Mixed martial arts (MMA) has exploded in the mainstream after the first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) competitions were broadcast on Pay-Per-View in the early 1990s.
The sport got off to a rocky start due to controversy over the no-rules style of fighting (it was compared to chicken fighting), but after rules and weight classes were introduced to the sport, it became a mainstream sporting competition.
Today’s most successful martial art league is the UFC, followed by Strikeforce, Pancrase, and other international fighting competitions. Bettors can now find mixed martial arts betting at most online bookmakers. The sport has international appeal. Its fighters have become household names, and upsets are common. MMA is arguably one of the best sports for the betting enthusiast.
Best MMA Betting Sites
Top MMA and UFC Betting Sites
Online sportsbooks have been slow to warm up to MMA betting online for some reason. We have no idea why this is, but it can be difficult to find a decent place to bet on MMA and UFC fights. Fortunately, not all sportsbooks suffer from this problem. We know of several high-quality MMA betting websites that are always posting new MMA and UFC lines.
The top MMA betting sites tend to stick mostly with major UFC matchups. As each UFC event approaches, the various betting websites start offering lines on all the headline matches. Minor matches tend not to get any attention from betting sites, but the bigger events are always covered at the top betting websites.
As far as safety is concerned, the top UFC betting websites are known for being safe places to bet on sports. These betting websites are often recommended for other sports as well. Each of the top MMA betting sites on this page is a large and well-known bookmaker. Some of these online bookmakers are even publicly traded companies that have been in business for decades, first as live bookmakers and later as online sportsbooks.
The one complaint we have about the best MMA betting websites is that they don’t have a lot of betting variety. They do a nice job offering bets on many different UFC and MMA fights, but they limit their bets mostly to money line wagers on which fighter will win the match. We would like to see more betting options such as props, round totals, and wagers on how the fight will end. For now, it’s mostly just straight wagers on who will win the fight.
If we start to find quality sportsbooks that offer other types of wagers, we’ll make sure to update this list. One limitation for us is that we only recommend betting websites that are large and well-known places to wager. There might be other betting sites that offer more MMA betting variety, but we don’t feel comfortable recommending small-time bookmakers that don’t have long histories on the internet.
UFC Betting Online
The UFC is the biggest and most well-known mixed martial arts fighting league. It is the largest professional fighting circuit globally, and it has produced some of the greatest matches of all time. If you follow mixed martial arts, you will constantly hear about the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Sports betting websites tend to stick with the UFC exclusively. Every once in a while, betting sites might cover events that Strikeforce or Pancrase promotes, but only when big-name fights go down. When it comes to the UFC, the top betting websites cover each event thoroughly.
Fortunately, the UFC produces so many events every year. There is always some big fight about to take place somewhere in the UFC world. This provides plenty of betting opportunities for all you UFC and MMA junkies out there. Betting websites start offering lines for these events well in advance of their scheduled start dates.
Real Money MMA Betting Online
If you are interested in wagering real money on the UFC or other MMA events, we strongly recommend the websites listed on this page. Not only are these the top MMA betting websites, but they are also considered the safest places to wager on the internet. Each online bookmaker on this page takes a different approach to MMA betting, but they all do a great job overall.
Getting started is easy thanks to a simple list of deposit methods at each betting site. People can sign up for an account at any MMA bookmaker and then deposit within minutes. Once your first deposit has been made, you can start placing bets on MMA matches immediately. The betting sites on this page accept various deposit methods such as Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, e-wallets, bank transfers, cash transfers, and wire transfers.
Deposits at the top betting websites are free and usually hit your betting account instantly. Withdrawals are either free or subject to a small fee depending on the method used to cash out. In most cases, you won’t pay a thing, though. After you request a withdrawal, the money will hit your bank account sometime in the next couple of days.
How MMA Betting Works
MMA betting is pretty simple because there is really only one type of bet available today: the straight-up wager on the winner of the match. We would like to see more betting options in the future, but so far, the only types of MMA bets we have ever seen are wagers on which person will win the fight.
Straight-up MMA bets use the money line format to help even the odds for each fighter. Betting websites use this format so that people don’t just wager on the stronger fighter every time. By altering the payouts for each fighter, betting websites make the underdog worth considering too because of the higher payouts.
A basic MMA bet looks something like this:
- Fedor Emelianenko -225
- Dan Henderson +185
Fedor is considered the favorite in this match because he has been dominating mixed martial arts for years. The odds of -225 mean that for every $2.25 you risk, you stand to win $1.00 if you wager on Fedor and he wins. The +185 next to Henderson means that for every $1.00 you risk, you stand to win $1.85 if he wins.
MMA betting sites alter the payout odds in this manner to get betting action on both fighters. If the odds were the same, everyone would bet on the favorite (Fedor in this example) every time. Now that you know all there is to know about MMA betting online, feel free to check out any of the top MMA betting websites to get started for real money.
Wes Burns co-founded BettingWebsites.com, bringing 15 years as a gambling industry expert to the team.