Best UFC Betting Sites 2020

The UFC is one of the fastest-growing companies in all of sport and as a result, betting in mixed martial arts has become one of the most popular markets out there, with many bookmakers now prioritising this sportsbook as one of their main markets. Finding the best UFC betting sites can be a tough process, with certain bookmakers favouring this as one of their most desired markets, whilst others tend to just ignore the sport altogether, although, as it picks up a rapid pace, the majority of world-leading bookmakers do offer markets on the UFC and MMA in general.

The best UFC betting sites can be tough to find, however, as there are so many bookmakers and tipsters out there. On this page, we will show you the best UFC betting sites and all the sites to bet on UFC you need to know, including where best to find the best UFC odds and all the UFC free bets and how else to bet on MMA outside of the UFC.

Unlike other sports such as football, betting on MMA and UFC is a relatively simple process, as there are not many in-play markets or complex pre-fight markets to worry about. Here at Oddschanger, we pride ourselves on making sure every bettor new and old has a simple, easy and fun way to bet - we will find you the best way to bet on the UFC right here!

In the grand scheme of sports, MMA is relatively new in the competitive sense. The sport has been around for generations, as has many disciplines within mixed martial arts, such as boxing, wrestling and Muay Thai. However, as a sport called ‘MMA’, this combat sport has only been in the mainstream since the 90s, with the UFC starting its first event called ‘UFC 1’, back in late 1993. Since then, the UFC has gone on to become the world leader in MMA, whilst other organisations like Cage Warriors, Bellator and ONE Championship have also become well-known institutions worldwide, attracting the best MMA fighters across the world and building a strong, popular following.

The term ‘mixed martial arts’ was in fact coined back at UFC 1 by television critic Howard Rosenberg and it has been used as the sports official title. MMA was initially promoted as a competition to find the most effective and best fighting discipline for unarmed combat in real life, and not so much to establish itself as a combat sport, like boxing and other disciplines.

The idea of MMA in the early days was for fighters/competitors with completely different fighting styles to be matched against each other to find which fighting discipline was the best in unarmed combat. To do this, early days in MMA saw very little rules, such as grounded head kicks and grounded knees, both of which have since been eradicated from the sport entirely as, simply put, it was too violent.

After years of progression and events at organisations like the UFC, fighters from around the world started to bring multiple martial arts into their style, rather than concentrating on one area of fighting. Nowadays, the modern day MMA fighter brings excellence from a wide range of disciplines, and championship fighters like Jon Jones bring forth wrestling, kickboxing, jiu-jitsu and other styles into one elite fighter.

Following these changes to the rules and the increase in ability from a variety of worldwide fighting disciplines, the sport has seen an incredible increase in popularity, with MMA now regarded as a faster-rising sport than boxing and a pay-per-view business that rivals boxing and professional wrestling.

Unlike football and other sports where the length of a match is significantly longer, betting on the UFC and MMA is much simpler. Football and other team sports have different ways in scoring, whilst there are plenty of players to keep an eye on and potentially place a bet on, whether this is with bookings, shots, goals and more.

The most notable type of UFC bet is the method of victory and outright winner. Bettors will have the option to bet on the winner of the fight, meaning you will win your bet by the simple nature of your chosen fighter winning. As well as this, there is what is known as ‘method of victory’ where you can bet on a chosen fighter to win via KO/TKO, decision, disqualification or submission. Each fighter, given their preferred and strongest discipline, will differ in odds for each one. For example, Khabib Nurmagomedov, a submission specialist, was often shorter odds to win by submission than he was to win via TKO/KO. On the other hand, fighters like Conor McGregor, who specialises in the stand-up aspect of the sport, are often significantly shorter odds to win via TKO/KO than they are via submission and sometimes even via a decision.

Betting odds to run deeper in MMA betting as well, with betting offered on things like most strikes landed, most takedowns, round betting, double chance and so on.

MMA is one of the most competitive sports out there and no doubt, one of the most violent and unpredictable. Since the time of UFC 1 in 1993, fighters from around the world have brought their own fighting cultures and disciplines, whilst stars like Israel Adesanya from Nigeria and Petr Yan from Russia have come with their own specific, unique styles of fighting to dominate their respective divisions.

In this sport, fighters bring a variety of skill sets, making every single event unpredictable, and whilst there will still be a favourite in each fight, there are arguments for either fighter to win. For example, if a wrestler comes up against a boxer, the common belief is that if the fight stays on its feet, the boxer wins. However, if the fight goes to the ground, the wrestling specialist will win, either by TKO/KO through ground and pound punches, or perhaps a submission. At the same time, the wrestler will likely win the round, if he takes the opponent down and keeps them there for the remainder of the round.

