Betting on the UFC: Fixed Odds and Spreads Explained

MMA has enjoyed a phenomenal rise to prominence over the past decade and it now ranks as one of the world’s most popular sports. UFC hosts a number of exciting fight nights each month, featuring star names like Jon Jones, Amanda Nunes, Conor McGregor, Stipe Miocic and Khabib Nurmagomedov. Betting on UFC is the perfect way to ramp up the excitement, and you have a number of great wagering options at your disposal as you prepare to watch an MMA bout. Read on to learn more about the various different fixed-odds and MMA spread betting options available to you.

Fight Winner

This is the simplest way to place a bet on a UFC fight. It is a fixed-odds bet, meaning you know exactly how much you stand to win or lose when watching the fight unfold. Our odds compilers will assess the relative strengths and weakness of each fighter before assigning the odds. You will generally see a favourite and an underdog, unless the fighters are very evenly matched.

For example, you might have found odds of 1/3 on Conor McGregor beating Donald Cerrone when the two men clashed at UFC 246 in January 2019. Cerrone was the 5/2 underdog. The number on the left tells you how much you will win if you stake the number on the right. In that example, you would have won £1 for every £3 you wagered on McGregor to win the fight, while you would have earned £5 for every £2 you wagered on Cerrone to win the fight.

A £10 bet on McGregor would therefore have netted you a £3.33 profit if successful, whereas a £10 bet on Cerrone would have earned you a £25 profit if he had won. The higher potential payout on Cerrone tells you that he was the clear underdog. The odds can move in the build-up to a fight. This is a fixed-odds bet, because you can either win or lose a fixed amount. If you bet £20 on McGregor, you would expect to lose your £20 stake if he lost the fight, or earn a £6.66 profit if he won the fight. Some punters like this sort of wager, as there are no surprises.

MMA 100 Win Index

This is a pretty straightforward spread betting alternative to the aforementioned fight winner market. In this market, a fighter is assigned 100 points if she wins the fight and zero points for losing the fight. Our traders then assign a quote to each fighter based on how likely she is to secure victory. For example, they priced Raquel Pennington at 60-66 in the 100 Win Index when she fought Marion Reneau in June 2020. Reneau was assigned a spread of 24-40.

You can either buy at the upper end of the spread, or sell at the lower end. Your profit or loss is then determined by the result of the fight. If you bought for £1 on Pennington at 66, you would have made a £34 profit if she had won the fight. That is because she would have been assigned 100 points, which is 34 above the price you bought at. This differential is multiplied by your stake to calculate your profit. If she had lost the fight, she would have been assigned zero points. You would then be 66 below the price you bought at, meaning you would have incurred a £66 loss.

If you had bought for £2 at 40 on Reneau, you would have made a £120 profit if she had won the fight. That is because she would have been assigned 100 points, which is 60 above the price you bought at, and 60 multiplied by £2 is £120. If she had lost the fight, you would have incurred an £80 loss. Some punters like spread betting, as it offers the possibility to earn a large profit from a relatively small stake. However, you must be careful, as you can also incur significant losses if your prediction proves to be incorrect.

MMA Method of Victory

This is a great way to gain more value when betting on a fight. For instance, you could have taken odds of 13/20 if you thought Shane Burgos would beat Josh Emmett in Las Vegas in 2020. A £20 bet would have netted you a £13 profit if he won the fight. However, if you wanted to take higher odds, you could have specified the method of victory. You could then have found 11/4 on him winning the fight on points, 12/5 on him winning via a knockout or 8/1 on him winning via a submission.

If you bet on him to win the fight via a knockout, your bet would lose if he won on points or via a submission, but you would be rewarded with a higher payout if your prediction proved correct. You can also bet on multiple method of victory outcomes. If you did not think he would win via submission, you could have divided your stake in two and bet on him to win on points and via a knockout. If either had come in, you would have made a strong profit.

You can also opt for spread betting when speculating on the method of victory. Our traders will assign a quote to each potential outcome. You might have seen 10.5-16.5 on Emmett by points, 24-30 on Emmett by knockout (KO, TKO, technical decision or DQ) and 2-5.5 on Emmett by submission. In this market, you get 100 points if it comes in and zero points if it does not. For example, if you bought at 30 on Emmett winning via a knockout, you would have earned 70 times your stake if he had knocked out Burgos. You would have lost 30 times your stake if he had won by submission or a points decision, or lost the fight.

