What an end to the year it is going to be for the fans of UFC and MMA. Not one, but two mixed martial arts events produced by none other than the Ultimate Fighting Championship. With a plethora of amazing headliners and preliminaries, it was a memorable November and it is going to be an even better December to finish the already great 2024 in style. If you are a fan of the sport, you know full well how big of a deal this is. In this article, we talk about both of these events, where they were and will be, who is participating in them, and most importantly, we examine the current odds and make our UFC picks and predictions. It is one of the best sports to bet on and if you are a betting enthusiast apart from a fan, it will benefit you greatly to carefully examine the following paragraphs.
UFC 309 Details
First and foremost, on November 16, 2024, we had UFC 309: Jones vs. Miocic. It was the 11th time that the event took place in New York City, but amazingly, the first since UFC 295 a year ago, in November of 2023. After quite a long hiatus in MMA terms, NYC hosted the biggest event in sport once more. Madison Square Garden was the place to be on Saturday, one of the most famous sports arenas in the world and therefore the best place for the best fighters to clash against each other.
One of the most notable things about this event is that it was the first with the old glove design making a return. Following UFC 302 in June, there were a lot of complaints from the fighters. Dana White, president of UFC, stated that they are reverting to the old gloves because the new style did not catch on and they want the fighters and coaches to be more comfortable and safe.
The main fight of the night was a UFC Heavyweight Championship bout between the current champion, the legendary Jon “Bones” Jones, and the former two-time champion Stipe Miocic. The headline fight promised to be one for the ages as the two fighters were supposed to meet in the aforementioned UFC 295, but Jones suffered a pectoral muscle injury and had to cancel. The backup fighter should there be another mishap is the current interim champion, Tom Aspinall. Aspinall was set to face the winner of this fight in a subsequent event.
Apart from this match, there was a five-round rematch between former UFC Lightweight champion Charles Oliviera, and former three-time Bellator Lightweight World Champion Michael Chandler. This was also the co-main event and the two had already met once before, years ago in May of 2021 at UFC 262 when Oliviera won by a total knockout in the second round. The co-headliner promised to be a good fight, and it was since a long time had passed and it was two champions going at it. Those are always great fights and exactly what people want to see.
Plenty of other bouts took place. In the Middleweight class, Bo Nickal fought Paul Craig. In the Women’s Flyweight, Viviane Araujo faced Karine Silva. The fifth and final main card duel was a catchweight (165 pounds) bout between Mauricio Ruffy and James Llontop. Ruffy was supposed to fight Charlie Campbell in a lightweight bout, but Campbell withdrew from the event.
In the preliminary card, 4 more matches happened. A Bantamweight clash saw Johnathan Martinez and Marcus McGhee going at it while a Middleweight fight between Chris Weidman and Eryk Anders was also scheduled. Then, two Lightweight bouts took place, Jim Miller versus Damon Jackson and David Onama versus Roberto Romero.
In the early preliminary card, there were 4 more matches. The lone women’s fight was a Flyweight duel between Veronica Hardy and Eduarda Moura. Two Welterweight fights for the guys were scheduled, the first between Bassil Hafes and Oban Elliot, and the second between Mickey Gall and Ramiz Brahimaj. That is a total of 13 great fights that took place on November 16 in New York City as part of UFC 309. A great night of sport what was the perfect chance to Bet on MMA and get some money. And sure enough, a lot of people did.
UFC 310 Details
Not even a month later, on December 7, 2024, at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, there is going to be another big fighting sports event. At this MMA blockbuster, there are currently 10 matches scheduled, which could of course change prior to the start of the event. One big event was already canceled a UFC Welterweight Championship bout between current champion Belal Muhammad and undefeated contender Shavkat Rahhmonov. Sadly, the champ has a bone infection in his foot and had to withdraw, so Rakhmonov is waiting to see if the bout is going to be rescheduled.
Lucky for the fans, and bettors, plenty of action still awaits them. In the co-main event, current UFC Flyweight Champion Alexandre Pantoja is fighting former two-time Rizin Bantamweight Champion Kai Asakura. The promotional newcomer will not be an easy challenger for Pantoja in what should be a great headliner.
There is also going to be a Heavyweight fight between UFC Champion Ciryl Gane and former Bellator Heavyweight World Champ Alexander Volkov. This fight was originally scheduled for the UFC 308 but was moved to this event because Volkov had an injured knee. The pair already fought once when they headlined a Fight Night event in June of 2021, where Gane won by unanimous decision.
Another match expected to take place is a duel between WEC and Strikeforce Welterweight champions Nick Diaz and Vicente Luque. Diaz is also a former UFC Welterweight champion challenger and the more experienced fighter. They were also supposed to fight already at the UFC on ABC, but their duel was removed because of Diaz’s travel issues. They will get their chance in less than a month.
