The UFC is by far the most popular professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) organisation in the world, growing from humble beginnings to become a multi-billion dollar business that regularly sells out arenas in the USA and abroad. This growth can undoubtedly be attributed to the huge box office appeal of fight legends such as Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey, Khabib Nurmagomedov and current heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. However, another contributing factor has been the popularity of UFC betting.
So we’re here to bring you our in-depth guide to the very best UFC betting UK sites, including an examination of site features and special offers, a deep dive into what makes a great UFC betting site and some useful UFC betting tips.
And in the immortal words of legendary UFC ring announcer, Bruce Buffer, “It’s Time”!
Before we get into the full details, here’s a handy summary of our favourite UFC betting UK sites.
Just like UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, Betway packs one hell of a punch when it comes to their betting offering! You can earn a £10 free bet each week when you wager £25 on multiple bets, which includes UFC selections. There are price boosts on offer ahead of the biggest Octagon battles and punters can also pick their own bets for selected UFC events by tweeting the site using the hashtag #BetYourWay.
And if all that wasn’t enough the Betway betting blog also features expert tips and previews ahead of UFC’s marquee events. So when you add all of this to Betway’s excellent overall betting offering and its impressive desktop site, it all makes for a superb combination!
The UFC is full of rags to riches stories, which fits in nicely with the history of BoyleSports, which grew from one betting shop opened by bread delivery man John Boyle in 1982, to become one of the biggest names in worldwide betting. And their reputation is well-earned as BoyleSports has one of the best betting sites out there, full of special offers, useful site features, statistics and an excellent betting blog.
When it comes to Octagon action, we’re pleased to report that their Acca Boost, Acca Insurance and Acca Loyalty Club offers can all be used in conjunction with UFC selections. And you can even watch lower-rung UFC events live on the site, to complement your in-play betting.
Betfred’s welcome bonus is the equivalent of a UFC fighter charging out of the corner at the beginning of a round and throwing punches, as you can earn an unrivalled £60 in free bets and bonuses when signing up for a new account. And once punters have signed up there’s a good chance they will stick around and enjoy the huge amount of existing customer offers and features available at Betfred.
The PickYourPunt feature and price boost features could also prove to be very useful when the big UFC fights take place, and just like BoyleSports, they are one of the few sites to offer live UFC streaming, as well as betting tips ahead of the biggest UFC bouts.
Right from the opening bell, we were impressed by the design of the 10Bet website, which makes excellent use of a clean white background, striking font and some unique and irreverent graphics. There’s plenty of substance to go with the style though as 10Bet offers a huge range of free bet deals across a variety of sports, including an Acca Boost Feature that applies to UFC wagers too.
They also have one of the best welcome offers in the business, as new customers can earn a 100% first deposit bonus of up to £50 that can be used to fund some UFC bets!
With its edgy black and orange layout, 888sport certainly looks the part when it comes to UFC betting, but it’s also one of the cleverest sites we’ve come across. The site provides a tailored betting experience on desktop and mobile, where your betting history is remembered and favourite sports such as UFC appear more prominently as a result.
The top five trending UFC bets are also shown front and centre on the MMA section of the site. In addition, 888sport’s Acca Club is a great offer where you can earn a £5 free bet each week when you place £20 or more on multiple bets, including the UFC.
Now it’s time to outline some of the key elements we always look for in the best betting sites featuring UFC markets, and more importantly, let you know which sportsbooks feature them! And we’ve zeroed in on features that are not shared by all sites, rather than including in-play betting and cash-out, for example, which are features common to all the sports betting sites in this article.
Sportsbook
Live Streaming
Price Boosts
Acca Insurance
Minimum Deposit
Betway
£5
BoyleSports
£5
Betfred
£5
10Bet
£10
888sport
£10
QuinnBet
£10
SBK
£10
VirginBet
£5
BetUK
£10
While there are a lot of common features across all betting sites, there are also many differences between them. So when thinking about signing up with a new sportsbook it’s important to have a good idea about the elements of a betting site that are important to you, so you can pick one that fits your needs perfectly!
