How Does UFC Round Betting Work?

Beginner bettors and even some UFC betting veterans may be asking themselves at this point, what is round betting in UFC? Well, we’ve got the answers for you right here! Round betting in UFC refers to wagers that you can make that are related to a specific round or group of rounds during the bout. There are several different types of bets you can make when it comes to UFC round betting, however, so we thought it would be useful to lay them all out and break them all down.

• Exact Round → This is a simple bet on which round you think the fight will end. For example, if you bet on a scrap to end during the second round and one of the fighters is knocked out in the second, you win.
  
  
• Exact Round + Fighter → Similar to the exact round bet, but this combination bet adds in the caveat of choosing which of the two combatants will be left standing during the round you bet on the fight to finish.
  
  Because you’re now betting on two props, the odds for these bets are much higher than for simple exact round bets. For example, if you bet on Max Holloway to win a fight in the fourth round, you need that exact combination, your bet will not win if the other fighter wins in the fourth round or if Holloway wins in a round other than the fourth.
  
  
• Exact Round + Method of Victory → Another combination bet, this one gets even more specific, which means higher odds and higher payouts but much lower implied probabilities.
  
  Not only are you betting on in which round the fight will be won and who will win, but you’re also betting on how they will win. In the UFC, there are generally three ways to win a fight: by KO/TKO/DQ, by submission, or by decision via the judges’ scorecards.
  
  For example, you can make a bet that jiu-jitsu master Glover Teixeira will win a fight by submission in the third round of a fight.
  
  
• Total Rounds → Totals, also called over/unders, are some of the more popular bets in sports and they work very well in the framework of UFC round betting.
  
  Here, what you’re doing is betting on whether you think the fight will go over or under a certain number of rounds. The five-minute rounds are always split to avoid any pushes.
  
  For example, if you bet on a fight to go over 2.5 rounds, you just need the scrap to last past the 2:30 minute mark of the third round, you don’t need the fight to go all the way to the end of the third round.
  
  
• Fight To Go Distance → It’s right there in the name: this is a round betting wager on whether or not you think the fight in question is going to the final bell.
  
  Some fighters are looking for decisions and some are looking for finishes, so if you want to do your round betting using this type of wager, it would behoove you to get to know what kind of fighter each competitor is.
  
  
• Grouped Round Betting → This type of wager is far more common in round betting boxing where there are usually 12 rounds, but you can still find some sportsbooks offering it for the UFC.
  
  Basically, you’re grouping a couple of rounds together and betting on a fighter to win that section of the fight.
  
  For example, if you know a fighter usually comes out strong to start fights, you can bet on them to win Rounds 1-2, or if you know someone grows into the fight over time, you can bet on them to win Rounds 4-5.

Now that you’re familiar with all of the different avenues you can take with UFC round betting, it’s time to figure out how to use that knowledge, put it to the test, and win you some money!

There’s a lot to consider when round betting, so we’ve listed a few of the factors you should focus on as well as a couple of round betting strategies we’ve had success with in the past.

• How Heavy → The very first thing to look at when you’re looking at some round betting options is to take a peak at which weight class the fight is being fought.
  
  The higher the weight class, the more likely the fight will be over sooner than later. The heaviest fighters have the most knockout power, so the lower you go in terms of weight, the longer a fight is likely to last. This is not a blanket statement for all fighters of every weight class, but it’s a good base rule of thumb to start with.
  
  
• What Kind Of Fighter → Some fighters don’t need to go for a knockout blow or a submission to win a fight, so they don’t.
  
  Some fighters are good enough at touching up their opponents on the feet, or dominating in the clinch, or controlling on the mat that they can wait their opponent out rather than annihilate them. This type of fighter will likely participate in fights that last longer compared to a knockout or submission artist.
  
  
• Past Trends → It’s always crucial to take a look at the history of the two fighters in question. You want to consider things like how they like to fight, whether they finish a lot of their fights and if they do, how they usually finish those fights, and how long their fights usually last.
  
  
• Who’s Refereeing → Similar to baseball, the referee in the octagon can have a pretty big impact on the fight. While they won’t have any impact on who wins, they can have a major impact on how long a fight goes.
  
  Some referees will allow fighters to take a lot of damage, which makes the fight go longer, while some are quicker to step in when someone is being brutalized.

Now that we’ve schooled you on what is round betting in UFC, you should know all the different ways that you can make wagers using round betting, from total rounds, to exact round, to exact round + method of victory combo.

We also provided a few pointers to follow when UFC round betting that have helped many a bettor in the past. To ensure we’ve hit everything on the topic, however, we’ve put together a quick list of common questions about UFC and round betting.