UFC betting guide 2025: What to know about betting on the UFC

With a year-round schedule, UFC betting has become a staple sport at online sportsbooks. There are a variety of UFC betting strategies, as well as bet types that are unique to the sport. In this betting guide, we'll look at the ins and outs of betting on one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, including the top UFC betting sites.

Best UFC betting sites

Finding the best UFC sportsbook promos

The first thing you'll need to do on your UFC betting journey is decide which sports betting apps you want to use. A good way to do this is to look at the various options and identify which welcome offers appeal to you.

Each sportsbook promo comes with its unique benefits, and each offers something valuable, so it is worth claiming multiple or all of them. 

Many people use multiple sportsbooks to bet on UFC. Using multiple sportsbooks not only allows you to take advantage of multiple welcome offers, but it also allows you to search for differences in odds for upcoming fights to find the best lines available. For example, UFC fighter Anthony Smith was listed as a +365 underdog on Fanatics Sportsbook for an upcoming fight, while BetMGM had him listed at +400.

How UFC betting odds work

Knowing how to bet on UFC fights requires an understanding of how to read UFC betting odds. The differences between UFC lines and any other sport are not that big, but there are a few nuances to learn for the best chance of success.

Money line/odds to win

The straight money line bet is the most popular and easiest to understand UFC bet type. This is a straight-up bet on which fighter will win the bout. If a fighter is listed at -135, he is the favorite, and a winning bet of $135 would net $100 in addition to your initial stake. On the other side, an underdog listed at +110 would mean a winning bet of $100 would win $110 in addition to your initial stake.

Round totals or Over/Under rounds

A round total bet is another straightforward bet on whether you think a fight will end before or after a certain point. If a round total is set at 1.5 rounds, betting the Under means you think the fight will end before the midway point of the second round (2:30 into the round), the Over means you think the fight will end after. It is important to pay attention to whether the fight is scheduled for three or five rounds.

Looking at the history of both fighters to see how often they finish a fight and how often they have been finished can be key to finding success in betting on UFC round totals. A fight between two fighters who are big finishers may push you toward taking an Under, but if neither fighter has been stopped in their career, the value may be in taking the Over. The prices operate the same as a money-line bet as far as the plus/minus returns.

Point spread

Point spreads are not as common in UFC betting, and not every sportsbook offers them. They are also a slightly more complicated approach to betting on UFC fights than simply picking a winner. If you place a wager on a fighter who is -3.5, your bet will win if that fighter wins by knockout, submission, disqualification, or if the fight goes to decision and they win by four or more points when adding up the three official judges' scorecards.

In this case, if all three judges returned scorecards of 29-28 in favor of your fighter, your fighter would have only won by three points, and your bet would lose. If two judges score the fight 29-28 and the third 30-27, all for your fighter, your bet would win as they won by four points. The prices operate the same as a money-line bet as far as the plus/minus returns.

UFC prop betting

In addition to the above basic UFC bet types, there are a variety of prop bets available for most fights. These can have big returns but often come with a lower chance of hitting. 

Method of victory props

Method of victory UFC prop bets come in a couple of different flavors. You can bet on one fighter to win by knockout (listed as KO/TKO/DQ), submission or decision. You can often also choose to bet on the fight ending by those same methods while not picking one fighter, but saying that either fighter will win by that method. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of both fighters is vital to finding success in betting on a method of victory.

Fight props

Some common fight props include bets like whether or not the fight will go the distance, how many takedowns will be landed in the fight, whether the fight will be won by unanimous decision, and so on. Not every prop will be available for every fight, and fight props are often not listed until a day or two prior to the event.

Round props

Aside from round totals, there are other ways to bet on rounds in UFC betting. For example, many times you are able to bet on whether a fight will reach a certain round. Betting on a UFC fight to reach the second round will often have better odds than the fight going Over 1.5 rounds because you would be betting the fight wouldn't be finished in that extra 2:30 of action. Similarly, there are often bet options for which round a fight will end and other such options. 

UFC parlays

When betting on UFC fights, you also have the option to build parlays where you bundle multiple picks together into one larger bet. For a parlay to win, each leg of the wager must win. There can be big returns when hitting on a parlay, but there is a lower chance of winning, as you must be correct multiple times.

As an example, if you were to successfully parlay three +110 money lines on a $10 bet, you would win $82.61. But three small underdogs winning is a fairly big ask, as reflected by that parlay having +826 odds. One key stat we will come back to later in the article is that favorites won 72% of their fights in the UFC in 2024. Keep that in mind when considering playing parlays.

UFC betting tips

Breaking down a UFC fight to figure out your best betting options is different from how one would approach betting on football, a team sport, in that you are looking at pure one-on-one match-ups. Here is a quick rundown of some key strategies for how to bet on UFC fights.

Don't get caught up in fighter records

It's easy to look at a fight between a 12-0 fighter and a 14-5 fighter and think the undefeated fighter is a lock. Start by looking at the money lines. Are they wide in either direction, or are they close? Maybe this is the first big step up in competition for the undefeated fighter, and he is now facing a fighter who has been tested at the highest levels and can ask questions that the undefeated prospect has yet to have been asked. Fighters are more than their records.

Consider fighter styles

While the average UFC fighter is more well-rounded than at any previous point in the sport's history, every fighter has unique intangibles. A great technical striker with big power like Alex Pereira, facing a fighter with wild stand-up and not much wrestling,g is likely to be heavily favored. In that case, you may want to explore various props for value rather than risking wide odds with little return. A useful tool is UFCStats.com, a website that tracks fighter statistics. Stats such as strikes landed and absorbed per minute, takedowns per 15 minutes and takedown defense percentage can give insight into how fighters match up.

Beware "MMA Math"

"MMA Math" is an idea that has existed for a long time and is based on the concept that if Fighter A beats Fighter B, and Fighter C beats Fighter A, Fighter C will beat Fighter B. Mixed martial arts is a complex sport with many variables. A fight between two fighters is about how their skills match up, not about how they have fared against common opponents. Fighters have styles that are better or worse suited to facing certain types of opponents, and you should focus on the heads-up pairing rather than past results unless those results have stylistic relevance.

Consider the measurables

Certain things are clear when it comes to a fight. The fighters will be the same weight (or within a pound or two) unless one misses weight, but what is the frame carrying that weight? A fighter with a significant height and reach advantage may be able to control the striking game, but do his past fights show that he is good at managing distance? A short and powerfully built fighter may have a wrestling background that allows him to get inside and use explosive strength.

Similarly, has a fighter been on a long layoff? Is he coming off an injury? These are all things you can—and should—consider before betting on a UFC fight.

Live UFC betting

Many sites offer live betting as a UFC fight is in progress. Sharp bettors will keep an eye on a fight to find moments of high value. A favorite may have a rough first round that sees him slip to a small underdog. If you believe the favorite will turn things around to either score a stoppage or win the remainder of the rounds for a decision victory, getting a live bet at the peak of that value can be beneficial to your bankroll.

UFC bettors will want to pay attention to small things as a fight progresses to catch additional value. Things like realizing that getting hit by leg kicks is compromising a fighter, or that a wrestling-first fighter can't close distance as effectively as expected in the first round, or that a fighter seems unusually fatigued early are all moments that could present an opportunity for value in live UFC betting.