UFC betting odds are important, but with so many events to choose from and a large number of markets within each individual fight, no bookmaker could ever claim to offer the most generous prices across the board. Odds comparison sites can be useful tools when searching for the best betting odds for UFC, but in our experience, betting with the more established sportsbooks will ensure that you will get the most competitive prices most of the time.
The standard UFC markets are similar to boxing in that you can wager on the winner of the fight, how many rounds will be contested and the method of victory, among others. However, with just three rounds in standard UFC fights and five in championship bouts, the amount of choice when it comes to UFC betting markets is not huge. However, there are differences between the various UK UFC betting sites when it comes to their range of markets, with the best ones offering combination markets such as “Jiri Prochazka to win by knockout in round three”. And sites such as Betfred will also let you select your own bets ahead of certain fights, allowing you to pick combination wagers that may not otherwise be offered.
In-play betting is a hugely popular way to wager on the UFC as you can use the extra information from the fight itself to make better betting decisions. For instance, if a fighter has established dominance straight from the get-go and a KO seems inevitable then you can back them to win by this method with more confidence than if you would have selected this outcome before the bout. The best UFC live betting sites will offer a generous range of in-play markets that are updated quickly as events unfold, and some may even offer a UFC live betting stream. And at Betway you can even cash out your fight winner bet if your fighter is clearly ahead on the scorecards but you don’t want to risk them losing by knockout or submission.
You won’t find the marquee UFC events streamed on any betting sites as they are shown exclusively on BT Sport, the main broadcaster of UFC in the UK. However, sites such as BoyleSports will often have a UFC live stream of smaller events and watching them can provide you with useful information when backing certain fighters as they move up the rankings and appear on the more prestigious cards.
Bookmaker bonuses are very common because they are a vital way for betting sites to attract new customers and retain the ones they already have. UFC-specific bonuses are rare but that is not to say there aren’t a huge number of special offers out there that can apply to your UFC wagers, so you should always check the promotions page of your preferred site to see what’s on offer. For instance, BoyleSports’ Acca Boosts, Acca Insurance and Acca Loyalty Club apply to UFC bets, giving you a great chance to boost your profits, while Betway offers price boosts ahead of the big UFC events.
A great betting app needs to be a core element of a betting site’s offering because millions of punters love wagering on the go using their mobile devices. The best UFC betting apps should include all the features and bonuses that bettors can enjoy at their desktop counterparts. However, the truly great UFC betting apps are the ones that look fantastic, are easy to navigate and let you place a UFC bet in as few taps as possible! And 888sport have one of the best apps out there, which looks great, offers unparalleled personalisation and also shows you which bets are trending in the Octagon in the UFC section of the app.
The majority of UK punters deposit by debit card, a method which is accepted on every site, but some bettors want to fund their accounts using other options such as e-wallets, Paypal and Apple Pay. So if that’s the case, you should always check out a site’s payment methods before signing up.
Payments from bank to bank in the UK are frequently done and dusted within an hour, so it’s no surprise that punters expect the same from their betting accounts. Withdrawal times are generally good at most betting sites we have come across, especially when it comes to popular payment options such as debit cards. However, if processing time is a big consideration for you then it’s worth checking before you deposit, especially if you like to make use of e-wallets.
Betting can be a tricky business, so it’s really important that UFC sites have an effective customer service process in place. And of course, the 24-hour nature of betting means that punters may want help at all times of the day and night. The best sites will feature email and 24-hour live chat options, as well as comprehensive information readily available and easily located on their site.
The security of betting sites is our number one priority, so you can always be sure that any site featured in any of our UK articles will be properly licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission. Beyond that, you should always make sure that a bookmaker you are considering joining up with has everything in place to protect their customers’ payment and personal details.
Fight fans worldwide love the Ultimate Fighting Championship. And it’s not just because of its hard-hitting brutality but also because fighters employ a range of different styles, encompassing boxing, judo, kickboxing, Muay Thai, traditional wrestling and many more, and face each other in the famous Octagon cage, which adds an extra layer of drama to proceedings!
