If you want to make the MMA gods laugh, tell them who you think will be UFC champion by the end of this year. I think that’s how the saying goes. It’s close, anyway.
Trying to tell the future in any sport is tough enough. But in the UFC? There are just so many ways to mess around and lose one of those shiny gold belts. You don’t even have to lose an actual fight, is the thing. UFC champs have become former champs through sheer inactivity or a general failure to please the powers that be.
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On the other hand, people have gone to bed as halfway ignored interim champs and woke up the next morning as the full article. All it takes is a wave of Dana White’s magic wand and the Lambo could turn back into a pumpkin — or vice versa.
Considering all that, who would be fool enough to try their hand at predicting the UFC champions in every weight class at the end of 2026? The answer, of course, is us. The Uncrowned staff has taken it upon themselves to do just that. And, just so you know, some of us (mostly me) did decently well in this same task last year.
(For the sake of accountability: I, Ben Fowlkes, went 6-5 with my champ picks in 2025. The next closest was Petesy Carroll, pride of the Emerald Isle, who went 5-6. Drake Riggs and Eric Jackman both went 4-7, while Chuck Mindenhall, Conner Burks, and our brave editor Shaheen Al-Shatti brought up the rear at 3-8. Only one person correctly predicted how lightweight and featherweight would shape up. That person was, again, me.)
With that out of the way, here’s how the Uncrowned crew sees the 2026 title picture ending up. Proceed with caution.
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Heavyweight
Tom Aspinall (7): Al-Shatti, Burks, Carroll, Fowlkes, Jackman, Mindenhall, Riggs
Only one weight class garnered agreement across the board from our team, and it was this one. All seven voting members picked current UFC heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall to be wearing that belt still (or again) by the end of the year.
At least some of that is likely due to the pacing in this division. It’s become extremely rare to see more than one UFC heavyweight title fight (excluding bouts for interim belts, which don’t really count) in a single calendar year. In fact, not since 2018 have we seen a UFC heavyweight champion attempt more than one title fight in a calendar year. (Sincere thanks for putting in that work goes out to both Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic, who both fought two heavyweight title bouts that year.)
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This means Aspinall would likely only need to win one fight in 2026 to end the year as champ. And with multiple eye surgeries apparently on the docket for now, that fight probably wouldn’t come until halfway through the year at the earliest.
Those eye issues might also be the greatest threat to his title reign. If he can’t get that sorted and get back in the cage somewhat soon, there’s a good chance he could be stripped of the belt by an impatient UFC, which surely doesn’t want to go a whole year without a legit heavyweight title fight to offer to its new broadcast partners at Paramount.
Light Heavyweight
Poatan sees your doubt, Uncrowned team — and he ain’t happy.
(Alexandre Schneider via Getty Images)
Jiri Prochazka (2): Conner Burks, Drake Riggs
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Carlos Ulberg (2): Ben Fowlkes, Chuck Mindenhall
Alex Pereira (1): Petesy Carroll
Magomed Ankalaev (1): Eric Jackman
Khamzat Chimaev (1): Shaheen Al-Shatti
OK, so we’re all over the map on this one. Can you blame us? The 205-pound class has long been one of those divisions where, in the absence of a dominant champ, chaos reigns and almost everybody gets to have a cup of coffee with the belt before passing it on to the next man. And with the current champ Pereira now tiptoeing toward 40 years old, it feels like we could be entering one of those wild and wooly years at light heavyweight.
Prochazka looks like a decent bet, considering the momentum he’s gained of late. Then there’s Ulberg as a rising contender whose time could very well be now. Our editor-in-chief seems to think Chimaev will get bored of ruling the land of middleweights rather quickly and move up to seek his entertainment elsewhere. And then, of course, there’s Ankalaev (talk about having a cup of coffee with the belt…) still hanging around.
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In short, we could envision a whole lot of madness and several different plausible scenarios playing at across a potentially volatile year for what was once the UFC’s glamour division.
Middleweight
Khamzat Chimaev (6): Burks, Carroll, Fowlkes, Jackman, Mindenhall, Riggs
Nassourdine Imavov (1): Al-Shatti
Speaking only for myself here, the big question is whether our editor first decided that Chimaev would move up this year and then talked himself into thinking it would be Imavov who took his place, or if he was simply so committed to seeing Imavov as champ but couldn’t imagine how it would happen with Chimaev in the way. [Ed. note: The latter, definitely. Y’all do not understand how rough a middleweight division without Khamzat looks until you try to plot it out.]
