Betting on sports is one of the most fun activities around. It’s exciting and introduces you to a whole lot of different funny situations. Such as debating with friends and speaking about your next combat predictions. It is also extremely popular. Take the UFC as an example; people get quite competitive and actively follow trends to ensure they are making the best bet possible. This is why it is a good idea to understand at least the basics of MMA before betting on UFC. The same can be said for boxing and wrestling too. And while this might be one of the more popular activities, keeping a level head and researching before you bet on any sport is highly recommended. Let’s look at what you need to know before you bet on a combat sport.
Prepare for the unexpected
Combat sports are unpredictable. Literally anything can happen in the 3 or 5 rounds. Even compared to something like football, where you can predict the outcome to a certain extent, with combat sports, it’s not possible. But why is that? A lot of it boils down to the fact that fighters follow different training regimens and follow their unique style of fighting. On a fight day, someone like Tyson Fury can be experiencing the worst fight of his career due to multiple reasons. Something like sleep and diet can affect their performance too. Another big thing about combat sports is pubically undisclosed injuries. We saw this with TJ Dillashaw’s fight against Aljamain Sterling. Dillashaw’s shoulder kept popping out of the socket. Although his team disclosed the injury to the ref before the fight—bettors didn’t know.
It’s recommended that you bet on a fighter who has a history of performing. But this does not mean the underdog won’t surprise you. Earlier this year, with an epic battle between Amanda Nunes and Julianna Peña, Nunes was the clear favorite; Nunes was a -1000 betting favorite before the fight—meaning that someone had to bet $1,000 to win $100. Then Peña, the underdog, did the unthinkable and snatched Nunes’ Women’s Bantamweight title from her. No one saw this coming. However, a few months later, Nunes claimed the title once again. This is but one example of the unpredictability of combat sports.
The person you bet on gets disqualified
While this is largely uncommon, it does happen. And there are some shocking examples of this. Well, the most well-known disqualification in boxing history was the 1997 bout between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. The infamous ear-biting scandal rocked the professional boxing world and is still referenced in popular culture to this day. Luckily, the two are friends today, and there were even rumors of a rematch – Holyfield brushed them off in a recent interview. While this was an extreme case, others are generally about the type of moves you carry out on your opponents.
Combat sports are highly specialized, and fighters are trained to know what’s allowed and what’s not. So, if a professional makes a mistake in the ring once, the referee issues a warning depending on the infraction. If it happens on multiple occasions, the fighter gets disqualified. Safety matters and all safety protocols must be adhered to. Luckily, disqualifications are highly unlikely to occur these days; however, keep this in mind when making your next bet.
The odds can be different
With other sports, odds generally remain the same for weeks with only slight variance. But combat sports odds are much more fickle. And the reason for this is because of what happens outside of the ring before a fight. Unbelievably, trash-talking is important and affects your betting odds. The king of trash talk must be Conor McGregor, and there is no doubt his antics influenced a few betting odds. The key to being a winning combat sports bettor is to decide how much of the odds is due to a skills gap and how much of it is due to media hype.
Research
Before you bet on combat sports, first do some research. And this can be done for fighters you wish to bet on. Check out their past experiences in the ring. But keep in mind that fighters experience both winning and losing streaks. While others, such as Khabib Nurmagomedov, are just insane with his 29-fight undefeated winning streak, you can’t bet on him since he’s retired now.
Nevertheless, make sure to watch as many fights as you can. Since this will help you figure out whether this is someone you can bet on. And if you want to make it easier for yourself, you can check out websites dedicated to showing you the statistics for each fighter.
Look into the sport and the fighter
Most famous sportspeople are celebrities. So it’s easy to find out what they are up to. While we should not judge a book by its cover, a fighter’s performance can be dictated by what is happening in their personal life. And this is normal. Sometimes a loved one can be going through a terrible time, and this can affect anyone’s game, naturally.
The same can be said for the sport. When there are any sudden or extreme changes, it can affect the outcome of fights. Extreme changes can be a sponsor no longer wishing to promote the sport. These are but a few of the key points to investigate before betting on combat sports. Keep a level head, watch the fights, have fun, and place some epic bets!
