2024 was a gift that kept on giving for fight fans, as we saw some of the most exciting, action-packed fights in marquee UFC events. From UFC 300 and UFC Noche, to this year’s Abu Dhabi and New York City events, fight fans have been treated to some of the greatest fights ever witnessed inside the Octagon. What’s more? We got to see incredible championship fights, where new champions rose to the occasion, and certain legends retained their belts in dominant showings.

Some of these championship performances can definitely go down in the MMA history books because of how dramatic, and exciting they were. In that vein, let’s look at all the champions from each division in the world’s greatest MMA promotion at the end of 2024. So without further ado, let’s get right into it.

Heavyweight

The heavyweight division hasn’t seen much change in the reign ever since Jon Jones wore the crown back in UFC 285. ‘Bones’ fought Ciryl Gane for the vacant heavyweight championship belt back in April 2023. He was set to have his first heavyweight title defense in November 2023. But an torn pectoral muscle forced him to wait for almost a year to fight the greatest heavyweight of all time, Stipe Miocic. 

In November 2024, Jon Jones defeated the firefighter in the third round with a phenomenal spinning back kick followed by vicious ground-and-pound. This also made the fight fans shed some tears as Miocic finally announced his retirement from the sport after losing at UFC 309. The year 2024 has yet again ended with Jon Jones reigning supreme in the world’s premier promotion’s heaviest division.

Light heavyweight

The light heavyweight division witnessed quite a bit of action in 2024, with not one, not two, but three title fights in the span of just one year. However, the king atop the second heaviest UFC division remained the same. At UFC 295 held in November 2023, Alex Pereira faced Jiri Prochazka for the first time and knocked him out in the second round to become the 19th light heavyweight champion of the UFC. 

Being seated on the champion’s mantle, Pereira ensured that the fighting community was entertained all year long. Just 5 months after acquiring the light heavyweight belt, ‘Poatan’ defended it for the first time against Jamahal Hill at UFC 300 in April. Needless to say, the Brazilian rose victorious with a firstr-round vicious knockout punch via a picture-perfect left hook that landed flush on ‘Sweet Dreams.

In his second defense, ‘Poatan’ had a rematch against Prochazka two months later and defeated him with a head-kick in the second round. Finally, in UFC 307, the man with the hands of stone faced the formidable Khalil Rountree Jr. Despite giving ‘Poatan’ his toughest fight at light heavyweight, even ‘The War Horse’ couldn’t stand tall against Pereira. With an incredible showing in three championship fights, Pereira stood tall as one of the more reliable light heavyweight champions of 2024.

Middleweight 

The year began with Sean Strickland on top of the throne after he snatched the position from Israel Adesanya back in August 2023. But the first card of 2024 UFC 297 witnessed the coming of the South African Dricus Du Plessis, as he claimed victory over Strickland in a closely contested split decision. With the shift in power in the middleweight division in the span of less than a year, we also witnessed the rise of new drama and new rivalry.

Dricus Du Plessis ignited a rivalry with ‘The Last Stylebender’ and began the ‘real African’ debate in early 2023. This ensured that the two of them would end up facing each other inside the Octagon to settle the debate. And face each other they did at UFC 305 in August. The bout ended with ‘Stillknocks’ forcing the former 2-time middleweight champion to tap out with a face crank in the 4th round – becoming the first man to submit ‘Stylebender’ in MMA. As the year comes to an end, all eyes remain on the middleweight throne. After all, DDP is all set for a rematch against Strickland at UFC 315 in February 2025. 

Welterweight

At the beginning of 2024, Leon Edwards was the one ruling the welterweight realm since August 2022. ‘Rocky’ was the subject of much discussion with his highlight reel KO of Kamaru Usman in 2022. The rematch in 2023 saw the Birmingham native retain his title after a five-round war. Furthermore, Edwards had one title defense with a five-round domination fight over Colby Covington.

However, ‘Rocky’ couldn’t hold his stance against Belal Muhammad at UFC 304. In the fight, Leon Edwards looked out of his element, without a proper answer to the onslaught brought forth by the Arab-American. ‘Remember The Name’ became the first-ever Palestinian UFC champion by defeating Edwards in a rematch via unanimous decision. Muhammad was supposed to defend his title against the Kazakh phenom Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310, but a bone infection due to staph forced him out of the bout, causing the brahs Irishman Ian Garry to take his place in the fight, which was relegated to the co-main event.

