Mma Round Betting

Check out the latest MMA odds on this page to figure out who to put your money behind. In early 2020 MMA fights were in session all over the world: knockouts, takedowns, and round after round of action were a weekly occurrence for people to enjoy on TV or in-person.

Betting on MMA fights has grown into a massive industry that stretches across the entire world. Top MMA promotions including the UFC have a large audience in countries all over the world.

  1. Bet MMA is home to the most in depth MMA betting statistics on the net! Check out whether it is best to bet on Underdogs or Favorites in MMA or check out our vast array of MMA stats, providing detailed breakdowns of MMA fights broken down by things like round by round finishes, card position, weight class, male and female, plus check out the odds at the time for every fight.
  2. Obviously, a round bet is a better one if a fighter in the bout is a knockout artist and is very aggressive rather than passive and picking spots to hurt their opponent. The round bet is harder to win, but because of that the payout is solid.

Online bookmakers allow bettors to place wagers on MMA fights easily, but before you start betting on MMA, you need to learn the different types of MMA bets. Everyone knows that they can bet on who they think is going to win a fight, but there are lots of other ways to bet on MMA, which we’ll explain below.

Moneyline Bet / Match Bet

  • Fighter A -300 vs. Fighter B +200

A moneyline bet or match bet is when you select one fighter to win a fight by whatever means necessary. It doesn’t matter how the fighter wins the fight as long as they end up winning.

This is the most popular bet in MMA, as everyone has a prediction as to who should win all of the big MMA fights. Make sure you read over our MMA odds guide if you don’t know how to read the odds listed in our moneyline bet example above.

Parlay Bet / Accumulator Bet / Multiplier Bet

Mma

Depending on where you live a parlay, accumulator or multiplier is a wager with multiple sections. For the sake of this article, I will refer to this bet as a parlay.

For instance, if you think three fighters will win you could bet on all three with a parlay bet to increase the payout odds. The only way you’ll win the parlay is if you end up winning all of the selections you make on the bet.

Even if just one of the fight’s lost the parlay will be a loser, and you won’t win anything. Parlays are great when betting on a couple of favorites since the odds are increased but so is the risk.

Open Parlay

An open parlay is when you decide to make a bet, and you use the option to leave spots open. You don’t have to select them right away but the number of spots you leave open need to be filled before the bet is complete.

These are fun if you want to bet on many fights or events, but you’re not sure on your selections yet. 5 Dimes offer this option, and you can have up to 25 open spots.

Over/Under Bet

  • Fighter A vs. Fighter B – Over 2.5 Round -115 / Under 2.5 Rounds +105

One of the easiest ways to bet on an MMA fight is by betting the over/under. In an over/under bet the bookie will post a round total, and you need to bet on whether the fight will last longer or shorter than the round total.

Mma round betting line

Over under odds are posted to the bookies desecration. But they are fairly standard across the board.

Here are some examples of the Over Under listings.

  • Over Under 1.5 Rounds – Usually found when two aggressive fighters fight.

To win the over bet, the bout must pass 2.5mins of the second round.
To win the under the fight needs to end before 2.5mins of round two.

  • Over Under 2.5 Rounds – This is what you will see offered the most.
Mma Round Betting

To win the over bet, the bout must pass 2.5mins of the third round.
To win the under the fight needs to end before 2.5mins of round three.

  • Over Under 3.5 rounds – You will see the option in most championship fights, fights that have five rounds.

To win the over bet, the bout must pass 2.5mins of the fourth round.
To win the under the fight needs to end before 2.5mins of round four.

Round Betting

Several MMA sportsbooks allow bettors to bet on what round they think the fight will finish in, and the payout odds are much better when betting this way.

You can also bet on a fighter to win the fight during a certain round as well, which is another great MMA bet with excellent payout odds.

Method of Victory

There are three ways to win a fight in MMA including KO, Submission, and Points. If you think you know how a fight is going to end and want to make some money, you can bet on the method of victory at several bookmakers.

Mma Round Betting Picks

Variations of this bet are available.

Inside the Distance: A fighter wins by KO or Submission. He finishes the fight one way or another, i.e. Inside the Distance.

The fight ends by Submission: One fighter wins by submission. It does not matter who, it just needs to end by submission.

The fight ends by KO: One fighter wins by knockout or TKO. It does not matter who, just one person has to stop the other using strikes.

Handicap Betting

One of the lesser known bets and one of my personal favorites is the handicap bet. It’s where the book offers odds giving a fighter a (+) or (-) points amount before the fight.

The odds with this bet are lower than the odds for a moneyline bet, but used smartly and in Parlays can be profitable.

Examples of Handicap Bets

3 Round fight, fighter A is the favorite.

  • Fighter A -3.5
  • Fighter B +3.5

If either fighter wins by KO, TKO, or DQ, that fighter wins the handicap regardless of the scoring at the time of the stoppage.

The fight completes all scheduled rounds, and the judges score the fight.

  • Scores of Fighter A 30-27, Fighter A 29-28, Fighter A 29-28

Fighter A wins a unanimous decision based on these scores.