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Regardless, Chimaev is the top pick for the rest of us, and I think you can see why. He dominated Dricus du Plessis to claim the belt, and seems like a stylistic nightmare for just about everyone in or near title contention at 185 pounds. He’s still just 31, with only 15 pro fights to his name, so it doesn’t seem like all the tread is worn off the tires yet. All that makes him look like a champ who could hold this belt for the foreseeable future — unless he jumps up a weight class, which is, in fairness, pretty popular these days.
The overall record of this photo: 57-1. Is that good? That seems good.
(Mike Roach via Getty Images)
Welterweight
Islam Makhachev (4): Carroll, Fowlkes, Jackman, Riggs
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Shavkat Rakhmonov (3): Al-Shatti, Burks, Mindenhall
Speaking of dominant champs who seem like they could terrorize their current weight class for a good long while, Makhachev looked pretty comfortable when he took the 170-pound belt from Jack Della Maddalena late last year. Rakhmonov does seem like the biggest threat to his title reign, but after his long absence due to injury it’s unclear where the would-be challenger even stands in the welterweight division at the moment.
Will Rakhmonov have to fight and win one more time just to remind us why he deserves to be top contender? What happens if he loses, or simply emerges with another injury requiring more time off? With reports of Makhachev planning to sit out until early summer at the earliest, there’s a chance we may only see one title fight from him in 2026. That doesn’t leave a huge window of opportunity for anyone else to go from contender to champ.
Lightweight
Ilia Topuria (6): Al-Shatti, Burks, Carroll, Fowlkes, Mindenhall, Riggs
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Arman Tsarukyan (1): Jackman
The current 155-pound champion is taking some time off. He’s cited issues in his personal life, including what he says are attempts to extort him with fraudulent claims of abuse, as the reason why he must step back from active competition. While he’s away, the UFC has booked an interim title fight between Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett. Barring a draw or a no-contest, one of them will wear some form of UFC gold for at least some portion of 2026.
Interesting, then, that neither man received a single vote here. Is it because we expect that interim title to be a meaningless trinket that guarantees the winner nothing, not even a title shot upon Topuria’s return? Is it because we all think Topuria trucks whoever wins that fight anyway? Or is it, as Mr. Jackman seems to think, just that Tsarukyan can only be denied for so long?
Thus far, Tsarukyan’s past sins have kept him out of the title picture. UFC CEO Dana White has said he’s not ready to forgive and forget just yet. But who knows, maybe 2026 brings a clean-ish slate. Then it’s just a matter of who wins the damn fights.
No respect for the champ, huh? You just made Volk’s list.
(Chris Unger via Getty Images)
Featherweight
Movsar Evloev (4): Fowlkes, Jackman, Mindenhall, Riggs
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Lerone Murphy (2): Burks, Carroll
Diego Lopes (1): Al-Shatti
Alexander Volkanovski (0): N/A
Imagine that. It’s the beginning of 2026 and not a soul is picking current UFC featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski to still be champ by the end of the year. Why? It’s nothing against “Volk,” who’s arguably the greatest featherweight in UFC history. It’s just because we’ve all been around this sport long enough to know that Father Time is undefeated.
Volkanovski will turn 38 this September. For a heavyweight those might be prime years, but at 145 pounds it’s practically a senior citizen. It’s a testament to his unique abilities that he’s still as good as he is, but there are a couple unbeaten up-and-comers — Evloev and Murphy are a combined 36-0-1 as pros — who seem like they can’t be denied much longer.
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It’s interesting that only one member of our team (the repeat outlier at the top of the org chart) is picking Lopes. He is, after all, currently slated to get the first featherweight title shot of the year in a championship rematch that’s almost indefensible as a matchmaking choice. Could he win and then play keep-away with the belt for the rest of the year, thereby making Al-Shatti look like a genius? I mean, it’s possible…
Bantamweight
Merab Dvalishvili (3): Al-Shatti, Carroll, Jackman
Petr Yan (2): Mindenhall, Riggs
Umar Nurmagomedov (2): Burks, Fowlkes
We all know Yan is riding high as champ after a career performance to finally pry the 135-pound title out of Dvalishvili’s hands, but how long can he hold it? That’s one of the big questions headed into 2026. The other is what the UFC will do with him first.
