Another year of MMA has come and gone, and once again, it’s been made abundantly clear that we are all Jon Snow and know nothing. In 2025, 10 of the 11 UFC weight classes saw a new person take the undisputed title, with only women’s flyweight seeing no change whatsoever in champion, and one fighter regaining the title he lost in the same year. Even in a sport as unpredictable as MMA, that is pretty insane. None of our staff correctly predicted more than five champions in 2025, and four weight classes we were
all completely wrong about.
Nevertheless, we persist.
2026 is now upon us, and it’s time, once again, to peer into our crystal balls and take another crack at predicting who the UFC champions will be when 2027 rolls around.
MMA Fighting staffers Guilherme Cruz, Blaine David, Mike Heck, Alexander K. Lee, Damon Martin, Jed Meshew, and José Youngs make our selections below.
Join in the fun by letting us know your picks in the comments. Trust us: It’s much, much more difficult than you’d expect.
Heavyweight
Tom Aspinall: Cruz, David, Heck, Martin, Youngs
Alex Pereira: Lee, Meshew
Entering 2025, the UFC heavyweight title picture was completely up in the air. Entering 2026, it remains that way, though for very different reasons.
Last year, Tom Aspinall was finally promoted to undisputed champion after Jon Jones retired, but his first undisputed title defense became one of the debacles of the year when it ended after an illegal eye poke from Ciryl Gane. Now, Aspinall is having surgery on his eyes and has no set timetable for return, leaving the weight class in flux.
Given the uncertainty, most of the staff have defaulted to Aspinall to retain the title, under the assumption that he will return this year. However, rumors abound that light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira may move up to fight Gane for an interim title, and if Aspinall cannot compete for a long time, perhaps he will vacate the belt? Intrigue awaits at heavyweight in 2026.
Light Heavyweight
Alex Pereira: Cruz, David, Martin
Jiri Prochazka: Heck, Meshew, Youngs
Azamat Murzakanov: Lee
In 2025, the MMA Fighting staff was split on whether Pereira or Magomed Ankalaev would hold the light heavyweight title, and both ended up being correct. Ankalaev took the title from Pereira in March, but lost it back to him in October. Now, the question for “Poatan” is more about how long he intends to stick around 205.
As a result, the staff is split on what 2025 holds for light heavyweight, with about half the crew believing Pereira moves up, leaving Jiri Prochazka to reclaim the belt, and half backing “Poatan” to hold onto his throne. And then there’s the total wild card pick that 2025 will be the year Azamat Murzakanov etches his name in the history books.
Middleweight
Khamzat Chimaev: Cruz, David, Lee, Martin, Youngs
Dricus du Plessis: Meshew
Anthony Hernandez: Heck
The favorite to win the title in 2025, Chimaev made good on that backing, and now is a runaway favorite to hold onto his belt in 2026. It’s not hard to see why. For as talented as the middleweight division has gotten in recent years, Chimaev is the Prince Who Was Promised, and took the belt with one of the most dominant performances of 2025.
Notably, nobody picked Chimaev’s presumptive next opponent, Nassourdine Imavov, to hold the middleweight title. Instead, Mike Heck believes “Fluffy” Hernandez is the man to upend Chimaev’s title reign, while I believe former champion Dricus du Plessis will regain the crown — not by beating Chimaev, but by defeating whoever he fights for the vacant belt after Chimaev moves up to 205 before the end of the year.
Welterweight
Islam Makhachev: Cruz, David, Martin, Youngs
Michael Morales: Heck, Lee
Shavkat Rakhmonov: Meshew
Only one staff member correctly predicted Islam Makhachev would be the welterweight champion last year (it was me), but a majority are going with that for 2026. Makhachev moved up to 170 pounds in November and looked like a natural welterweight, dominating Jack Della Maddalena to become the UFC’s 11th two-division champion. Now, the biggest question is who will Makhachev fight next?
Kamaru Usman, Michael Morales, Shavkat Rakhmonov, Ian Machado Garry, and Carlos Prates all appear to be in the mix at 170 pounds, making it especially hard to predict what’s going to happen. But while most see Makhachev retaining, Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee have been impressed by the rise of Michael Morales, and I am going with the longtime divisional boogeyman that everyone seems to have forgotten about.
Lightweight
Ilia Topuria: Cruz, Martin, Meshew
Arman Tsarukyan: Heck, Lee, Youngs
Max Holloway: David
Of all the weight classes, lightweight is perhaps the trickiest to predict in 2026 because of the unknowns at the top of the division. Later this month, Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett face off for an interim title because Ilia Topuria is taking time off for personal reasons. The assumption is that Topuria will face the winner of that fight later this year, but is that even a safe assumption at this point?
Amid all the uncertainty, half the staff sided with Topuria (as one of this number, my belief is he fights Pimblett or Gaethje, and that’s it for 2026), while the other half picked the man who should be fighting for the title, Arman Tsarukyan. And then Blaine David came in from left field with ‘BMF’ champion Max Holloway joining the two-division champion club.
