Plus and Minus Odds Explained: What +150 and -200 Actually Mean
Plus and minus odds (American odds) are both built around a $100 reference bet. A minus sign means that fighter is the favorite and shows how much you’d need to bet to win $100 in profit. A plus sign means that fighter is the underdog and shows how much profit a $100 bet would win. The bigger either number gets, the more lopsided the market thinks the fight is.
How Minus (-) Odds Work
A minus number tells you how much you need to risk to win $100. At -150, you’d bet $150 to win $100 in profit (getting back $250 total if the bet wins). At -400, you’d need to bet $400 to win that same $100 in profit. As the minus number grows, you’re risking more and more for the same fixed return, which is the direct mathematical expression of “this fighter is heavily favored to win.”
How Plus (+) Odds Work
A plus number tells you how much profit a $100 bet would win. At +150, a $100 bet wins $150 in profit (getting back $250 total). At +400, that same $100 bet wins $400 in profit. As the plus number grows, the potential payout grows too, reflecting that the market considers this outcome less likely.
Why the Numbers Aren’t Symmetrical
New bettors sometimes assume -150 and +150 represent the exact opposite ends of the same fight, but they don’t quite work out to a clean 50/50 split. This is because sportsbooks build in a hold (also called the vig or juice) on both sides of the bet, which is how they generate revenue regardless of outcome. A “pick’em” fight close to even money might show something like -110 on both sides rather than a clean +100/-100, and that gap between the two lines is the book’s built-in edge. Our guide to the vig covers this in more detail.
| Odds | Bet Amount | Profit If Won | Total Return |
|---|---|---|---|
| -400 | $400 | $100 | $500 |
| -150 | $150 | $100 | $250 |
| -110 | $110 | $100 | $210 |
| +130 | $100 | $130 | $230 |
| +250 | $100 | $250 | $350 |
| +500 | $100 | $500 | $600 |
You don’t have to bet exactly $100 or exactly the minus amount — the ratio scales to whatever stake you actually use. A $50 bet at -150 wins $33.33 in profit, following the same proportion.
What the Size of the Number Tells You About a UFC Fight
In UFC betting specifically, the size of the plus or minus number is a useful shorthand for how lopsided the market views a matchup, since there’s no point spread to soften the perception of a mismatch. A fight priced around -110/-110 or +100/-120 is viewed as close to a coin flip. A fight with one side at -600 or higher reflects a matchup the market sees as extremely one-sided. Reading these numbers quickly is a basic skill worth building before digging into more advanced UFC betting strategy.
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Frequently Asked Questions
It means you’d need to bet $200 to win $100 in profit. That fighter or team is the favorite, and -200 reflects a fairly significant but not extreme favorite.
It means a $100 bet would win $200 in profit if that side wins. That fighter or team is the underdog at roughly 2-to-1 odds against.
Yes, though it’s less common. In a close matchup, both sides might show something like -110/-110, since the book builds in its hold on both outcomes rather than making one side a plus number.
Because sportsbooks build a hold (vig) into both sides of the line, the true breakeven point is shifted slightly in the book’s favor, which is why you rarely see a perfectly even +100/-100 split on a genuinely close fight.
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About the Author
Rob Brown has been betting on MMA professionally since 2015. Every pick is publicly recorded and independently verified — no cherry-picking, no deleted bets. His full record is tracked at betMMA.tips and bettin.gs.
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