r/MMA: rules, karma requirements and posting culture
The main MMA subreddit, 3.7 million strong. Fight clips, news and fighter quotes, heavily moderated, with standalone opinions pushed into daily threads.
MMA: Mixed Martial Arts · Open on Reddit
- Members
- 3.7M
- Created
- 2008
- New posts a day
- 55.3
- Comments on a typical post
- 71
- New posts removed
- 31%
The short answer
r/MMA publishes no karma or account age requirement, but it is tightly moderated: about 23% of posts in our sample were removed by moderators and only about 65% stayed up. What survives is media and news: fight results tagged as spoilers, fighter quotes, announcements. Text posts need at least 209 characters and must start a discussion, and anything that is just an opinion, a prediction or a training question belongs in the daily General Discussion thread or a weekly thread. Self-promotion is capped by a strict ratio rule.
Who posts here
Threads assume you follow the sport week to week. Commenters argue rankings, matchmaking and referee stoppages using nicknames and shorthand, and calling someone a casual is an insult. The rules remove questions with easy answers and point newcomers to a noobs guide in the wiki and to the weekly threads, so a beginner question posted on its own will be taken down.
- Fans who watch most cards and argue about who deserves the next title shot.
- A small group of very active posters who clip fights and repost fighter quotes and announcements within minutes.
- People who train, mostly kept to the weekly technique thread.
- Bettors, who have their own weekly thread.
- Journalists, podcasters and fighters, who can apply for approved or verified status.
Karma and account requirements
What it takes to get a post through in r/MMA.
| Karma | Not stated publicly. About 3% of posts in our sample were held by AutoModerator and 5% were removed by Reddit's filters, but no threshold is published. |
|---|---|
| Account age | Not stated publicly. |
| Text posts | Minimum 209 characters, and the post has to open a discussion. Opinions, predictions and reactions go in the General Discussion thread.Mods' wording: “There is a 209 character requirement on all self-posts.” |
| Spoilers | For 24 hours after an event, no results in titles, and the post must carry the Spoiler tag. Mark it NSFW if the thumbnail gives the result away.Mods' wording: “No spoilers within 24 hrs of an event.” |
| Self-promotion ratio | One piece of your own work for every three unrelated submissions. Comments do not count towards the ratio.Mods' wording: “you may only post 1 piece per 3 non-affiliated submissions” |
| Duplicates and banned domains | A topic already posted in the last 7 days is removed, and the submit page lists several banned domains.Mods' wording: “Posts will be removed if a post on the same topic has been made within 7 days.” |
What you can post
| Post type | Subreddit setting | Share of recent posts |
|---|---|---|
| Text | Allowed | 19% |
| Link | Allowed | 32% |
| Image | Allowed | 35% |
| Video | Allowed | 15% |
| Poll | Not allowed | 0% |
Post flairs in use
- Media 53%
- Spoiler 10%
- Fight Thread 3%
- Fight Announcement 3%
- Notice - GD 3%
- News <1%
- Belongs in Current Sticky/Existing Discussion <1%
- Replacement Fight <1%
- Weekly - TB <1%
- Weekly - TTT <1%
What happens to a new post
Where the most recent posts ended up. Sample size: 400.
- Stayed up65%
- Removed by Reddit's filters5%
- Held by AutoModerator3%
- Removed by moderators23%
- Deleted by the author4%
Reddit counts a removal by the subreddit's own AutoModerator rules as a moderator removal, so that share is not all human. Held by AutoModerator means the post is waiting in the mod queue.
The rules, in the mods' words
- 1
Be Civil
A bit of banter or trash talk is fine, but don't cross the line. No sexualizing of fighters/personalities or hate talk. Stop with the fighter bashing. \[?\]
- 2
Promotional Submissions (spam, crowdfunding)
* Follow our 10:3 rule. * Post fan art and selfies to General Discussion. * No crowdfunding links. \[Click here for more information\]
- 3
Low Relevance
Submissions and comments should be relevant to the sub. Typically submissions include discussion of a fighter, technique or fight. Social media posts can go in General Discussion. \[?\]
- 4
No Spoilers
* No spoilers within 24 hrs of an event. * Tag/mark posts correctly. * Leave spoiler text out of your post titles (no reference to finish/KO etc). \[Click here for more information\]
- 5
No Duplicates/Repetitive Posts
Posts will be removed if a post on the same topic has been made within 7 days. If you have links that adds new information, please add them as comments in the original thread. \[?\] Repetitive topics/posts may be removed.
