The UFC is the best MMA championship, showcasing the best in the world.
Without fail, it brings in the most prominent fighters across 12 weight divisions, with millions of fans tuning in each year. Since its inception, the UFC has held over 500 events in 28 different countries, with their broadcasts reaching over a billion households around the world.
Part of the reason for its appeal is the sheer level of competition – because only the best of the best take part in this tournament, finding a way to predict the winners is notoriously tricky.
But this just makes for better viewing, more fun and, most importantly, more of a debate. Because of the tournament’s popularity and accessibility, even casual fans can get involved in the discussion and compare odds on MMA fights. For many people around the world, it has been a way into the sport, turning the most casual of fans into the most hardcore!
With this in mind, we thought we’d add to the debate and put our own two cents in! What's more, we thought we would do it now, after we’ve already had a good taste of the action and can use that taster to make a more informed decision!
Having seen a number of rounds already, the outcome should be pretty obvious, right? Well, let’s find out. Below we’re going to talk about the most popular weight divisions and whether or not their outcome could be predicted:
Women’s Strawweight
For a long while, Rose Namajunas has been the first person on everyone’s lips when they talk about the women’s strawweight division, and for good reason. As of 2023, Namajunas is a two-time UFC Champion, and after a disappointing defeat to Carla Esparza last year, she’s bound to be hungry to assert her superiority. But the likes of Weili Zhang and Esparza are not going anywhere any time soon. In our opinion, the outcome for the ultimate women’s strawweight champion is not obvious.
Men’s Flyweight
As of right now, calling the men’s flyweight champion is as easy as calling where a fly will land next – this division plays to its own rules. That being said, fighters like Brandon Moreno are reliably fantastic, and it’s really only a matter of time before Askar Askarov becomes known as one of the best men’s flyweights in history. In this way, we’re going to hold off again and say that this outcome is not yet obvious – nor do we think it ever will be!
Women’s Flyweight
Come on, we’ve got to make at least one prediction. Let’s try women’s flyweight. Right now, the most prominent fighter in this division has to be Valentina Shevchenko. Known as “The Bullet”, she can take down fighters in a way that no one has witnessed before. She’s fast, vicious, and always manages to get on top of an opponent, no matter how physically demeaning they might be. In our opinion, we’d say this outcome is pretty obvious.
Women’s Bantamweight
The champions of Women’s Bantamweight have been jumping between Amanda Nunes and Julianna Pena for a few years now, but now that Amanda Nunes has announced her retirement, we can certainly see Pena ripping forward and staking her claim as the best in the world. In this way, we’d say the outcome during the remainder of 2023 – and perhaps even 2024 – is obvious.
Men’s Bantamweight
Let’s finish off with the big one. This is the division that many say is the best and most competitive in the UFC, and that makes it another hard one to predict! When it comes to who will be the champions on that fateful day, December 31st, 2023, we’d say Sean O’Malley, Petr Yan, and Adrian Yanez have all got what it takes in the Octagon. But if we had to predict just one of them, we’d say Petr “No Mercy'' Yan will show no mercy. Although Yen forfeited his match-up against Aljamain Sterling due to an illegal knee, he will be hungry to put it right. In this way, we’re going to say this one is obvious – or as obvious as any UFC prediction could be!
