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Mixed martial arts
are quickly becoming one of the more
mainstream sports in America and the betting
world has embraced it just as much as
anyone. With betting odds
up not only for the major UFC events as well
as smaller promotions like Affliction,
Strikeforce, and WEC, there is major money
to be made if you choose the right fighters
in the right situations. With
that in mind, here are some tips to help you
become rich off one of the greatest and
fastest growing sports in the world today.
For the most part,
it’s a good idea to stay away from
fighters who are extremely large favorites
(-500 and above) in most situations.
One punch is all it takes to end a
fight and playing large odds on a fighter
who has a weak chin, no matter how easy the
bet looks, is a good way to lose all your
money.
If you look back at
the biggest betting upsets in the mixed
martial arts world, 6 of the top 8 were a
result of the heavily favored fighter being
knocked out. When Rameau
Thierry Sokoudjou stepped into the ring
against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at Pride
33, no one thought the younger,
inexperienced fighter had a chance as a
+1500 underdog. One thing
that Sokoudjou did have was raw power and it
took him only 23 seconds to knock out his
Brazilian foe, en route to becoming the
biggest underdog that the mixed martial arts
world has ever seen. At
+850, Matt Serra owns the second biggest
mixed martial arts upset with his first
round knockout of UFC champion Georges St.
Pierre. Although Serra
had never shown knockout ability before, it
just goes to show you that anyone can get
knocked out at any given time and you should
stay away from heavily favored fighters when
betting on this sport.
Even the UFC’s
best fighter, Anderson “The Spider”
Silva, has been a victim of a huge betting
upset before. At Pride
26, the knockout artist was a victim of a
submission by Daiju Takase. With
a current record of 7-13-1, Takase is not an
upper level fighter but he was able to pull
off some magic and cash a huge +800 ticket
for anyone who decided to fade the huge
favorites that night.
Another great rule
is to limit your bets and not bet on every
single fight that the card has to offer.
In most other sports, you’ll want
to bet on nearly every game that you find
value on but in this sport where there is
way fewer chances to bet, it becomes easy to
try and win every single fight. It’s
much easier to bet on only the top two or
three fights that you like because betting
on everything in this sport is a good way to
lose your money. Just
because there are fewer chances to bet every
month is not a good reason to get a lot of
bets in.
Figuring out how the
two fighters match up against each other is
going to be integral toward deciding on
which fighters you want to back.
For instance, if a strong striker
with bad takedown defense is favored over a
less-experienced collegiate wrestler who has
shown a strong chin, you’ll want to make
an underdog bet on the wrestler.
It might not win, but situations like
this where you can get on an underdog who
can possibly exploit the better fighters’
weaknesses are a solid way to achieve some
nice profit when betting on mixed martial
arts.
Another good way to
make money is to play the underdog if you
have two guys with serious knockout power
who are likely to stand up and trade blows.
Houston Alexander came into his fight
with Keith Jardine as a +450 underdog but
with both guys being stand up fighters, you
had to expect them to throw blows until one
fighter goes down. Jardine
had the better credentials but Houston
Alexander had insane power and ended up with
the knockout victory in a fight that could
have gone either way. Power
is a great neutralizer in a fight like this
and anything can happen in this sport.
Remember these
simple mixed martial arts betting rules and
the handicapping advice and you will be well
on your way to making a nice chunk of change
on the fastest rising sport in America.
The sport is still new and the lines
are still soft as a result so now is the
time to strike and take some money from your
bookies’ pocket. |
