We are just about a week away from UFC 324 and fight fans will rejoice after a long-stretch where there have not been any fights. It’s a major year for the promotion and you can expect some title changes to take place this year.
With that, I wanted to look at every division in the UFC and make a prediction for who I think will be holding the title at the end of this calendar year. In this article, we will be looking at the three active female divisions.
Who will be UFC champion?
Strawweight – Zhang Weili
Starting out with the strawweight division, the current champion is Mackenzie Dern (16-5). Dern won the title back in October when she defeated Virna Jandiroba (22-4) by decision to win the vacant title after Zhang Weili (26-4) vacated the title to challenge Valentina Shevchenko at flyweight.
In that title fight, Weili looked drastically undersized and was bullied by the flyweight champion. Given how that fight went, it appears very likely that Weili is going to move back down to 115 pounds. When she does, Mackenzie Dern’s UFC title reign is going to end.
There is nobody at 115 pounds currently that is beating a motivated Zhang Weili. I expect her to regain the title this year and defend the title once or twice before we hit 2027.
Flyweight – Valentina Shevchenko
The flyweight queen, Valentina Shevchenko (26-4-1), regained her flyweight title just before the end of 2024. In her first title defense this year, she took on Manon Fiorot (13-2) where she was the betting underdog. Shevchenko put on a great performance and retained her title.
Then, she had the superfight with Weili where she solidified herself as the best in the world. Entering 2026, my guess is that her first title defense will come against the winner of the UFC 324 matchup between Natalia Silva (19-5-1) and Rose Namajunas (14-7).
Silva was the clear number one contender in my eyes but she jumped in to face Namajunas when Alexa Grasso (16-5-1) pulled out with an injury. I’m expecting Silva to win and earn her title shot, but if Namajunas wins, she could get the title shot off name recognition which is big in the UFC’s first year with Paramount.
Shevchenko and Namajunas are friends, but I think they would fight in the spirit of competition should it line up. No matter what, I think the belt stays with Shevchenko throughout this year and will as we enter 2027.
Bantamweight – Amanda Nunes
The UFC 324 co-main event was supposed to be a bantamweight title fight between current champion Kayla Harrison (19-1) and the returning Amanda Nunes (23-5). However, it was announced yesterday that Harrison had to undergo neck surgery and the fight is being postponed.
Admittedly, I was picking Nunes in their fight and given the neck injury to Harrison, I feel even better about that pick whenever these two do end up fighting later this year. Nunes appears ready for a second title reign and if she defeats Harrison to become champion again, I don’t see anyone at 135 touching her.
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