As for the similarities between boxing and MMA, they are two entirely different sports, despite them both being in combat. Professional boxing fights tend to be 12 round fights that are three minutes each. On the other hand, in the UFC, all fights are scheduled for three rounds, that are five minutes each, unless the fight is the main event of that card or a title fight. If it is a title fight or main event, the fight changes to a five-round fight that lasts five minutes each round.

Also, boxing is solely punching, with rules such as no punching below the belt or to the back of the head. In MMA, whilst rules like no hits to the back of the head still apply, kicks, elbows, knees and grappling are all allowed, but with certain variations. For example, fighters must follow the ‘12-6’ ruling for elbow strikes, which ultimately means fighters cannot strike the opponent with the tip of the elbow. At the same time, fighters cannot kick or knee a downed opponent, unlike in the early days of the UFC.

The odds available in the UFC differ from what is often available in other MMA institutions, such as Bellator or Cage Warriors. However, method of victory, round betting, significant strikes, fight to go the distance, fights to be finished in under a minute, RequestABets, double chance, outright winner and price boosted bets are all available throughout most UK bookmakers which offer UFC betting - these are available on their UFC betting sites and their bookmaker app.

As with most sports betting markets, odds are competitive throughout the world of UFC betting. Odds will differ from bookie to bookie and fight to fight, so be sure to sign up for plenty of UFC bookmakers to gain the free bets and see what odds are best to use. In UFC specifically, Sky Bet, Bet365, William Hill and Paddy Power lead the way as the best odds within this betting market. Paddy Power and Sky Bet do also other a wide range of UFC markets to bet on, with boosted odds and RABs available.

There is also the importance of welcome offers when it comes to UFC betting if you want to get the most out of UFC betting sites. A lot of new bettors tend to believe that welcome offers only apply for football betting, as their advertisements tend to feature popular football players and teams, whilst plenty of ex-professional footballers tend to be ambassadors for certain bookmakers. However, this is not the case and many welcome offers can be used for UFC betting and other betting markets. Do read the terms and conditions in full to check if your welcome offer applies to UFC and not another sport specifically. Chances are, you will be able to use your free bets from your welcome offer on the UFC, but some offers do apply to specific sports and sometimes, specific games.

Also with UFC betting, unlike other sports, UFC betting does not offer live streaming. The UFC works with BT Sport in the UK and as a result, there is no way to live stream UFC fights without having a BT Sport subscription.

You can, however, bet on the UFC and see all the UFC markets and UFC odds on both mobile and desktop. Other than SBK, every single bookmaker out there that offers UFC betting will have a UFC betting site. All you need to do to find UFC betting on your chosen bookmaker is head to the bookie’s website and look for the UFC/MMA sportsbook. This can be done on mobile web pages, a mobile app through the Android or Apple stores, or through desktop on a website.

Finally, cashouts are available on UFC betting, but there are a few things to note. Certain markets like ‘most significant strikes’ will not have a cashout option, due to the fact that this market must go throughout the fight until it either finishes at the final bell or when a fighter wins within the fight itself. Cashouts are available for accumulators, however, and will build gradually as each fight finishes, if you bet is still active and not already lost. Do remember, however, that cashouts are suspended during the fights and will be suspended until the fight is finished and when there is a break in between one fight and the next.

The beauty of MMA compared to boxing is in MMA, the sport is run by individual organisations where fighters must fight within professional organisations, such as the UFC, in order to have the fight sanctioned and recognised as a professional bout. In sports such as boxing, fighters fight within individual committees and anybody can effectively fight professionally in boxing, if the respective committee in that area allows it and if the respective national boxing board allows it to. In boxing, fighters are not signed up to specific contracts to fight for a certain length of time and can fight and not fight how they please, whilst the titles in boxing are spread out throughout four federations: the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF. This four-belt era started in 2004 and it has since caused controversy and a variety of issues across the world of boxing, as not one title is seen as the major title, which effectively can hand up to four people a world champion status. At the same time, each boxing federation has a different ranking system to the next, causing further disruption to the boxing calendar and the potential fights.

In MMA, however, fighters are contracted to a certain number of fights, keeping them at that specific organisation for a number of years. At the same time, this makes the ranking system much more specific and carefully measured.

In the UFC, fights happen most weekends, bar any sort of unforeseen changes in the schedule or if the company decides to take a break for one week. The reason being for fights each week is that there are 12 weight classes (8 male divisions, 4 female divisions), with 15 ranked opponents in each all gunning for a title shot, whilst there are many others outside of this that are yet to be ranked. Also, in 2020, there were 71 countries that had a representative in the UFC, meaning that the UFC has tried to travel the world each time to reach out to fans in each country and take the sport of MMA to the next level.

