Converting a moneyline to a percent helps bettors to understand the percentage chance each fighter is being given to win the bout. Since moneylines are sometimes difficult to understand for newer bettors, percentages will help clear things up a bit.
How to convert to a percent for a favorite
- Amount you need to bet to win $1 / (Amount you need to bet to win $1 + $1) = Favorite’s %
- Example : Chuck Liddell (-300) vs. Keith Jardine (+220). So Chuck is a -300 favorite, this means you would need to bet $3 to win $1. If you take this and plug it into the formula, it would look like this… $3/($3 + $1) = 75%.
How to convert to a percent for an underdog
- 1/(Amount won when wagering $1 + $1) = The underdog’s %
- Example : For Keith Jardine (-220) you will win $2.20 if you bet $1. If you take this and plug it into the formula, it would look like this 1/($2.20 +$1) = 31.25
Note: The reason the two percentages do not add up is because of the juice that the sportsbook is putting on this bout. This is how sportsbooks make most of their money. They win a little bit from every fight, and every game bet on because of the juice.
How to use a percent to your advantage
- Using the percentage to your advantage is a very common betting philosophy in baseball, basketball, football and also fight betting. In order to use the percentage effectively you should gauge what percentage chance you think a fighter has in the bout and then compare that to the actual percent. If your percent and the actual percent are more than 5% off you probably have an edge (this applies to someone who understands the odds, and isn’t just taking a wild guess). Anytime you have an edge you should make a wager on the bout.
Editor’s note : Check out our reviews of places to bet on UFC and MMA fights
