UFC Betting
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is the largest mixed martial arts organization in the world. With more than 1.25 million pay per view customers in recent events, the UFC has been the primary reason for the growth of MMA. As a result of it’s popularity, live and online sportsbooks have been expanding their options for UFC bettors.
Beyond standard match up bets, sports betting sites now offer parlays & tons of prop bets as well. UFC betting is now offered at every major online sportsbook, with more wagers placed for UFC fights than professional boxing and all other MMA organizations combined.
Best Online Sportsbooks for UFC Betting
With so many great places to wager on UFC fights, this is not an easy list to generate. The truth is, and of these sportsbooks will satisfy most bettors.
#1/ Bookmaker.com: US bettors welcome. We rank Bookmaker #1 over the Bodog Sportsbook mainly because of the ability to place larger wagers here. For those who want to place bets larger than $5000, Bookmaker.com is the place for you. Bookmaker accepts more, large wagers from professional bettors than any other online sportsbook, and never hassle bettors over payouts. They accept wagers up to $5000 online, and $20,000 over the phone. Wagers over $20,000 can also be placed by contacting customer service via phone.
Bookmaker.com has plenty of easy deposit options for all bettors, including those in the US and Canada. Visa, Mastercard, Moneybookers, Click2Pay, EcoCard, bank wire and other deposit options are available.
#2/ Bodog Sportsbook: US bettors welcome. While Bookmaker gets the #1 spot for having bigger maximum bets, we like the Bodog Sportsbook equally for anyone making bets of $5000 or less. Bodog offers betting on virtually every UFC fight, plus tons of props as well. The minimum wager for a UFC fight is $1 when betting online, and $50 over the phone.
The Bodog Sportsbook also offers wagering on Bellator, Strikeforce, and World Extreme Cage Fighting (WEC). If you follow MMA outside of the UFC, Bodog is the best online sportsbook for you.
Bodog has the best customer service department in online gaming, and they’re available via phone, live chat, or email 24 hours a day.
Deposits can be made using Visa credit or debit cards, Neteller, Click2Pay, Moneybookers, and other online wallets.
#3/ Diamond Sportsbook: US bettors welcome. Diamond Sportsbook is a partner of Bookmaker.com, bu they run their own lines. With Diamond Sportsbook, bettors get the same safety & security, with added betting options. Diamond Sportsbook runs lines for UFC, WEC and Bellator. Serious bettors should have an account at each sportsbook, then compare odds before placing bets.
UFC bets range from $5 – $5,000 online or $50 – $5,000 over the phone. Deposit options include Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Diners Club, Neteller, Moneybookers, Click2Pay, eWalletXpress, PaySafeCard, Eco Card, bank wire and more.
UFC Betting Options
Match up bets (straight bets) are the most popular way to bet on the UFC. Pick your fighter, and if you’re right, you win. If not, you lose. A straight bet listed in American odds will look like this:
Frank Mir -205
Minotauro Nogueira +165
*If you prefer, most online sportsbooks also list their odds in fractional and decimal formats. Look for a button allowing you to change the odds format.
In the example above, Frank Mir is the favorite, indicated by the negative (-) money line. Minotauro Nogueira is the underdog, indicated by the positive (+) money line.
With negative money lines, the number beside it represents the amount of money needed to wager in order to win a $100 profit. For positive money lines, the number represents the amount of money that can be won from a $100 bet.
So, a bettor would need to wager $205 on Frank Mir to win $100 in profit (total return of $305). For Nogueira, a bet of $100 would result in a $165 profit, for a total return of $265.
UFC Parlay Betting
Most sportsbooks have a healthy juice built into their straight bets for UFC fights. On top of that, there are a good number of fights where one fighter is a heavy favorite over his opponent. This means that straight bets aren’t always the way to go. For these reasons, parlay bets are very popular with UFC fighting.
Parlay bets are wagers where multiple (2+) straight bets are combined onto one ticket. For a winning bet, every fighter on the ticket must win. This increases odds and lowers the amount needed to wager. While there is more risk, the reward can be much better.
For successful parlays, we recommend keeping them down to 2-3 fighters per ticket. While your odds won’t be as good as a 5 or 6 fighter ticket, the odds of winning your bet are much better. Almost every UFC fight night brings one or two upsets. There’s nothing worse than going 5-0 into your sixth fight, then losing on the last fighter.
UFC Prop Bets
Prop betting on UFC fights can be fun, with a huge variety of bets that can be made. Punters can place bets on which round a fight will end, if it willend in knockout or go the distance, and even the type of move that might end a fight.
Every sportsbook offers their own set of prop bets, making this another good reason to have accounts at multiple sportsbooks.
Check out the Bodog Sportsbook for a current list of UFC prop bets.