Betting on UFC matchups is hugely popular because there are not too many markets to navigate, which makes it simple for novice bettors. You can bet on a singular outcome such as “Leon Edwards to win”, but a good tactic is to combine different selections from the same UFC event into an accumulator.
This will not only boost the price and make it more appealing to back the short-priced favourites but will also allow you to take advantage of the huge range of Acca Boost, Acca Insurance and loyalty offers that are available at UFC sites. And another good tactic to boost your UFC odds for betting is to combine different selections into one bet, such as a certain fighter winning in a certain way, or at a certain point of the fight.
UFC fights may only feature two participants competing over no more than five rounds, but there are still a decent number of betting markets to pick from when making your UFC betting predictions, the most common of which are outlined below.
When it comes to your UFC betting predictions, the main betting market is always the overall winner of the fight itself. And this is where you are simply backing one of the competitors to have their hand raised in victory when the matchup is over, regardless of the method of victory.
Speaking of the method of victory, you can also bet on how a fighter will prevail. The most headline-grabbing way to win is by knockout (KO), where one fighter is knocked down by a punch, kick, elbow or knee strike and either can’t get up before the referee’s ten count or gets to their feet but is deemed unfit to continue.
There’s also the technical knockout, or TKO, where the referee steps in to stop the fight when one competitor can no longer defend themselves properly, or the trainer of one of the fighters throws the towel into the Octagon.
Then you have the submission finish, which is unique to MMA, where one fighter “taps out” as a result of a move that is exerting such pressure on one of their body parts that the pain is too much. Examples of submission moves are the rear naked choke, triangle choke, armbar and wristlock.
You can also bet on a UFC fighter to win “By Decision”, which means the fight has reached the end of the allotted rounds and “gone the distance”, and it’s left to the three judges to decide. A decision win can either be unanimous, with all three judges scoring the fight in a certain competitor’s favour, or come via split decision, with two scoring one way and the third judge favouring the losing fighter.
You can wager on the method of victory as a singular bet, or combine it with another selection, such as ” Alexander Volkanovski to win by knockout”, at increased odds.
The other main betting markets concern the length of the fight. Standard UFC encounters are fought over three five-minute rounds, with Championship bouts extended to five rounds of the same length.
You can bet on a fighter to win in a certain round or by decision, as well as having the option to wager on when the fight will end, regardless of whose hand is raised in victory. You can also wager on how many rounds the fight will last, such as over 2.5, or even bet on whether the fight will go the distance or not.
Some sites including offer multi-bout special bets ahead of the biggest matchups, such as three specific fights all to end in Round 1, three selected fighters to all win by decision, or certain competitors to all win in rounds 1-2. And other sites will offer bespoke markets such as “Israel Adesanya to get knocked down but win the fight”, or “No knockdowns in the Dustin Poirier vs Charles Oliveira matchup”.
No site could ever claim to have the very best UFC betting odds but in our experience, if betting odds for UFC matter to you then heading to the more established sports betting sites is always a good option. And many of them even offer odds boosts too on selected bouts. Here are our three favourites:
With the marquee UFC events being available exclusively on PPV, live UFC betting and streaming opportunities are limited. However, sites that offer live UFC betting and streaming will often broadcast lower-rung UFC events, which can provide a useful opportunity to check out up-and-coming fighters.
Sportsbook
Stream Qualifying Criteria
Welcome Offer
UFC Features
Betfred
Logged in with positive account balance
Bet £10 Get £60 In Bonuses
Boyle Sports
Logged in with positive account balance
Bet £10 Get £20 In Free Bets
We couldn’t find any UFC-specific existing customer deals at the sites featured in this article but there are plenty of offers and site elements that can boost your bankroll and help your UFC betting online! The first things you should always look out for in the run-up to the big UFC matchups are price boosts that can maximise your potential profits, at sites such as Betway.
Lots of UK UFC betting sites also have free bet offers and some have accumulator boosts or Acca Insurance to use on your Octagon multiple wagers. And you could even take advantage of daily and weekly loyalty offers to earn more free bets.