Moving on, there is going to be a featherweight bout between the current champion Aljamain Sterling and Movsar Evloev, originally planned for UFC 307 but rescheduled due to Sterling’s injury. Another two welterweight fights are planned, between Randy Brown and Bryan Battle and Michael Chiesa and Max Griffin. Also, a Heavyweight duel will see Talison Teixeira and Lukasz Brzeski facing off.
In the Flyweight class, Codu Durden is scheduled to battle against Joshua Van, and in the Lightweight, Clay Guida faces Chase Hooper. The final scheduled fight, for now, is a Light Heavyweight duel in which Anthony Smith and Dominic Reyes will see eye to eye. All in all, a great combination of fights that will hopefully all happen. You never know with MMA and UFC since scheduling, travel, and injury issues can arise at any moment.
Who Won the UFC 309 Matches and Who Were the Favorites?
In the headline match, it is no surprise that Jon Jones was the absolute favorite over Stipe Miocic. Jones had 1.16 odds and Miocic only had 5.60. In terms of winning method, Jones was favored to win by KO with 2.11 odds, by submission with 2.85, and by decision with 4.70. A draw was a far-fetched bet with 26.00 odds. Miocic was not without his chances, but Stake.com only gave him 8.60, 30.00, and 15.00 odds for the three respective winning methods. Stake is the official betting partner of UFC, so you have to take that into account when considering the bets and the odds. Of course, as we now know, Jones defended his title and won the fight by KO in the 3rd round after a marvelous spinning backkick.
Jones is one of the best fighters ever with a record of 27 wins and only 1 loss, which was a disqualification. He won 10 of his matches by knockout, 7 by submission, and 10 by decision. Miocic will have a tough time fighting against one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time and multiple champion. However, he is not without chance. His career record is 20 wins and 4 losses. He has had 15 knockouts and 5 wins by decision, while he lost 3 matches by knockout and 1 by decision. He is older, and lighter than Jones, which is a disadvantage because they are of the same height. He also has a considerably shorter reach.
The fight between Charles Oliviera and Chandler Michael was a bit more balanced, but it too had a clear favorite. It was Oliviera with 1.40 while Chandler had 3.05. Oliviera was favored to win by KO at 3.10 to Chandler’s 4.60. Submission odds were 2.35 and 10.00, and decision odds were 9.80 and 12.00. Oliviera was the clear favorite across the board and he defeated Chandler by unanimous decision after 5 rounds.
Bo Nickal was a very big favorite against Paul Craig. His odds were 1.08, practically a guarantee, while Craig had his odds set at 8.60. Nickal also won by unanimous decision. In the Viviane Araujo and Karine Silva fight, it was Silva with 1.35 against Araujo’s 3.35. The bookies got it wrong in this one as Araujo defeated Silva by a unanimous decision. In another lopsided match according to the sportsbooks, Mauricio Ruffy was supposed to win with 1.11 against James Llontop’s 7.00, and he did in another unanimous decision.
The remaining fights were much more evenly balanced with both fighters having their chances. Although there were favorites, the bookies did not give them considerably higher odds. For example, Marcus McGhee had 1.70 and Jonathan Martinez had 2.21. McGhee won by unanimous decision. Damon Jackson fared better with 1.57 while Jim Miller had 2.49, and yet Miller managed to win by a guillotine choke submission in the 1st round after 2:44. David Onama was the absolute favorite against Roberto Romero, with an advantage of 1.10 to 7.40. He of course won by unanimous decision. Jhonata Diniz (2.26) was not the favorite against Marcin Tybura (1.67) and he lost by a doctor stoppage TKO in the 2nd round.
UFC 310 Early Predictions and Bets
It is not so easy to pick the winners almost a month in advance for UFC and MMA. The reason for this is that the fights tend to be moved, canceled, or rescheduled at any given time. Therefore, there are no clear odds for all of these fights at the moment, but some of them are slowly being analyzed. Predictions and forecasts are coming in and the earliest odds are taking shape.
As of this moment, there are 4 UFC betting odds available for the December 7 UFC 310 fights, more than enough to make a strong early ticket and hope for the best. Firstly, Movsar Evloev (1.44) is the favorite to win his fight against Aljamain Sterling (2.80). Unfortunately, no winning methods odds are available right now as the date needs to draw closer for that to be the case.
Between Nick Diaz and Vicente Luque, it is Luque with a big odds advantage. Bookies foresee that he is the clear favorite in this bout and give him 1.14 odds while giving Diaz only 5.80. This is by far the biggest difference in chances for this event at the moment. Between Alexander Volkov and Ciryl Gane, the gap is smaller. Gane’s chances are represented with 1.41 odds and Volkov’s are sitting at 2.95 right now.
Finally, Alexandre Pantoja (1.44) seems to be the clear favorite against Kai Asakura (2.80), but the odds could change in the following weeks. Check back soon to see if new predictions and forecasts have been released for the December main event. All in all, it is going to be a marvelous month of fighting between these two events. New York and Las Vegas, two coasts, two big meccas of MMA and UFC. The fans and bettors cannot wait and who can blame them? What a way for Dana White to finish the year and what an early sign for 2025 this will be!
