MMA Prop Bets

Proposition bets, commonly referred to as prop bets, are the bets you can
make on the fights that don’t have anything to do with who wins the fight.

Technically, you could consider over/under bets a prop bet under that
definition, but for the sake of this guide we have excluded them and covered
them separately.

Prop bets can be classified a lot of ways, but the way we like
to look at them first is skilled prop bets versus unskilled/fun prop bets. The
difference here is important depending on if profit is your main goal or fun.

Skilled vs. Fun Prop Bets

Skilled prop bets are prop bets that you can actually be profitable at
long-term. The best way to explain these would be with an example we can
breakdown.

Will the Fight Go the Distance +300

This is an example of a prop bet that you can apply skill to. If you think
that both fighters are not going to be able to finish each other, this is a
great bet for you to place. As you might suspect, you can place a prop bet that
the fight will NOT go the distance as well. The odds will vary on these options
based on what the oddsmakers think is going to happen.

Fun prop bets are prop bets that require no skill and are strictly luck
based. These are much more prominent in other sports, but you will occasionally
see them pop up in mixed martial arts. This would be things like betting on what
color shorts a fighter is wearing, or the most popular example in all sports is
betting on the coin toss of a game. These sorts of bets are great if you’re
looking for some gambling fun but are terrible if you’re trying to maintain a
long-term profitable betting strategy.

Basically, you don’t need to “study” this section. You just need to be aware
that some prop bets can be great in a profitable strategy and some are just
there for fun. Know the difference and only use the ones that fit what you’re
trying to achieve.

Types of Prop Bets in MMA

Victory Bets

Victory bets are wagers where you predict how the fight is going to end. They
do not require you to pick an actual winner but just the method that either of
the fighters wins by. You can bet that the fight will end by submission, KO, or
you can even bet that it will end inside the distance which means a win by KO or
submission. Sometimes these are referred to as fight outcome bets. As these are
much more difficult to pick, you can expect that the payouts will be a lot
higher to compensate.

Distance Bets

We mentioned these briefly before, but these are bets on whether or not the
fight will finish before the end of the last round or go to the judges. You can
find a lot of value in these bets with “boring” fighters that never seem to be
able to finish fights. A lot of time the betting public will get too hyped and
bet that they will not go the distance and you can get great odds on the going
the distance bet. Using data and statistics is important with any bet but
especially with these bets. Don’t let the media hype or what you want to happen
to cloud your judgment.

Finishing Round

These aren’t offered on all fights, but a lot of times you can get odds on
which specific round the fight is going to end in. These are typically also tied
in with selecting a winner, but both options will exist. As you probably
imagine, the more specific you are, the higher the payout you’re going to get.
If you pick the round and the fighter, you’re going to be having a real nice
day.

Draw

Some betting sites and brick and mortar casinos will give you the option of
betting whether or not a fight will be a draw or not. If you’ve ever watched MMA
before, you probably know just how rare draws are. For this reason, betting that
the fight will end in a draw will net you an absurd payout. This is probably a
bet type that would be classified as a fun type prop bet. While you could make
an argument that you could somehow predict a draw, you’re most likely going to
be guessing. For that reason, we recommend only using these bets for a good time
or some added gambling sweat.