whopping $4 billion dollars. UFC fights can be seen weekly on large television broadcasts such as Fox and Fox Sports 1, as well as on their internet broadcast website called UFC Fight Pass, but also DAZN TV and a number of other pay-per-view services.
The second largest promotion to bet on is Bellator MMA. Bellator is primarily owned by the media giant Viacom and can be watched on Spike TV. Bellator was once considered a second rate MMA promotion but has recently begun increasing their talent pool of fighters and is now starting to place themselves in position to legitimately compete with the UFC.
There are also various regional and lower level MMA promotions that are available to be wagered on each week. This is a hit or miss situation with many of the online sportsbooks but most can be found if you check on the same day as the event. Promotions such as Invicta FC, Titan FC, Legacy FC, One FC and many others usually have their main card available to be wagered on at online sportsbooks.
Biggest Events to Bet On
The largest events to bet on are the main events in the UFC. In MMA, there really isn’t an annual championship and fighters just vie for titles and viewership. Most of your larger scale events and a majority of championship fights will be broadcast on pay-per-view services to bring even better return on the investment for the organizers.