Featherweight
Alexander Volkanovski: Cruz, David, Heck
Diego Lopes: Meshew, Youngs
Lerone Murphy: Lee
Movsar Evloev: Martin
After losing the featherweight title in 2024, Volkanovski reclaimed the vacant belt when Topuria moved up to lightweight last year, beating Diego Lopes at UFC 314. Now he will run things back with Lopes in a few weeks, and three staffers believe he will win once again, while two think Lopes beats him this time around.
But if Volkanovski does win, will he stick around? At 37 years old and already a guaranteed future Hall of Famer, there’s not much more left for “The Great” to accomplish in the sport. Volk has said he would like one more title defense after Lopes, even mentioning Lerone Murphy and Movsar Evloev as possibilities, before moving up to try for the lightweight title one more time, but it remains to be seen if that’s even on the table.
All told, featherweight is one of the most intriguing divisions for 2026.
Bantamweight
Umar Nurmagomedov: David, Lee, Martin, Meshew, Youngs
Merab Dvalishvili: Cruz
Petr Yan: Heck
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
Last year, six staffers picked Umar Nurmagomedov to win the bantamweight title, and they were rendered incorrect almost immediately, when Merab Dvalishvili beat him at UFC 311. Even Mike Heck, who picked Yan to end 2025 as champion, did so with the belief that Umar would beat Merab, and Yan would beat Umar.
Well, it seems most of us didn’t learned any lessons from that, because five of us have chosen Umar to win the title, while Guilherme Cruz believes Merab will win the rubber match with Umar, and Mike Heck is standing by his man to keep the belt throughout 2026.
Flyweight
Alexandre Pantoja: Cruz, Youngs
Manel Kape: Heck, Martin
Joshua Van: David
Tatsuro Taira: Meshew
Kyoji Horiguchi: Lee
Nobody, and I mean nobody, saw Joshua Van ending 2026 as the flyweight champion.
Van began 2025 unranked and ended the year as the king of the 125ers, one of the most impressive breakout years of all time, albeit with a slightly awkward title win. And perhaps because of that awkward title win, flyweight is the most contentious division to predict.
Only Blaine David believes Van will keep that momentum in 2026 and hold onto his title. Meanwhile, two staffers believe long-reigning champion Alexandre Pantoja will return from injury to reclaim his title, and two others believe that Manel Kape will finally get a title fight and get the job done.
Then there are the two Japanese contenders.
Kyoji Horiguchi looked like he might get a title fight if Pantoja won at UFC 323, and Alexander K. Lee thinks that’s still coming for the former RIZIN and Bellator champion, but first he’ll have to get past Amir Albazi in February. Meanwhile, I’m backing my longtime boy Tatsuro Taira to ascend to the top of 125 pounds, after he ran over former champion Brandon Moreno in December.
But knowing the flyweight division, we’re all probably wrong, and it’ll be someone like Lone’er Kavanagh coming out of nowhere.
Women’s Bantamweight
Kayla Harrison: David, Lee, Martin, Meshew
Amanda Nunes: Cruz, Youngs
Valentina Shevchenko: Heck
In 2025, a majority of the staff picked Harrison to win the bantamweight belt, and boy, were they right. This year, Harrison still has the bulk of the votes to retain, but with the Amanda Nunes fight looming later this month, two of our number believe the former champion will return to the octagon and return to glory, while Mike Heck has gone completely off the board and picked flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko to move back up to 135 pounds and make her case for being the WMMA GOAT.
Women’s Flyweight
Valentina Shevchenko: David, Martin, Meshew, Youngs
Manon Fiorot: Heck
Alexia Thainara: Lee
Natalia Silva: Cruz
The only champion to hold the undisputed title in their division fully throughout 2025, Shevchenko is the obvious favorite to do so again this year. Sure, Shevchenko will be 38 in March, but after a sensational campaign in 2025, who would pick against her?
Well, more than you’d think, I suppose, but Mike Heck isn’t picking against Shevchenko; he just thinks she’s moving up to bantamweight. That leaves Guilherme Cruz and Alexander K. Lee believing Shevchenko will lose her belt the old-fashioned way. If that does happen, it seems like Natalia Silva will get the first crack at upsetting Shevchenko, while Lee has the deep cut selection of Thainara.
Strawweight
Zhang Weili: Cruz, David, Heck, Lee, Martin, Youngs
Mackenzie Dern: Meshew
Very nearly our only unanimous selection this year falls to the strawweight GOAT, Zhang Weili, and it’s easy to understand. Zhang did not lose her title, but vacated it to move up to 125 pounds, leaving Mackenzie Dern to win the vacant title while she was away. But after Zhang was completely dominated by Shevchenko, it seems like she’s going to return to 115 pounds, where she will be a sizable favorite over anyone she faces.
But I don’t care. As one of the very few people to never sell my Mackenzie Dern stock, 2025 was electric. Not only did Dern finally fight for a belt, but she won the thing. And asterisk or no, banners hang forever. So what, you think I spent years foolishly backing Dern to now turn around and abandon her the moment she reaches the mountaintop?
Nay, I say. You all can do the reasonable, safe, predictable thing. But me? I’m choosing to live.
Dern 2026.
