The 2024 UFC campaign is well underway, with several incredible fight nights behind us.
Magomed Ankalaev’s vicious second-round knockout of Johnny Walker kicked off the calendar year. It was followed by UFC 297, where nearly all bouts went the distance, highlighted by Dricus Du Plessis’ beating of Sean Strickland.
We had a great battle between Imamov and Dolidze, a five-round thriller between Hermansson and Pyfer, and Royval’s upset win against Moreno. Ilia Topuria remained undefeated by knocking out Volkanovski in UFC 298, while UFC 299 took place just a few days ago with O’Malley launching his bantamweight title defense by battering Marlon Vera.
As another exciting UFC season continues, we look at the rest of the schedule and share our expectations for some of the top bouts. If you want to make your predictions count, feel free to check out the UFC odds on sportzino.com.
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1. UFC Fight Night: Tuivasa vs. Tybura (Mar 16)
The March 16 Fight Night should feature several tightly contested bouts. The only major favorites on the card that day are Kennedy Nzechukwu against Ovince Saint Preux and Mike Davis versus Natan Levy.
The main event is the bout between Tai Tuivasa and Marcin Tybura. Sportsbooks are giving the former a slight advantage at the moment, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if the outcome goes either way. A smarter prediction would probably be to pick the fight to go the distance or predict over on the Total Rounds market.
2. UFC Fight Night: Ribas vs. Namajunas (Mar 23)
Just a week later, we are going to have another exciting Fight Night with ten bouts on the card. This is one of the rare nights in which the women’s bout was chosen as the main event. Namely, Amanda Ribas is set to go against Rose Namajunas in the Flyweight division, with the odds slightly favoring the former at the moment.
The co-main event is a bout between Bantamweight youngsters Payton Talbott and Cameron Saaiman. Talbott currently stands undefeated in his seven bouts, but his opponent has an impressive 9–1 record himself. It is anyone’s bout to take, and the sportsbooks think the same, posting nearly identical odds on both fighters.
3. UFC on ESPN: Blanchfield vs. Fiorot (Mar 30)
Another blockbuster women’s Flyweight bout awaits us on March 30 with Erin Blanchfield taking on Manon Fiorot. Chris Weidman and Bruno Silva are set to compete in the co-main event, while we are also expecting a couple of tough fights such as Vicente Luque versus Joaquin Buckley and Ibo Aslan versus Anton Turkalj.
4. UFC 300 (Apr 13)
This is the one every UFC fan has been waiting for. The milestone event has a loaded fight card, with each bout being a treat of its own.
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Alex Pereira and Jamahal Hill have been chosen for the main event. Pereira is defending the title against the former titleholder, who was forced to give it up after suffering an injury outside of the octagon. Sportsbooks currently see the Brazilian as a slight favorite.
All eyes will also be on the all-Chinese co-main event in the women’s Strawweight division between Zhang Weili and Yan Xiaonan. The former is a big odds-on favorite, but major upsets have happened in this division before.
Oliveira versus Tsarukyan and Gaethje versus Holloway will sort things out in the Lightweight division, with Tsarukyan and Gaethje favored by the sportsbooks. Other notable bouts in UFC 300 include Rakic versus Prochazka, Kattar versus Sterling, and Andrade versus Rodriguez.