Lightweight

When it comes to the perhaps the most stack division in the UFC, i.e., lightweight, Team Khabib has held the title since October 2022. Islam Makhachev has been reigning supreme in the lightweight division since beating Charles Oliveira at UFC 280. Since then, he’s defended his title thrice; twice in 2023 and once in 2024. Last year, he had to two incredible bouts against former featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski, knocking him out in the second fight.

In UFC 302, Makhachev defended his championship title against Dustin Poirier, and he won via a D’arce choke in the final round. The Dagestani champ is all set to dictate the future of the lightweight belt in early 2025 with a fight against Arman Tsarukyan. There is talk of Islam Makhachev moving up to welterweight to fight for double-champ status, but his move depends on him getting through Tsarukyan, who perhaps gave Makhachev one of his toughest fights back in 2019.

Featherweight

The featherweight division, perhaps, had the most dramatic turn of events this year with ‘El Matador’, Ilia Topuria claiming the belt. Even though Alexander Volkanovski lost two bouts against Makhachev, he was still the featherweight champion at the beginning of the year. However, the crown shifted to Ilia Topuria as he defeated ‘The Great’ via a second-round KO in February 2024. After that, for his first title defense, ‘El Matador’ went after the former featherweight king Max Holloway in October 2024, and defeated the BMF champion with a dramatic third-round KO. 

However, the fate of the featherweight division remains uncertain with the Spanish champion wanting to move to the lightweight division. This may or may not be a possibility, given that Dana White wants him to defend his title against other top contenders, and solidify his position as featherweight king before going for another belt. ‘El Matador’ even alluded to giving up his belt in order to move up to lightweight, but for now, the year has ended with Topuria atop the featherweight division.

Bantamweight

‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley claimed the bantamweight championship title by knocking out Aljamain Sterling back in 2023. His performance in the rematch against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera in March 2024 had fans thinking that the year would end under O’Malley’s reign as bantamweight champion. But boy, were we wrong! 

The power shifted to Merab Dvalishvili in a splendid yet comical performance at UFC 306. This was also the event that witnessed the biggest and most dramatic UFC events as Dana White brought the fight promotion to the Sphere. As the year nears its end, the bantamweight division’s fate hangs under a sword. The very first numbered event of 2025 would witness ‘The Machine’ defending his title against the dangerous Umar Nurmagomedov. There are pretty good chances of the bantamweight division also shifting under Dagestani rule at UFC 311, don’t you think?

Flyweight

The flyweight division remained comparatively stagnant to other divisions, under Alexandre Pantoja’s rule. But that doesn’t mean the division was free from all the action. Pantoja defended his belt twice in 2024. He went against Steve Erceg and defeated him via a unanimous decision at UFC 301, and later tapped Kai Asakura out at UFC 310 with a rear naked choke submission. The Brazilian has established himself as a powerful force on the flyweight throne, and might continue his dominance int he division, in a bit to replicate GOAT contender Demetrious Johnson’s mighty run.

Women’s bantamweight

2024 began with a vacant women’s bantamweight championship title. Amanda Nunes had already announced her retirement following her last win, leaving Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva to fight for the vacant title in January 2024. ‘Rocky’ Pennington won the bout via a unanimous decision. 

But things changed in October 2024 when Pennington battled Julianna Peña at UFC 307. Pena became the women’s bantamweight champion for the second time after defeating Pennington through a split decision. 

Women’s flyweight

Coming to the women’s flyweight division, Alexa Grasso ruled the realm for a short while following her victory over Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 285. The duo fought once again at UFC Fight Night 227 in September 2023, but the fight ended up in a draw. However, it was the Noche UFC 2024 which saw ‘Bullet’ find her former glory.

Fighting at the Las Vegas Sphere, Shevchenko secured a unanimous Decision win over her Mexican opponent after a hard-fought battle, becoming the flyweight champion once again. Although the division didn’t really involve any other fighters in the title fights, it was packed with action. 

Women’s strawweight

Finally, it’s time for the women’s strawweight realm. But even this division didn’t see any major changes in the rule. Zhang Weili still remained the strawweight champion with a victory over Yan Xiaonan at UFC 300. Staying as the champ since 2022, all eyes in the strawweight division are indeed focused on Zhang. 

2024 gave us quite a few exciting bouts and events to remember. With new and old champions striving for the champion belt, the UFC world never stopped its grind. As the year comes to an end, drop down to the comments below and let us know how 2024 went by for you.