So here are some of our top UFC betting offers:
No matter which sport you choose to bet on, one of the biggest keys to success is gaining as much infiormation as possible about the players and teams involved. And when it comes to UFC that task is made easier by the fact that you only need to focus on the two fighters about to step into the Octagon. It can be hard to know exactly what to look for though, so we’ve put together some useful UFC betting tips featuring the kind of data that should be most useful when selecting your UFC wagers.
The nature of MMA means that many different kinds of fighters compete in the UFC, all with different martial arts backgrounds. Fighters may specialise in boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, wrestling, judo and many more styles of fighting. And from there they may have a specific style, such as aggressive strikers who want to come forward at every opportunity, counter strikers who often let their opponents throw down first in order to respond effectively with their own offence and submission specialists who will look to take their opponent down and make them tap at every opportunity! Of course, the best fighters blend a number of styles and tactics together but knowing what they are best at can be useful information when placing a bet, particularly on methods of victory.
One of the first things you should do when checking out a fighter is looking at their previous record and trying to highlight trends. Start with their win / loss record but beyond that you should be finding the answers to questions such as how many of their previous fights have gone the distance? Do they tend to dominate fights early and put their opponents away quickly? Or do they have a habit of wearing opponents down and finishing them off in the final round?
There’s a saying in the combat world that “styles make fights”, but they can also be useful betting indicators. So once you’ve gathered information about the fighters competing in the bout you wish to bet on, you need to see how your potential selection has fared against opponents like the one they are facing before. If they have struggled against ground-based attacks and are facing a submission specialist, that should set an alarm bell ringing, but if they are are a counter punching specialist facing a fighter who gets caught regularly when throwing their own shots, that is a more advantageous betting angle.
Fight fans talk about the quality of a fighter’s “chin”, which basically means how well they can take a blow to the face! A good chin manifests itself in a fighter’s stats in that they won’t have lost much by knockout and a bet on their fights to go the distance could be a profitable play. And you can even delve a bit deeper to see how many times they have hit the deck in their career and use that information too when betting on the outcome of their fight.
UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is not only a formidable fighter but the proud owner of the hardest recorded punch in history. Taking a Ngannou punch is the equivalent of being hit by a car, so it’s no surprise that 12 of his 17 wins have come by knockout and just four of his 20 fights in the UFC have gone the distance. So it’s always useful to earmark the big punchers when thinking of betting on a fight to end by KO!
UFC fights are fought within the parameters of different weight classes, just like boxing but far simpler, with just eight for the men and four for the women of the Octagon. As you move up the weights the punching power becomes more fearsome, with the percentage of heavyweight fights that end in knockout being higher than it is in the lower weight classes. So your betting strategy should always be tailored to the weight class of the fight you are interested in betting on.
While you’re looking at fight outcomes in different weight classes over the years it’s also a good idea to check out the percentage of bouts that have gone the distance and how that number differs between different weight classes. As a general rule, the lighter fighters have more stamina and a higher percentage of those bouts tend to go the distance, but you should also check out specific fighter stats to see how often they have made it all the way through a matchup.
Most UFC fights are fought within the confines of an octagon-shaped cage that is 30ft in diameter. However, in 2020 the promotion announced that all of the smaller events at their APEX training facility will be contested within a 25ft Octagon. The smaller cage size forces opponents to engage more as there is less space to manoeuvre, which results in a higher rate of strikes and finishes. So if there’s a smaller cage in play then you might want to consider a bet on the KO or TKO finishes!
The quality of the sites featured on this page has meant it has been a battle for supremacy worthy of the very best UFC bouts, but our favourite has to be Betway. While other sites may have more features and special offers, when it comes to betting specifically on the UFC, Betway beats them all in terms of UFC-centric site features and special offers. Their range of events and markets is excellent and the BetYourWay feature lets punters create their own UFC wagers. There are always price boosts ahead of the biggest UFC bouts along with expert betting tips to positively influence your betting strategy. And the Betway Free Bets Club means you can earn complimentary wagers for betting on UFC fights.
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