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An immediate rematch with Dvalishvili wouldn’t be such a terrible idea. Theirs was a fantastic fight, after all, and maybe there are some lingering questions about whether Merab suffered from trying to do way too much in 2025. Or maybe the UFC decides to try a fresh matchup and give the other other Nurmagomedov another crack at it. His first shot at the title gave us some reason to believe that he’ll be a problem once he matures into his final form.
Still, it is hard to count out Dvalishvili, the division’s perpetual motion machine. The tendency is to jump off the bandwagon and declare a 34-year-old former champ officially washed as soon as he loses the title, but everything we know about this man suggests that he won’t go away so easily.
Whenever it happens, Joshua Van vs. Alexandre Pantoja 2 should be a delight.
(Chris Unger via Getty Images)
Flyweight
Alexandre Pantoja (3): Carroll, Fowlkes, Jackman
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Joshua Van (2): Al-Shatti, Mindenhall
Tatsuro Taira (1): Burks
Kyoji Horiguchi (1): Riggs
The 125-pound class feels wide open for the first time in a while. Pantoja’s loss due to freak injury has raised all sorts of timeline questions that remain thus far unanswered, while Van’s title victory feels a little like winning the Super Bowl because the other team got snowed in and couldn’t make it in time.
Then, of course, there’s the Japanese contingent, consisting of two talented fighters at opposite ends of the age spectrum. Horiguchi (35) and Taira (25) both seem like they have the goods to win any fight at any time. This one might come down to nothing more than timing and opportunity.
Women’s Bantamweight
Kayla Harrison (5): Al-Shatti, Burks, Carroll, Fowlkes, Jackman
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Amanda Nunes (1): Mindenhall
Norma Dumont (1): Riggs
Unsurprisingly, the majority of us think that Harrison’s iron grip on the 135-pound title will not be broken this year. Even with Nunes returning from retirement to put her GOAT status on the line, it’s a lot to ask of a body to return to peak form this late in the game after a couple years off.
As for Dumont? Well, sure. She has a nice winning streak going. And a year is a long time. Many things happen on any given trip around the sun. That’s about the best case I can make for her title hopes, but kudos to Riggs for putting himself out there on this one.
Valentina Shevchenko has to age out of the title picture at some point … right? RIGHT?!?
(Jeff Bottari via Getty Images)
Women’s Flyweight
Valentina Shevchenko (3): Carroll, Fowlkes, Jackman
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Natalia Silva (3): Al-Shatti, Burks, Riggs
Manon Fiorot (1): Mindenhall
It’s tempting to say that this year, when she turns 38 and enters Year 23 (!!) of her life as a professional fighter, Shevchenko will finally fall off for good. The problem is that we still have yet to see any evidence that she’ll fall off far enough for the rest of the division to catch her.
Is Shevchenko the fighter she used to be? No. But she’s still good enough and crafty enough to hold off her younger rivals — for now. Silva hasn’t lost a fight since 2017, which makes you wonder if she even remembers how. Fiorot had a run of her own, but at 35 years old it’s hard not to feel like her best chance to snatch a UFC belt might have come and gone.
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Still, Shevchenko has to get old some day, right? Failing that, maybe the best hope for the division is she’ll just get tired of this sport after a lifetime spent in it and go off to make her name as a dancer or sniper instead.
Women’s Flyweight
Zhang Weili (5): Al-Shatti, Burks, Carroll, Jackman, Mindenhall
Tatiana Suarez (1): Fowlkes
Yan Xiaonan (1): Riggs
Mackenzie Dern (0): N/A
Right off, let me explain myself. My entire theory here rests on an assumption that Zhang’s smothering, lopsided loss to Shevchenko in her double-champ bid late last year broke her spirit. No, I’m not sure I really believe that. But it’s possible! Kind of.
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At the same time, I see what the herd is thinking here. Zhang seemed to move up in weight almost in disgust at her own division, where no one could offer much in the way of a serious challenge. Do we really think that will change in 2026?
Or, if I may offer another theory, notice how we’ve gotten this far into this section without even mentioning current champ Mackenzie Dern? Everybody knows she only laid hands on the 115-pound belt because Zhang was away on business. But what we don’t know is how things will shake out with Zhang’s return — and when. Just saying, it’s not so crazy to think that a little new blood at the top could lead to more new blood at the top. It’s happened before.
