UFC

Watching fights has always been a big part of sports culture. While boxing was once the king of the fighting world, over the past decade or so, the UFC has fully taken over. As the UFC has grown and the fighters have garnered more attention, people have started planning their weekends around UFC events, and that planning almost certainly involves who they are betting on in each fight.

Key upcoming dates for UFC bettors & fans

• August 16, 2025: UFC 319 at United Center, Chicago, Illinois

  • Main Event: Dricus Du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev, Co-Main Event: Lerone Murphy vs. Aaron Pico

• August 23, 2025: UFC Fight Night 257 at Shanghai Indoor Stadium, Xuhui District, China

  • Main Event: Johnny Walker vs. Zhang Mingyang, Co-Main Event: Brian Ortega vs. Aljamain Sterling

• September 6-7, 2025: UFC Fight Night at Accor Arena, Paris, France

  • Main Event: Nassourdine Imavov vs. Caio Borralho, Co-Main: Andreas Gustafsson vs. Rinat Fakhretdinov

• September 13, 2025: UFC Fight Night at Frost Bank Arena, San Antonio, Texas

  • Main Event: Diego Lopes vs. Jean Silva, Co-Main Event: Jose Daniel Medina vs. Dusko Todorovic

• September 27, 2025: UFC Fight Night 260 at RAC Arena, Perth, Australia

  • Main Event: Loma Lookboonme vs. Alexia Thainara, Co-Main Event: Colby Thicknesse vs. Josias Musasa

• October 4, 2025: UFC 320 at T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada

  • Main Event: Magomed Ankalaev vs. Alex Pereira, Co-Main: Merab Dvalishvili vs. Cory Sandhagen

• October 11, 2025: UFC Fight Night at Farmasi Arena, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

  • Main Event: Charles Oliveria vs. Rafael Fiziev

• October 18, 2025: UFC Fight Night at Rogers Arena, Vancouver, Canada

  • Main Event: Manon Fiorot vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius, Co-Main: Azamat Bekoev vs. Yoursi Belgaroui

• October 25, 2025: UFC 321 at Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

  • Main Event: Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane, Co-Main Event: Alexander Volkov vs. Jailton Almeida

UFC 319 Card & Odds

*Odds as of August 11, 2025, from DraftKings

UFC Fight Night Results & Closing Odds

Comparing online sportsbooks and their UFC betting markets

Whether a sport is team-oriented or individual, the first step to betting on either one is line shopping. With how big the UFC has gotten, all of the premier licensed sportsbooks offer odds for each fight. Now, how good those odds are or how vast the betting markets available are is a different story, which is why we always recommend having multiple sportsbook accounts and line shopping to ensure the best price on any market.

When it comes to the UFC, there are a few shops that stand out among the rest in terms of the quality of the lines or available betting markets. From the perspective of convenience and quality, we’ve found that BetMGM stands out a bit, thanks to its well-organized UFC menu, ability to parlay picks, and sheer number of betting markets it offers each fight.

If making parlays for a given UFC event is something that is valued by a bettor, then DraftKings is another strong shop to check out. Outside of the ease of making a UFC parlay, DraftKings offers some of the strongest odds for the sport, along with all the betting markets that receive the most action.

One book that typically has some of the best odds on the market is the Circa Sportsbook. Unfortunately, Circa is not available in a wide range of states. However, if a bettor resides in a state where Circa is licensed, we recommend adding it to their rotation of books when line shopping for fights.

UFC, MMA, and daily fantasy sports

Just because the UFC is not played on a field or court does not mean fans can’t compete in daily fantasy sports competitions for the sport. Many of the premier DFS products have made it a point over the years to increase their attention on MMA competitions, allowing UFC fans to find highly entertaining and potentially profitable contests on apps like Underdog, PrizePicks, DraftKings DFS, and ParlayPlay.

The two primary contests for UFC and MMA events are Pick' ems and drafting a lineup from a salary cap. Apps like Underdog, PrizePicks, and ParlayPlay focus primarily on the Pick’em contests, which involve choosing the over/under certain stats. The more picks that are put into an entry, the higher the payout could be. Typically, the minimum number of picks required for an entry is two, and the maximum is eight.

