MMA and UFC Betting Sites

Mixed martial arts (MMA), is considered by many to be a brutal sport. There may be some truth in that, but in many respects it's a beautiful sport. There's even an argument that it's one of the purest sports of all. It consists of two well-conditioned athletes competing to achieve victory with minimal rules, minimal interference, and minimal equipment. It's the ultimate test of strength and fortitude, with no small amount of strategy and skill thrown in for good measure.

Watching MMA fights can be incredibly exciting. It's easy to get so immersed in the action that you find yourself tensing in response to what's taking place. Just watching on television is great; actually attending a fight and watching in person is even better. There's another way to improve the experience too, and that's by betting on the fights.

If you do want to bet on MMA events, such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship for example, then your best option is to do so online. This mean you're going to need to find a suitable betting site. There are plenty to choose from, but please don't just pick one at random as they're not all of the same standard. We recommend the following, as based on some extensive research and testing we've found these to be the very best sites for betting on MMA.

In an ideal world, choosing the right MMA betting site wouldn't be hard. It's actually not that difficult for those who know what to look for, but the problem is that most people don't. They might just run a Google search for "MMA betting sites", only to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of options. How are they supposed to know where to begin?

That's why we've ranked the best sites for our readers, and listed them above. We want it to be easy to find the right site, and there's nothing easier than simply picking one of our recommendations. However, we don't expect you to just follow our recommendations without us first explaining why we've chosen to recommend them. So we've done exactly that below, and also provided some other relevant information too.

Why We Recommend These Sites

We have firsthand experience of many, many betting sites. We're constantly testing and comparing them all, to monitor how they're performing and what they have to offer at any given time. This enables us to determine which ones are best for certain types of betting, and we're 100% confident that our recommendations here are the best places to bet on MMA events. That's not to say that all other sites are terrible, just that these ones come out on top.

Here's a list of what all our recommendations have in common.

This is obviously a pretty simple list. The question you might be asking now is why are all these things important? Well, the first one is important because it shows that we actually know what we're talking about. We're not the only website on the internet that recommends places to bet, but we're one of the few that actually does some research before making recommendations. We don't just upload a list of randomly selected online bookmakers.

The second and third points are important because we believe in only using sites which have performed consistently over a prolonged period of time. In exceptional circumstances we may consider recommending a new site, but there would have to be some very good reasons to do so.

Knowing who owns or runs a site might not seem important, but through experience we've learned just how important it is. Or, at least, how important it is to us. We feel we should be aware of who is making the big decisions at a site, as it puts our minds at rest if it's a group of people who have demonstrated that they can act in the best interests of their customers. We also like to be sure that none of the senior people have been involved at any rogue sites in the past.

This list is applied to ALL the gambling sites we recommend on BookMob.ca. For more on how we go about ranking sites in the various different categories we cover, please read our page on how we assess gambling sites. Here are some other factors that are important too, including some that are specific to sports betting sites.

Now, nothing that we've mentioned so far has anything specifically to do with mixed martial arts. So what it is that that makes the sites on this page the best options for those wishing to bet on MMA? It's perhaps fairly obvious, but there's one very important factor that we have considered when making these recommendations.

That's the key here. The sites on this page all offer great coverage of MMA, opening betting markets on a wide variety of different events. They also offer a selection of different wager types too. These things are essential in order to have the best chance of making money from your betting. If there are only a few major fights to choose from and limited options for different wagers, then your opportunities for finding value are somewhat restricted. That's not something you need to worry about if you follow our recommendations.

Other Betting Sites to Consider

We've already mentioned how we rank gambling sites in a number of categories. Although we're confident that the sites on this page will serve those interested in MMA betting, there are some other options that can be taken into consideration. Please note that there's nothing stopping you from having accounts at more than one site, so these are options to consider in addition to the ones on this page rather than instead of them.

First, you should consider using one of our recommended live betting sites. These allow you to place wagers while a sports event is taking place, and many of them cover MMA events. This means you can watch a fight and see how things are going before deciding where to put your money, which can provide a significant advantage. It certainly makes it easier to gain an edge over the bookmakers.

Live Betting Sites

Second, you might want to think about using one the best all-round sports betting sites. Although this suggestion is only relevant to bettors that bet on more than one sport, it does make sense for those kinds of bettors to have an account somewhere that offers good coverage on a variety of different sports. This way, they don't have to open accounts multiple specialist sites.

MMA & UFC Explained

The terms MMA and UFC are often used interchangeably, but they're actually two different things. Mixed martial arts is the sport itself, while the Ultimate Fighting Championship is a league within the sport. So it's basically the same as basketball and the NBA, football and the NFL, or baseball and the MLB.

A lot of people use the terms MMA and UFC to refer to the same thing simply because the Ultimate Fighting Championship is by far the biggest and most well-known promotion in mixed martial arts. Others include Bellator, Legacy FC and Pancrase, but it's UFC that the average person in the street will typically use to describe two people entering a cage to fight.

The first UFC event had no weight classes, no protective gear, and no rounds. It was broadcast live on pay-per-view and made waves around the United States. Martial artists saw it as the ultimate test of discipline-vs-discipline matchups. Soccer moms were repulsed by the blood. Politicians called it "human cockfighting." It certainly split opinion. Over time, the UFC introduced a number of measures to appease the masses and become a more legitimate sporting organization.

This modern form of MMA isn't really new though. Mixed martial arts has been around in some form or another for thousands of years. In all likelihood, people have been fighting in minimal-rules bouts since well before recorded history. The ancient Greeks had what they called "Pankration" which had a very similar set of rules to what we see today.

Pankration appeared in the Olympic Games as early as 648 BC, and we have plenty of evidence left over to get a pretty good idea of what it was like. Those events had even fewer rules than MMA today. Back then, pretty much anything was acceptable except biting, eye-gouging, and clawing. There was no protective gear and contests had no time limits. The fights went on until one fighter submitted or could no longer perform.

Other parts of the world also have their own history of similar events. Brazil in the 1920s had "vale tudo" competitions that resembled modern MMA. Japan had its "shooto" competitions and Pancrase promotions throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Guide to MMA Betting

The betting experts on our team are currently working on producing a complete guide to mixed martial arts betting. Our guide will be invaluable for anyone wishing to make money from betting on this sport, regardless of whether they are an absolute novice or a more experienced bettor.