  • The cumulative score for Fighter A is 30+29+29 = 88
  • The cumulative score for Fighter B is 27+28+28 = 83

So now we use the handicap scores to get our result.

  • Fighter A has a total of 88 – 3.5 = 84.5
  • Fighter B has a total of 83 + 3.5 = 86.5

Despite losing the fight, Fighter B would win the handicap bet based on this outcome.

Let’s do a five round fight, and again Fighter A is the favorite.

  • Fighter A -5.5
  • Fighter B +5.5

Scores of Fighter A 50-45, Fighter A 50-45, Fighter A 48-47.

Fighter A wins a unanimous decision based on these scores, and one judge did give Fighter B one round.

  • The cumulative score for Fighter A is 50+50+49 = 148
  • The cumulative score for Fighter B is 45+45+46 = 136

So now we use the handicap scores to get our result.

  • Fighter A has a total of 149 – 5.5 = 143.5
  • Fighter B has a total of 136 + 5.5 = 141.5

Fighter A would win the handicap bet on this fight. This bet is excellent, and you can use it if you think a guy has a great chance to win the fight, but the moneyline odds are not too appealing. The odds will be slightly higher. You can also use these bets in Parlays. There one of the best bets you can do if you pick them smartly.

A rule of thumb is, if a fighter wins a round on all three judges scorecards, he will usually win the handicap. But don’t forget about 10-8 rounds, I have had occasions where a fighter clearly won a round but lost the handicap.

This bet can only be found on 5 Dimes. If you like betting on the UFC I highly recommend you make an account there.

Decision Victories

You can bet on decision victories too. You can bet this a few ways the most popular one would be Fighter A wins by decision. Can be any decision it just needs to go to points.

There are more creative decision bets available too.

Mma Round Betting Against

A fighter wins by “Unanimous Decision” when all three judges score him as the winner.

A fighter wins by “Split-Decision” when two judges score him as the winner and one judge scores the other fighter as the winner.

A fighter wins by “Majority Decision” when two judges score him as the winner and one judge scores the fight a draw.

Live UFC Betting

Betting live on fights is a lot of fun and a good way to make money if you carefully select spots. Generally, there are two types of live betting sites. One is sites that let you bet in between rounds and the other is live betting throughout the fight. We have a full live betting guide here.

Prop Bets

Bettors can wager on a few prop bets in MMA including several very popular UFC prop bets. If you watch the UFC, you may know that they have awards for Performance of the Night and Fight of the Night. The odds on these bets are usually high.

If you’ve ever heard of over/under bets before, these are going to seem
fairly similar. In a basketball game, you would typically bet on if the number
of points scored by both teams was over or under a certain amount. This would be
the same for football as well as most other sports. Combat sports, like MMA, are
a bit different, though. There aren’t really points or things like that you can
add up, but you’re actually betting on the length of the fight. Yes, we know
there are points awarded for winning rounds, but those don’t work with this type
of bet.

In MMA, you are betting on how long the fight lasts. The easiest way to
understand this would be an example. Here’s an over/under bet you might see.

  • Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson 2.5 Rounds
    • If you took the under, you would win if the fight ended before the 2.5-minute
      mark of the second round.
    • If you took the over, you would win if the fight ended after the 2.5-minute
      mark of the second round.

Mma Round Betting Picks

It does not matter who wins the fight or how they win; it just matters WHEN
it ends. This creates some new ways that you can leverage your predictions of
how you think a fight is going to go. Have you ever been getting ready for a
fight and thought to yourself, “There is no way this fight makes it out of the
first round with these two beasts.” Well, now you can bet on that knowledge
without worrying about who is actually going to finish the other.

When to Use This Bet

Mma Round Betting Game

Over/under bets are great when you have a strong idea of how the fight is
going to go. Sometimes this bet is placed in conjunction with picking a winner
and sometimes it is not. If you think a fighter is going to come out and destroy
the other guy in the first round, you can bet that fighter to win and take the
under. You’d be seeing a great payday if you’re right

The most common lines that you will see are the following:

  • Over Under 1.5 Rounds
  • Over Under 2.5 Rounds
  • Over Under 3.5 Rounds

Over/Under 1.5 rounds is common when you have two extremely aggressive
fighters that are going to be coming out swinging for the fences. You’ll see
this more often with heavyweight fighters as they’re much more likely to finish
things quickly with their superior knockout power.

Over/Under 2.5 rounds is the most common that you’re going to see. As most
fights outside of Championship events are 3 rounds, you’re basically betting if
the fight is going to have a stoppage or go the distance. If you think that the
fight is going to go to the judges, bet the over. If you think someone is going
to finish it before the last 2.5 minutes, bet the under.

Over/Under 3.5 rounds is the most common that you will see in Championship
fights that are scheduled for five rounds. Again, this all comes down to how you
think the fight is going to go down. Remember, that in a lot of Championship
fights the fighters start out slowly in the first round and feel each other out.
This means that if you bet the under, it’s a bit less time that they’ll actually
be going at it.

The bottom line with this bet is that it gives you added flexibility in
betting when you think you know how the fight will go, not just who is going to
win.