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There’s a new sport of kings and the popularity of mixed martial arts is largely being driven by UFC betting.
In the most straightforward terms, UFC predictions involve picking who will be the winner of each fight on a certain card. There are dozens of other ways to wager on MMA fighting however.
Once a month or more there is a UFC fight held with a card that may feature over a dozen fights including the preliminaries. Each of those battles offers a chance for a variety of UFC picks to be graded wins or losses.
Each fighter will have odds depending on how likely he or she is to win the fight combined with the likelihood that the public is going to take those odds. In a perfect world (for sportsbooks) betting actually will be split as close to possible to each side of the octagon. This limits the damage in case of an upset and prevents a huge loss if a heavy chalk fighter gets a big win.
The way sportsbooks manage their leverage for UFC betting is by raising the odds on the favorite until he or she is nearly too high priced to take. Most bettors would be hammering Goliath -100, but half of them are going to switch sides when Goliath -450 odds are released because it’s too pricey; too much of a risk for the reward.
© Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
The reason UFC predictions are so coveted is because there’s so much more to betting on the fights than just picking a winner – although success does start with pinpointing who will be victorious. To bet on who will just win the fight though is called a Moneyline or a Match Bet.
A UFC prediction for example can be made on not only what fighter will win, but also how in what is called a Method Bet. Is Goliath going to win by knockout, submission, or decision? You don’t even have to select the fighter on variations of this bet, just how the match as a whole will end.
A Round Bet is placing a UFC pick em on in what round the bout will end. This is a great way to increase your return on investment because it can be such a crapshoot as to when one fighter finally gains a definitive advantage over his opponent that the payout is usually significant.
A Totals Bet is also available as kind of aside to the round bet. Will the fight go over or under 1.5 rounds? 2.5 rounds, etc.? You could then parlay a round bet, a totals bet, and possibly a method bet to really increase your payout.
Believe it or not there are also Spread Bets as part of how to bet on UFC fights. If one fighter wins by KO or submission, they cover the spread regardless. If the fight goes to a decision though, taking points such as +3.5 could be beneficial when the judges read their official scoring of the match.
This may sound like a no-brainer but being successful in UFC predictions begins and ends with finding the winners. Once you do that, you can maximize your ROI by betting on what round or by what method he or she will get the W in.