Now, the “salary cap” contest is a more traditional contest and one that many people may have done before for other sports like football. This contest style involves drafting a lineup of fighters while staying under a set salary cap with the hopes of that lineup outsourcing either another person or an entire group. DraftKings DFS is the best app to use for a contest of this style, as it offers a multitude of contests for each fight card, which vary by the number of other contestants and the entry fee required.

What kind of UFC bets can you place?

A UFC fight night is already generally filled with a ton of excitement, but betting on each fight brings the excitement to another level. For any given fight during a card, there are a number of markets that bettors can choose from. Of course, the first of those markets is the outright winner or “moneyline,” which allows bettors to simply choose who will win the fight, whether it be through knockout, submission, or decision.

In reality, the moneyline market is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to UFC betting markets, as there are plenty more to delve into. Outside of the outright winner, one of the most common markets that sees the most handle is the total rounds market, which allows bettors to wager on the over/under of how many rounds the fight will last.

Now, if bettors would prefer to bet on something more specific for each fight, they can always bet on the method of victory market. Typically, a fight will end in three ways: KO/TKO, submission, or by judges' decision. Since this market is more specific than just outright winner, bettors may be able to find better odds and prices within this market, for example, Sean O’Malley may be (-145) to win a fight outright, but he may also be (+215) to win by KO.

Fight props are also a big aspect of the MMA betting markets. These markets can be straightforward, such as predicting whether the fight will go the distance, or they can be more specific, like the time of finish, which requires bettors to select the exact timeframe and round in which a fight will end. Depending on the size of the fight, more fight props may be available, so a title fight will likely offer a few more betting markets than one of the first fights of the night.

In-play UFC betting

Betting on UFC events does not have to stop once a fight starts. In fact, live betting plays a big role in bettors maximizing their profits throughout a fight night. Everyone thinks their bet is winning when they place it, at least they should, but sometimes a fighter has an off night. If that happens to be the case, live betting allows bettors to hedge their bets if they start to see the fighter they wagered on start to lose momentum.

Now, on the flip side, the fighter a bettor wagered on could also come out looking dominant, so in this case, a bettor may look to double down on that fighter with a live moneyline, or they may bet them to win the fight via knockout. While this sounds simple, and many sportsbooks have strong live betting platforms, they are also constantly updating the odds, so bettors must act fast and keep a close eye on the odds at all times to ensure they are getting the best price possible.

Even if a bettor doesn’t have a wager placed prior to the fight, live betting allows bettors to use the advantage of monitoring the momentum throughout the fight. One punch or kick can change everything, so if a fighter looks stunned after taking a hit, that may be a good time to see what live lines are posted.

UFC events

Like most businesses, the UFC started in humble beginnings, but now there are nine different formats for a UFC event. The highest tier of these events is numbered events, which are almost always pay-per-view and feature premier title fights or bouts between some of the biggest-name fighters in the UFC.

Other UFC events that require some sort of subscription service, typically ESPN+, include UFC “Fight Night” and The Ultimate Fighter Finale. However, all other UFC events are free to watch across various networks, including ABC, ESPN, FOX, FX, Fuel TV, and Versus.

The number of fights each year does vary, but on average, including Pay-Per-View fights, there are typically a little over 40 per year. In total, by the end of October 2024, there will have been 308 numbered events and 246 “Fight Night” events, with no signs of the company slowing down anytime soon.

Betting on future UFC fights

With how big the UFC has gotten, once a fight card is announced, those fights have lines posted on most of the top sportsbooks. Whether it’s a title fight or a fight to earn a shot at the title, once Dana White announces which fighters will be going to battle in the ring, bettors are able to start placing their bets.

Occasionally, some sportsbooks will even offer lines for fights that have not yet been confirmed but are in the negotiation phase. Given the size of some of the fighters, these negotiations may take a while or even fall through. However, if they do fall through, a licensed sportsbook will void any bet placed on the potential match.

