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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