Most fights will, however, take place in the United States of America, with almost all of the PPV events will be in Las Vegas, and sometimes, New York at Madison Square Garden. The fights that will happen most weeks are called ‘UFC Fight Nights’. These UFC Fight Nights are not PPV events and are free to watch, should you have the correct TV subscription and most of the time, these UFC Fight Nights tend to show non-title fight events. However, there have been occasions where title fights are on UFC Fight Nights, but these weekly events are usually set aside for ranked opponents to fight and used as an attempt to find the next contender.

There is then what is known as the UFC ‘numbered events’, which are the events that are on PPV in America and (usually) free to watch in the UK. These events predominately show a title fight and are used to showcase the very best talent the UFC has to offer, as well as the biggest in the UFC at that time, for example, Conor McGregor v Dustin Poirier is not a title fight, but this bout upholds two well-known names and is, therefore, turned into a numbered event.

Outside of the UFC, there are 100s of other MMA organisations, however, there are only a few that offer MMA betting. For example, Bellator and Cage Warriors and One Championship tend to offer odds and William Hill in particular offer odds on these events. The markets may differ from UFC markets, given how this organisation isn’t as popular, however, they are still in-depth, precise and expertly analysed.

UFC betting site bonuses are not as common as football bonuses, based solely on the fact sport is not as popular as football betting. However, RequestABets with Sky Bet, boosted offers and plenty of bonuses are still available through many bookmakers that offer UFC betting. For example, William Hill and other bookmakers will offer enhanced prices on specific fights as a signup offer only, e.g, doubling the odds of a particular fighter to win, but to new customers only. Some bookmakers also entice new customers by offering free bets on specific UFC fights and UFC events, so be sure to keep an eye on our free bets section here at Oddschanger to see the latest free bets for the UFC.

If you’re after UFC tips, you’ve come to the right place. Our experts here at Oddschanger have strategically put together UFC tips for every single event that is on the calendar and you can see all our UFC tips on our website, whether this be in the UFC tips section, or our UFC content, expertly detailing and analysing every fight.

If you want some free UFC bets, head over to our UFC tips page and our free bets page. Here, you will find all the bonuses, welcome offers and latest tips for every upcoming fight in the UFC.

Can you watch UFC on betting sites?

No, unfortunately, you cannot watch UFC on betting sites like you can with football and other sports. UFC in the UK is strictly on BT Sport, although, almost every fight is free to watch on BT Sport, with barely any PPVs throughout the year.

Where can I bet on UFC?

You can bet on the UFC with almost any bookmaker in the UK, with leaders like Sky Bet, Paddy Power, Bet365, Betfair, Betway and so on all dedicating experts in MMA to getting the most out of UFC betting tips and UFC betting. To find sites to bet on UFC, head to our free bets page and claim some free UFC bets for the upcoming fights. Here you will see a list of bookmakers and free bets for all UFC betting.

How do you bet on UFC?

Betting on UFC is certainly one of the more simple ways in which to bet on sports, as the markets are quite simple, basic and not so complex. Most of the time, bettors will bet on method of victory or round betting, and sometimes aspects like significant strikes. To bet on the UFC, head to your chosen bookmaker, or our free bets section and pick one, and head down to the UFC/MMA section of the sportsbook. Here you will find all the markets for the UFC and MMA, as well as each upcoming fight and potential fights before the end of the year.

Can you parlay UFC fights?

Yes, building accumulators is a popular way of any sports betting, as well as on UFC betting sites and all MMA betting. Bettors can choose a specific fighter to bet on in each fight and build their own UFC accumulator. Certain markets such as ‘most significant strikes’ will not be able to be used in an acca, but choosing a method of victory from up to 15 fights will suffice in a UFC acca.

How do MMA odds work?

MMA odds are accumulated through expert analysis that brings together form, occasion, fight preparation, fighters’ ability and fighters’ disciplines in MMA. For example, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and unbeaten 29-0 fighter has been, and will likely continue to be, the favourite for all of his fights in the lightweight division he dominates.

On the other hand, fighters like Dustin Poirier, who has lost a few but had a change in form on his record by registering more wins, is likely to have his odds differ from fight to fight. Poirier has lost to fighters like McGregor and Khabib, but also beat the likes of Justin Gaethje. As a result, his odds will likely differ from fight to fight, with his form quite topsy-turvy.

Odds will then be chosen on how each fighter can win via TKO/KO, decision or submission and what rounds they may win in.

Can you bet on Cage Warriors?

Yes, certain bookmakers like Sky Bet allow betting on Cage Warriors, as well as Bellator and, of course, the UFC. Some bookmakers that don’t offer in-depth markets and events on MMA might not offer betting on Cage Warriors, One Championship and Bellator. However, do check with your bookmaker on the UFC/MMA sportsbook to see what they offer.