Must-Take Betting Predictions On Future UFC Champions

Eric Uribe
By , Updated on: Apr 1, 2024 12:00 AM
UFC Championship Betting

We’re one-quarter into 2024, believe it or not. But for this bet, we’re looking ahead to the end of 2024 — and who will be UFC champions by then. There’s a futures betting market on it, and it pays big time. Here’s how you can profit from it with our expert picks!

UFC Men’s Heavyweight Champion End Of 2024 Pick

Jon Jones, despite being injured, remains the UFC heavyweight champion. Per the best UFC betting sites, the odds are he stays the champ til the end of 2024. Have a look-see at the current odds of being UFC heavyweight champion by year’s end:

FighterBovadaBetUSMyBookie
Jon Jones+145+145+145
Tom Aspinall+175+175+175
Sergei Pavlovich+600+600+600
Ciryl Gane+700+700+700
Curtis Blaydes+1000+1000+1000
Stipe Miocic+1000+1000+1000

Jones tore his pectoral muscle in October, shortly before a scheduled bout with Stipe Miocic. In his absence, Aspinall became the interim heavyweight champion when he knocked out Pavlovich. Therefore, this bet seemingly comes down to those three fighters in title contention— Jones, Miocic, or Aspinall.

Dana White has said Jones vs. Miocic is still the plan once Jones is recovered. It’s a big money fight between two all-time greats so we fully expect it to happen. We anticipate that fight happening in the second half of the year as it’s not a small injury to recover from, especially at age 36 like Jones. Therefore, we feel Aspinall won’t get a shot at the winner until early 2025.

Therefore, by process of elimination, this bet really comes down to who wins between the Jones and Miocic dream match. In our estimation, that’s a clear victory for Jones. The longer it goes until these two meet, the more advantageous for Jones even despite the injury. That’s because Miocic will be 42 later this year. Father Time is knocking on the door of the all-time heavyweight fighter so we’re slamming a bet for Jones here.

Jon Jones to be UFC heavyweight champion at end of 2024
BetUS
+145

UFC Men’s Bantamweight Champion End Of 2024 Pick

Sean O’Malley put on a masterclass performance against Chito Vera at UFC 299 to retain his UFC bantamweight championship. That’s why it should be no surprise that O’Malley is the favorite to stay the bantamweight title-holder the rest of the year. Check out the odds below:

FighterBovadaBetUSMyBookie
Sean O'Malley-110-110-110
Merab Dvalishvili+120+120+120
Umar Nurmagomedov+275+275+275
Aljo Sterling+350+350+350
Cory Sandhagen+500+500+500

This is an interesting bet. Interesting because O’Malley should fight at least once more in 2024 — but we’re not entirely sure it’ll be at bantamweight. See, after UFC 299 in March, O’Malley used the post-fight to call out featherweight champion Topuria, not anyone in his own division. This rubbed Dvalishvili the wrong way because he’s the number-one contender at bantamweight. O’Malley eventually brought up Dvalishvili on social media but mentioned 2025, not 2024.

Could it be that Dvalishvili vs. O’Malley won’t happen until 2025? Shoot, we doubt it. UFC has new stars in the one-loss O’Malley and the undefeated Topuria. It doesn’t make sense to have them fight and dim the shine of whoever loses. It’s just not necessary. So yes, we think Merab will get his title shot against O’Mallet this year. The question is, who wins?

Our money is squarely on Dvalishvili. He’s dominated Petr Yan (whom O’Mallet barely beat) and Henry Cejudo. This guy’s wrestling is truly on another level and O’Malley’s only chance at winning that matchup is a knockout, which we doubt happens. As long as the title fight happens this year, this bet has Dvalishvili written all over it.

Merab Dvalishvili to be UFC bantamweight champion at end of 2024
BetUS
+120

UFC Men’s Welterweight Champion End Of 2024 Pick

All right, this bet is far more wide-open than the others. That’s because three fighters have strong shots at being the welterweight champion before 2025. Here’s how the odds currently shake out:

FighterBovadaBetUSMyBookie
Leon Edwards+100+100+100
Shavkat Rakhmonov+200+200+200
Belal Muhammad+300+300+300
Islam Makhachev+500+500+500

Edwards is the champion, having last beaten Colby Covington in December 2023. He’s officially ushered in a new era in the division by beating Covington and Kamaru Usman, the two longtime stalwarts at welterweight. In this new era, he has fresh completion from both Muhammad and Rakhmonov. Still, he’s not scheduled to fight any of these soon and allegedly had three different possible opponents turn him down at UFC 300 (no word on who those opponents were though).

We sense that Edwards will stay on top this year. Not only is he that damn good, but we’re just not sold on any of his possible challengers. Muhammad is almost 36 years old and Rakhmonov hasn’t beaten any top-level fighter yet. Therefore, Edwards is the pick to make.

Leon Edwards to be UFC welterweight champion at end of 2024
BetUS
+100

How To Bet On UFC Futures?

The UFC futures betting market is loaded with even more bets than the three we covered above. If you want a full list of these wagers, including upcoming UFC bouts, hit one of the bookies below. Any one of these will offer every type of bet you need for UFC, including the upcoming 300 show. Think of them as one-stop shops for UFC betting.

The best part? There are lucrative promotional bonuses available that can bankroll these bets for free — yes, free! In the table underneath, we’ve listed the top offers available right now. As you can see, some deals are worth thousands of dollars at select bookies. That’s a lot of free UFC bets. To take advantage, hit one of the “play now” buttons on the table!

Meet the author

Eric Uribe

Born and raised in Nevada, Eric was exposed to the world of sports betting at an early age. He yearned to be 21 just to hit the sportsbook, and when that day finally came, he became a regular at the smoke-filled room, sweating out bets with sketchy characters. Eric'...

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