- 6
No low quality or joke-only posts
Use /r/mmamemes for funny stuff. Posts that are in bad taste or generally do not fit in with /r/MMA will be removed. \[?\]
- 7
Political discussions
This is not r/politics. Please keep political discussion and your political views out of /r/MMA. r/MMAPoliticsAndCulture may be a better fit for this content. An exception will be made for discussion of MMA legislation by governing bodies.
- 8
That's Illegal!
Do not ask for or link to pirated content. Don't linkjack/rehost content for profit. \[?\]
- 9
Other Suitable Thread or Current Sticky
Please look on the new page (or use the Search bar). There is already a thread about this topic. \[?\] Additionally, your post may be more suited to General Discussion, Moronic Monday, Technique/Training Tuesday or the Friday Betting Thread.
These are the rules as archived in January 2025. Rules change. Check the sidebar before you post.
The culture
r/MMA is where the sport's online conversation happens in real time. It has about 3.7 million members, around 55 posts a day and a median of 70 comments per post. On fight nights the feed becomes a run of result clips, each tagged as a spoiler, and the biggest of them pull thousands of upvotes and well over a thousand comments.
Between events it runs on media: screenshots of fighter statements, quotes from interviews, bout announcements, odds, clips. About 35% of posts are images, 32% links and 15% video. Text posts are under a fifth, and just over half of all posts carry the Media flair. Only about 3% of titles are questions. The discussion lives in the comments and in the official threads: a daily General Discussion thread, fight threads, and weekly threads for training and betting.
The mods run it like an edited front page. Roughly 23% of posts in our sample were removed by moderators, mostly for being duplicates, low effort or better suited to a sticky thread. Among users, the standing argument is about card quality and who has earned what, and the tone is banter with an edge. The rules allow trash talk but draw a line at personal attacks, bigotry, fanbase attacks and sustained fighter bashing.
What lands
- A clip of a fight finish, posted fast, with the spoiler tag and a title that names both fighters and nothing else.
- A fighter's own words: a statement after a loss, a reply to a rival, a quote about pay or a turned down fight.
- Official news, such as a title being vacated or a main event being confirmed, posted first.
- Backstage and corner footage that adds something to a result everyone has already seen.
- Highlight reels of a well liked veteran.
What gets removed or ignored
- Standalone opinion and hypothetical matchup posts. Fantasy fights across eras and one line takes on a referee or a fighter were all removed in our sample.
- Training, technique and gear questions, which belong in the weekly technique thread or a martial arts subreddit.
- Second and third posts about the same announcement. Only the first one stays.
- Surveys, Discord invites and merchandise posts.
- Images with a vague caption as the title, and anything that is a meme or a joke on its own.
The unwritten rules
- Speed decides who gets the post. News and clips are posted within minutes by regulars, and yours will be removed as a duplicate if you are second.
- Title a clip plainly with who is in it. Hype titles are listed in the rules as a removal reason.
- If you have a thought and no link, put it in the General Discussion thread. That is where opinions are meant to go, and it is busy.
- Know the rankings before you argue. Replies are quick to dismiss a take as casual.
- Comments are short, around 17 words, and none in our sample carried a link. Dropping a link in a comment looks out of place.
Self-promotion
The rule allows your own work only if it is original and only at a ratio of one piece per three unrelated submissions, with comments not counting. Bulk posting filler links, using several accounts or coordinating with others to get round the ratio is banned, and the wiki warns that a whole domain or brand can end up banned. Crowdfunding and referral links are treated as spam, and fan art goes in General Discussion. Journalists and MMA figures can apply to become Approved Submitters, which lifts the ratio, and the wiki tells anyone who does not want to take part in the community to buy an ad. In practice surveys, Discord invites and merchandise posts were all removed in our sample.
How people write here
- Typical title length
- 9 words
- Titles phrased as a question
- 3%
- Typical comment length
- 17 words
- Comments that include a link
- 0%
- Posts that carry a flair
- 74%
When people post
- 0:00 UTC, 16
- 1:00 UTC, 26
- 2:00 UTC, 20
- 3:00 UTC, 27
- 4:00 UTC, 16
- 5:00 UTC, 9
- 6:00 UTC, 8
- 7:00 UTC, 4
- 8:00 UTC, 2
- 9:00 UTC, 4
- 10:00 UTC, 8
- 11:00 UTC, 12
- 12:00 UTC, 8
- 13:00 UTC, 10
- 14:00 UTC, 22
- 15:00 UTC, 28
- 16:00 UTC, 21
- 17:00 UTC, 16
- 18:00 UTC, 24
- 19:00 UTC, 20
- 20:00 UTC, 19
- 21:00 UTC, 31
- 22:00 UTC, 29
- 23:00 UTC, 20
New posts by hour of day, UTC.
