MMA vs Boxing: What are the major differences?

MMA and boxing are both very popular sports at the moment. They even came to a thrilling head to head when McGregor took on Mayweather in Vegas. When they did do battle, pundits spoke of how McGregor would have to adapt to stand a chance. The reason for this is because there are so many differences between MMA and boxing.

Is MMA More Difficult to Predict?

The first difference on our list is not always true, but the law of averages suggests it is harder to call a winner in MMA bouts compared to boxing matches.  MMA matches tend to be more closely contested, with a higher number of fighters around the same level of ability. Add this that one strike with any limb, elbow or a choke can win an MMA fight in a split second.

Betting Markets

If you have been checking the boxing betting markets and the UFC odds at William Hill, you may have stumbled across another difference between these two sports. Handicap betting is much more prominent in UFC than it is in boxing. The reason for this is logical. UFC matches have a much shorter format which narrows the scope of what round a fight may end in. An example of a handicap bet of this type would be saying that one fighter will win after 2.5 rounds. The other main betting difference is that you can wager bets on fighters winning by submission in UFC, which is an illegal move in boxing.

UFC Cards Are Usually Longer

The card of an event is the list of fights that will take place on the night. Both sports tend to have several matches take place before the last fight, which is the main event. It is never easy to judge how long each of the previous bouts will last and is why the main fight is often earlier or delayed. But UFC cards tend to have more fights than boxing cards. Expect to watch around eight or more match-ups at an MMA event. This ties into the above because it enables punters to place longer accumulator bets.

Number of Rounds

Already alluded to earlier was that MMA formats have significantly fewer rounds than boxing matchups. Whereas most professional boxing matches include 12 rounds, MMA fighters take to the Octagon for fewer than half of these rounds, usually competing for just five rounds. Although these rounds tend to be longer than a boxing round.

Weight Classes

Weight is what divides fighters in both f these sports. But there are significantly more weight divisions in boxing than there are in MMA. Interestingly, both sports have the same names for some weight classes, but the actual weight of the people in those divisions are different between boxing and MMA. For example, a heavyweight in MMA may not be a heavyweight if they went into boxing.