Other MMA events & contests

From the outside looking in, it may seem like the MMA atmosphere is strictly owned by the UFC, but in reality, there are other organizations that are out to challenge the UFC. In the U.S., the PFL, or Professional Fighters League, is the closest thing the UFC has to a competitor. Additionally, in the U.S., Invicta FC is the leading all-women’s MMA promotion and has featured some of the top women’s fighters in history before they broke into the UFC.

Around the world, numerous MMA promotions have given rise to some of the biggest names in the sport. For example, the Rizin Fighting Federation, ONE Championship, KSW, and Cage Warriors, which is the head promoter in Europe and gave fighters like Conor McGregor their start.

PFL - Professional Fighters League

Since 2018, the Professional Fighters League has been one of the bigger names in the MMA community. In a market dominated by the UFC, other MMA corporations need to do something that makes them stand out, which is exactly what the PFL did. Instead of hosting events throughout the year with different title fights at various times, the PFL has its fighters participate in a regular season, postseason, and championship, similar to a team-oriented sports league.

Throughout the regular season, fighters will receive points for the results of their fights, which creates standings for each weight class. From there, only the top four fighters by points in each weight class advance to the postseason.

Bellator

If the UFC is the number one mixed martial arts entity in the United States, then Bellator is number two. Bjorn Rebney launched Bellator in 2008, and since 2023, it has been owned by the Professional Fighters League. While Bellator may not have the same following as the UFC, there are certainly plenty of high-level fighters who compete within the organization, and throughout the years, many of them have made the transition to the UFC.

In terms of Bellator’s schedule, it is very similar to the UFC, with events held nearly every month at various locations around the world. Up until 2024, the events were titled in chronological order, for example, Bellator 300. Once the company was acquired by the PFL, a PFL vs. Bellator event took place at the start of 2024. Since then, Bellator has hosted an event approximately every month.

Other Useful Apps & Websites for UFC Bettors

As the UFC has grown into an exceptionally popular league, the number of tools and resources that fans and bettors can access has increased. With the top sportsbooks for UFC betting already covered, here we'll look at the best resources and tools for UFC bettors and fans in general.

• Bloody Elbow: Since 2007, Bloody Elbow has kept fighting fans up-to-date on all things UFC, MMA, and boxing. The site's primary focus is the UFC, where fans can find news, interviews, fight announcements, and more. Fans can find general news or filter news by upcoming UFC events.

• UFC Official Website: Rankings are a major aspect of the UFC, and the UFC's official website has them laid out in a highly organized way, making it easy for fans to browse through. Each fighter in the UFC also has an individual player page on the site, which is filled with news, records, and stats that are very helpful in the handicapping process for bettors.

• MMA Mania: Arguably one of the best UFC blogs available right now, MMA Mania provides quality news articles that cover the world of MMA. Whether it's the latest news from a fight weigh-in, a recap of a Dana White press conference, or a fight preview, MMA Mania has all die-hard fans covered.

The Layoff Trap: Fading UFC Fighters Returning After 400+ Days

Comeback fights from big-name fighters can be one of the most exciting aspects of the UFC, but when all the hype is put aside, some of those fights have proven to be letdowns. Despite the fight falling short of expectations, bettors may be able to capitalize on this opportunity by fading the fighter who is coming off a lengthy hiatus. 

Fighters who return to the octagon after being out for 13+ months have not proven to have a solid win rate. Not only do they have a target on their backs, as the up-and-coming fighters want to make a name for themselves by beating them, but their competitive rhythm may not be where it should be. Even with those factors, public bettors who are excited for the return of their favorite fighter may shift the odds in a way that should be music to sharp bettors' ears.

All the pay-per-view sales for the fight may be due to the legendary fighter's return, but those views are only more motivation for the young and prepared challenger. This does not mean bettors should blindly bet against fighters in their return. Take Conor McGregor, for example, in his first fight after beating Eddie Alvarez in 2016, he returned to the ring in 2018 and lost. However, when he returned in 2020, he picked up a win over Donald Cerrone.