The regulars
The accounts that showed up most in our sample. Worth reading before you post: they set the tone, and they are usually the first to reply.
Most active posters
- u/Moni7T23 posts
- u/WinterStill447223 posts
- u/Therealdarkviper11 posts
- u/airplane2319 posts
- u/event_threads9 posts
Most active commenters
- u/TheLonelyPillow8 comments
- u/brybrymma6 comments
- u/Moni7T5 comments
- u/IshiharasBitch4 comments
- u/OnlineMajor4 comments
Top keywords
The words and phrases that show up far more often here than in other communities, from recent posts in r/MMA.
- ufc 100 posts
- fight 87 posts
- mma 50 posts
- barcelos 23 posts
- spoiler 28 posts
- raoni 16 posts
- fighters 19 posts
- raoni barcelos 14 posts
- fights 24 posts
- fighter 19 posts
- rosas 13 posts
- wang 14 posts
- silva 14 posts
- dana 14 posts
- talbott 12 posts
- rosas jr 12 posts
- discussion thread 16 posts
- dwcs 11 posts
- cong 13 posts
- ribovics 10 posts
- payton 10 posts
- figueiredo 10 posts
- dana white 10 posts
- king green 11 posts
- payton talbott 9 posts
- deiveson figueiredo 9 posts
- ateba 9 posts
- main card 10 posts
- anthony 12 posts
- wang cong 8 posts
- vettori 8 posts
- thread welcome 8 posts
- romero 8 posts
- rmma's 8 posts
- parkin 8 posts
- mma's 8 posts
- mick parkin 8 posts
- lucas armand 8 posts
- fight weight 8 posts
- andrey 8 posts
Posts that did well
- [SPOILER] Gable Steveson vs. Sean Sharaf9.4k upvotes · 1.9k comments · Spoiler
- Islam Makhachev responded to Jones6.6k upvotes · 428 comments · Media
- [SPOILER] Arman Tsarukyan vs. Mauricio Ruffy3.8k upvotes · 1k comments · Spoiler
- Gable Steveson vs Sean Sharaf Corner Reaction3.6k upvotes · 441 comments · Spoiler
- Topps Now new trading card showcasing Sean Sheraf knocking out Gable Steveson3.2k upvotes · 121 comments · Media
- Paulo costa deleted tweet about the UFC3.1k upvotes · 188 comments · Media
- Tom Aspinall vacates the UFC heavyweight title because of ongoing eye issues2.9k upvotes · 743 comments · News
- New footage from when Dustin Poirier was arrested2.8k upvotes · 1k comments · Media
Common questions
How much karma do you need to post in r/MMA?
The moderators do not publish a number. About 3% of posts in our sample were held by AutoModerator and 5% were removed by Reddit's filters, so some screening exists. The bigger hurdle is the moderators themselves, who removed about 23% of posts for breaking content rules.
Can I promote my podcast, site or channel in r/MMA?
Within limits. Your own work must be original and you may post one piece for every three unrelated submissions. Trying to dodge the ratio with filler links or extra accounts leads to a ban. Journalists and MMA personalities can apply to be Approved Submitters, and the wiki suggests buying an ad if you do not want to participate.
Why was my r/MMA post removed?
The usual reasons are a duplicate of something posted in the last 7 days, a text post under 209 characters or one that is just an opinion, a spoiler in the title within 24 hours of an event, a training or easy question, or content that belongs in the General Discussion or another sticky thread.
How do spoilers work in r/MMA?
For 24 hours after an event, any post that reveals a result needs the Spoiler tag and a title that does not hint at the outcome, including words like KO or finish. If the thumbnail shows the winner, mark the post NSFW. The submit page says untagged spoilers are deleted without warning, and repeat offences can lead to a ban.
Data as of October 4, 2026. Numbers come from public Reddit data (the Arctic Shift archive and GummySearch) sampled on this date. Removal share counts posts taken down by moderators, AutoModerator or Reddit's own filters. Banner and icon belong to the community. Moderators change rules without notice, so treat the sidebar as the final word.
