Who will keep the belts? SUPER LUTAS reveals who will be the UFC champions at the end of 2026

Alex Poatan and Ilia Topuria are UFC champions (Photo: Montage/SUPER LUTAS)

PUBLICITY:

The UFC calendar for 2026 officially begins next Saturday (24), with UFC 324. Even opening the year with only one title fight, valid for the interim lightweight title (up to 70,3 kg), the event already serves as a starting point to project the organization's direction over the next few months. With decisive fights on the horizon and belts that could change hands, the start of the season raises an inevitable question: who should end 2026 at the top of the UFC's main divisions?

Given this scenario, each member of the SUPER LUTAS team made their predictions about who will be the champions in each weight category at the end of the current season. The question now is: who will get the most predictions right?

See too

Deiveson Figueiredo's rival is planning a title fight after UFC 324 against his former opponent; find out why.

Dana White rules out Plan B and confirms super fight between Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes.

Contract signed? Alex Poatan hints at his next UFC fight: 'Mouthguard is in my bag'

It's worth highlighting that, among the 11 UFC divisions, only three had unanimous votes. In the women's strawweight division (up to 52,3 kg), the women's flyweight division (up to 56,7 kg), and the lightweight division (up to 70,3 kg), Weili Zhang , Valentina Shevchenko , and Ilia Topuria , respectively, were unanimously chosen as the likely champions.

On the other hand, Alexander Volkanovski , Islam Makhachev , and Khamzat Chimaev came very close to complete dominance in their categories. The trio received four votes each and led the projections in the featherweight (up to 65,7 kg), welterweight (up to 77 kg), and middleweight (up to 83,9 kg) divisions, respectively.

Alex Poatan is the likely UFC heavyweight champion.

Even after dominating Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 320 and regaining the light heavyweight title (up to 93 kg), Alex Poatan finished tied with his Russian rival in the category's voting, with two votes each. The explanation for the balance lies in the fact that the Brazilian also appeared strongly among the predictions for the heavyweight division (up to 120,2 kg), where he received three votes and led ahead of Tom Aspinall , who had two.

Check out SUPER LUTAS' predictions for the UFC champions in 2026.

Women's Categories:

Male Categories:

Johnny Walker opens up about his heavyweight debut at UFC 332.