Who will be the UFC title-holders by the end of 2024? That’s a UFC futures bet worth taking right now. Keep reading for our UFC betting predictions on 2024 champions — and we’re confident these will pay!l out next year.
UFC Featherweight Champion At End Of 2024
We begin with featherweights, which has a long history of dominant champions. Get this, since the class was introduced in 2010, only five men have held the title (six if you count Jair Rodriguez's interim title reign). That’s a wild stat. The current champion is still Alexander Volkanovski, and no surprise, that he’s the favorite for 2024 too. Here’s the latest odds available at top-used UFC betting sites:
| Fighter |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander Volkanovski | +125 | +125 | +125 |
| Ilia Topuria | +240 | +240 | +240 |
| Aljo Sterling | +550 | +550 | +550 |
| Max Holloway | +550 | +550 | +550 |
| Bryce Mitchell | +1000 | +1000 | +1000 |
| Arnold Allen | +1000 | +1000 | +1000 |
Volkanovski is approaching 1,400 days as world champion. That would still put him 448 days behind Jose Aldo’s dominant run at featherweight from 2010 to 2015. On top of being the champ, Volkanovski is also believed to be the pound-for-pound best in the whole UFC. We think betting him here is a no-brainer, especially at plus-money odds.
We’re confident in this pick because Volkanovski has already run through multiple contenders — Holloway (three wins) and Rodriguez. There are some newcomers bursting onto the scene in Topuria and Mitchell, but they’re still ways away from challenging the P4P king in our eyes.
The only thing that might stop Volkanovski is age. He just turned 34 years old a few days ago. History says this is when fighters begin losing a step or two. Still, we respect Volkanovski’s in-ring IQ too much. That’s his true competitive advantage over anything physical (he’s seriously undersized). So yes, take the champ to hold the belt til 2024 — our prediction is he surpasses Aldo’s steak eventually.
UFC Heavyweight Champion At End Of 2024
We’re under two months away from the heavyweight megafight between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic. Both are aging greats and cause of that, the odds are neither Jones or Miocic will be the heavyweight champion when 2024 ends. Here’s the fighter who is favored, plus a few other contenders:
| Fighter | | | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sergei Pavlovich | +175 | +175 | +175 |
| Jailton Almeida | +225 | +225 | +225 |
| Jon Jones | +450 | +450 | +450 |
| Tom Aspinall | +550 | +550 | +550 |
| Ciryl Gane | +600 | +600 | +600 |
| Stipe Miocic | +1000 | +1000 | +1000 |
For anyone not betting Jones, you’re saying one of two things happens: the widely-considered GOAT of the sport loses for the first time ever or he relinquishes the belt (for injury or given his history, maybe even an arrest or failed drug test). We believe the former is true. Jones is 37 and we’ve already seen his in-ring skills diminish — less-than-stellar performances against Thiago Santos and Dominick Reyes.
Only Jones won’t lose to Miocic. It’ll be Pavlovich who earns the legacy-making win over Jones. He’s ranked second currently but should be the number-one contender. Pavlovich has strung together six straight victories — all of which by first-round KO. That’s the longest knockout streak in division history. That type of danger is something Jones has never faced — not even at light heavyweight.
So long as Jones and Pavlovich get matched up, we’d put our money on Pavlovich getting the win. Jones says he’s fighting for legacy now and this would be a legacy fight given the danger level. Unfortunately for him, it’ll be a legacy stain — not an addition — cause Pavlovich is the real deal.
UFC Bantamweight Champion At End 2024
Sean O’Malley shocked the world by beating Aljo Sterling for this belt a few months ago. With his personality and KO ability, the jet pack is being strapped onto him to make him UFC’s next mainstream attraction. It won’t be easy though because there’s a myriad of completion at bantamweight chomping at the bit for him. Here are the fighters most likely to be bantamweight champs next year:
| Fighter | | | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sean O'Malley | +150 | +150 | +150 |
| Merab Dvalishvili | +250 | +250 | +250 |
| Umar Nurmagomedov | +275 | +275 | +275 |
| Aljo Sterling | +350 | +350 | +350 |
| Cory Sandhagen | +500 | +500 | +500 |
| Henry Cejudo | +600 | +600 | +600 |
There are two fighters that stand out as O’Malley’s biggest foes. The first is Dvalishvili, who has won nine in a row — all in dominating fashion too. Dvalishvili is a teammate of Sterling with a very similar fight style. Then there’s also Nurmagomedov and you can probably guess what he’s about by the last name alone. Cousin to Khabib, this Nurmagomedov is also an out-of-this-world wrestler. This Nurmagomedov is also undefeated, but also untested (he’s only fought four times in the UFC).
Our hunch is that Nurmagomedov is a worse matchup for the striking-based O’Malley. But he’ll need to shoot up the rankings to even get a title shot because he’s only No. 11 right now. But with his last name and super skills, we think he does shoot up the rankings and earns a shot at whoever the champion is. That’s why Nurmagomedov is worth a bet here, especially at these longshot odds.
How To Bet On UFC Futures?
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