MMA Total Rounds Betting

This is a great option if you are unsure which fighter will prevail, but you believe it will either be over quickly or turn into a long, drawn-out battle. You will generally find fixed MMA odds on the total rounds completed in a fight. For example, you might see odds of 3/8 on at least one round completed, and 2/1 on less than one round completed. You may then find 20/21 on at least two rounds completed, and 5/6 on less than two rounds completed.

You might then see 1/2 on less than three rounds, and 6/4 on at least three rounds, with 1/3 on less than four and 9/4 on at least four. Finally, you might see 2/9 on less than five rounds and 3/1 on at least five rounds, which essentially means the fight going the distance. The odds on each of these outcomes will vary from fight to fight, depending on the gulf in quality between the fighters and how regularly their fights finish quickly or go the distance.

You can also find spread betting options on total rounds. For instance, we might offer a quote of 2.5-3 rounds on a particular fight. If you think it will be over quickly, you can sell at 2.5. If you think it will drag on, buy at 3. If you sell at 2.5 and the fight finishes in the first round, you would make 1.5 times your stake. If it finished in the second round, you would net a profit of 0.5 times your stake. If the fight finished in the third round, you would lose 0.5 times your stake, and so on. If you bought at 3, you would hope the fight lasts as long as possible, as your profit would increase with each additional round fought.

This is a really exciting option, because it keeps you interested until the end of the fight. Let’s say you placed a fixed-odds bet on at least two rounds. You would naturally be delighted when the second round ended, as your bet would have paid off. However, your interest might then start to wane. If you had bought at the upper end of the spread, you would stay interested until the final round, as your profit would increase with each extra round fought.

MMA Total Minutes

This is another interesting spread betting alternative to wagering on total rounds. It allows you to bet on the exact number of minutes the fight will last. You might find a quote of 11.5-12.5 minutes. If you thought it would be over quickly, you would sell at 11.5. If you fancied the fight to be a long, drawn-out affair, you could buy at 12.5 minutes. The minimum make up is 1 and the maximum is 25, as we round it to the nearest number of minutes.

If you sold at 11.5 and the fight ended after 8 minutes, you would earn 3.5 times your stake. If the fight ended after 13 minutes, you would lose 1.5 times your stake. If you bought at 12.5 and the fight ended at the 20-minute mark, you would earn a profit equivalent to 7.5 times your stake. If it finished before 12.5 minutes, you would incur a loss. With spread betting, the more right you are, the more money you stand to earn. It is a lot more volatile than fixed-odds betting, but many punters love the excitement of having several potential outcomes and the potential to turn a small stake into a large payout.

Fight Goes the Distance

This is a straightforward bet on whether or not the fight will go the distance. You can opt for fixed-odds or go for a spread. If both fighters have a history of regularly securing knockout or submission victories, you might find odds of 6/4 on the fight going the distance, and 1/2 on it not going the distance. If both fighters are pretty evenly matched and their previous bouts have often been decided by a points decision, you might see odds of 7/10 on the fight going the distance, and 11/10 on it not going the distance.

Alternatively, you will find a MMA spread betting market on this. We might offer 19-25 on a fight going the distance, and 75-81 on it not going the distance. In this market, we assign 100 points if it comes in and zero points if it does not. If you thought it would go the distance, you could buy at 25. If it did indeed go the distance, the result would be 100, and you would earn 75 times your stake in profit. If it did not go the distance, the result would be zero, and you would therefore lose 25 times your stake.

Round Betting

If you want to be more specific about when the fight will end, our traders will offer a quote for each of the five rounds. Let’s say you think Jon Jones will win a big fight, and you want more value than simply betting on him to secure victory. You could bet on him to win in a particular round. You might find a quote of 28.5.33.5 on Jones winning in the first round, 21.5-25.5 on Jones winning in the second round, 15.5-18.5 on him winning in round three, 12-15 on him winning in round four and 10.5-13.5 on him winning in round five. Once again, the result is 100 if it lands and zero if it does not.

If you had a strong feeling that Jones would win in the third round, you could buy at 18.5. If he pulled it off, you would earn 81.5 times your stake. If he won in the first, second, fourth or fifth round, or won on points, or lost the fight, the result would be zero and you would lose 18.5 times your stake. You could also sell at 15.5 if you did not think he would win in the third round. You would then earn 15.5 times your stake if Jones won in the first, second, fourth or fifth round, or won on points, or lost the fight. You would however lose 84.5 times your stake if he won in the third round.

Get the latest MMA odds and MMA spread betting markets at Sporting Index.