UFC Next Fight Odds
Paddy Pimblett (-200) vs Justin Gaethje (+166) | UFC 324 – Interim Lightweight Championship
Amanda Nunes (+162) vs Kayla Harrison (-195) | UFC 324
- Date: Saturday, January 24th, 22:00 ET
- Venue: T-Mobile Arena. Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Diego Lopes (+144) vs Alexander Volkanovski (-172) | UFC 325 – Featherweight Championship
- Date: Saturday, January 31st, 21:00 ET
- Venue: Qudos Bank Arena. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Our UFC betting escapades wrapped up 2025 with Kape vs Royval as the final event of 2025. With Christmas and New Year 2026 celebrations upon us, a 5-week wait for Dana White and Co. to begin the Paramount era has begun. Although this prolonged octagon absence is painful for MMA diehards, the two numbered events lined up are worth the wait!
The pay-per-view model is dead, and the UFC’s takeover of combat sports continues. More imperatively, UFC fighters like Paddy Pimblett, Justin Gaethje, Sean O’Malley, Amanda Nunes, Kayla Harrison, Alexander Volkanovski, and Diego Lopes will usher in our octagon desires for 2026.
Hence, it’s only right that we dissect the UFC odds and its first two, overly stacked, UFC events of the new year, that just so happen to be numbered cards – previously known as pay-per-view – spearheaded by some of the promotion’s biggest stars!
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UFC 324: Pimblett vs Gaethje
On January 24, 2026, the UFC will shift its product under the broadcasting skills of Paramount+, and what better way to kickstart the year than with the return of Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje! Better still, this main event – in the absence of Ilia Topuria – will be for the UFC lightweight championship!
Pimblett, 30, riding a 7-0 unbeaten streak in the UFC, has evolved into one of the company’s biggest stars. In some corners of UFC news, he’s received a lot of slack under the guise of “Dana White privilege” due to his path to obtaining an opportunity at gold, but should the blonde-haired Liverpudlian lift the 155lb strap, many of those doubters will be silenced.
Opposite Pimblett is the hard-hitting, KO-hungry Justin Gaethje. In comparison to the scale of his UFC 324 opponent, “The Highlight” has competed on nothing short of a killer’s row since his introduction in 2017. Sure, a 9-5 record isn’t pretty. Still, there’s a reason why he remains a top-ranked competitor aged 37, with wins over the likes of Dustin Poirier, and unforgettable wars versus names such as Khabib, Oliveira, and Holloway.
An early look at the UFC 324 betting odds shows confidence in Pimblett. It would seem that oddsmakers are favoring youth, trajectory, and hype over experience and knockout power, as the Englishman is priced at -209 on the moneyline, with the comeback on Gaethje at +174.
With zero success over proven 155lb fighters, sharps will undoubtedly pounce on a Pimblett fade to back the underdog Gaethje, and it wouldn’t be surprising to witness some line movement before fight night.
Betting on UFC 324 Main Card: O’Malley, and a GOAT Returns
The Pimblett/Gaethje main event isn’t the only reason to get excited about UFC 324 because the GOAT of women’s MMA, Amanda Nunes, returns to face the unbeaten bantamweight champion, Kayla Harrison.
Nunes literally retired because she’d cleared out the competition. Harrison has since asserted her dominance on WMMA, which has sparked this matchup, and arguably the biggest women’s fight since the Ronda Rousey era.
Despite holding the GOAT crown, Harrison will enter this bout as the betting favorite. This isn’t surprising when you consider Nunes’ absence from competitive action, which historically hasn’t fared well for fighters returning from retirement and long layoffs.
How about the former bantamweight king going against a top-ranked Asian star? The long-awaited return of Sean O’Malley is yet another reason why UFC 324 is stacked with exciting UFC predictions, with the beloved, rainbow-haired striker going face-to-face with the hard-hitting Song Yadong.
Striking is the primary fighting style for both men, and that could be an opportunistic moment for prop bettors targeting the knockout markets. The big question, though: Has O’Malley been matched with an opponent where he’s able to snap his current two-fight losing streak? The current sportsbook odds believe so!
Elsewhere on the main card, Derrick Lewis (underdog, +246) versus Waldo Cortes-Acosta (-300) stands out, as does Jean Silva (-210) against Arnold Allen (+174). With a stacked main card, plenty of betting value is available, and all of this arrives following a prelim card hosting multiple former champions.
UFC 325: Volkanovski vs Lopes
There’s no room for UFC Fight Night odds because the first two UFC events of 2026 are high-profile, numbered events! Following UFC 324, we’re gifted with UFC 325 on January 31, live from the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.
What makes this event so special is that Alexander Volkanovski, the two-time featherweight champion, is rumored to be retiring on home soil after his title defense versus Diego Lopes. It wasn’t a matchup requested by fans due to Volk’s previous dominance over the same opponent. At the same time, we have a legend allegedly saying farewell to the sport, potentially as a champion, going against an all-action, fan favorite that constantly delivers.
Surprisingly, those making UFC predictions on Volk vs Lopes, despite the champ’s dominance in their first meeting, are seeing relatively close odds at BetUS sportsbook.
UFC 2025, Year in Review
From a historically entertaining standpoint, the UFC in 2025 isn’t likely to be remembered. Unfortunately, backup plans and star power were clearly lacking. We should’ve seen this coming when we started January 2025 with Islam Makhachev defending his title against a short-notice opponent, Renato Moicano, instead of Arman Tsarukyan.
Ultimately, there were two huge fights fans wanted: Islam Makhachev vs. Ilia Topuria and Tom Aspinall vs. Jon Jones. We got neither. While this wasn’t directly the fault of the UFC, super fights were lacking, as questions around the UFC’s star power became more prominent than in past years.
With that said, 2025 wasn’t a complete miss for UFC fighters. Alex Pereira’s redemption against Magomed Ankalaev propelled his superstar status, WMMA got a new Queen in Kayla Harrison, while Merab Dvalishvili entered the bantamweight GOAT conversation.
Regarding the fights themselves, Joshua Van and Brandon Royval delivered an instant classic, Petr Yan put on a career performance to derail Merab’s 14-fight win streak and championship reign, and Max Holloway sent Dustin Poirier into retirement after an unforgettable five-round war, to name a few.
We can celebrate 2025 or dwell on its downfalls, but a new era of the UFC is upon us, and it arrives in the shape of a new broadcasting deal.
The UFC in 2026: Paramount+ Era
The UFC and ESPN officially parted ways on December 14, 2025, along with the pay-per-view model that has been the lone method of viewing major numbered events. The UFC and Paramount partnership begins on January 24 when UFC 324 broadcasts on Paramount+, with the initial 13 numbered UFC events scheduled in 2026 as a part of customers’ Paramount+ subscription at no additional cost.
With the desire to deliver and impress their all-new partner, the UFC is already giving us stacked cards, as evidenced by the previously discussed UFC 324 and 325 events. Said events will run back-to-back, and with the inclusion of cards such as the White House event in the summer, and the return of champions like Tom Aspinall, Alex Pereira, Khamzat Chimaev, and Islam Makhachev, expected in the first half of 2026, a historical year of MMA action could very well be upon us.
