MMA Fighting - No Bets Barred: 2024 MMA Gambling Recap And 2025 UFC Champions Predictions

Episode Date: January 1, 2025

2025 is official here! 2024 was a big year in MMA, with over 40 UFC events and dozens of other big-time combat sports action taking place over the past 52 weeks, but now it's time to turn the page and look ahead to 2025. And what better way to do that than with No Bets Barred making its return?! Host Jed Meshew is joined by MMA Fighting's Mike Heck to review 2024 from a gambling perspective, check out how Jed's futures bets did (spoiler alert, not bad!), and hand out the illustrious No Bets Barred Fighter of the Year award. Then it's on to new business and Jed and Mike give their predictions for who will be UFC champion in each of the 11 weight classes at the end of 2025. Tune in for episode 112 of No Bets Barred. Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. What is up, y'all? We are back! That is right. No Bet's Farr. It's back in your life. Ladies and gentlemen, we had a brief hiatus,

which we told you about, because, you know, holidays. And there aren't really fights happening right now. So there's not a ton of gambling angles to talk about. But that doesn't mean there are none to talk about because next week, we get back on the train, boys and girls. The UFC returns to,

action after a brief hiatus next weekend. So before we get to that, and I'll peel back to the curve, we're recording this, uh, slightly before new years. And so it seemed appropriate. It seemed important to take this time to look back on the 2025 that was and to look ahead. I'm sorry, look back on the 2024 that was and look ahead to the 2025 that that will be. And so joining me on this journey, uh, my

fellow watch partier, the voice ofvenating.com, Mr. Mike, heck, Mike, thanks for joining me as we talk about 2025 and all its glory. I'm excited to do this. I'm ready to place a couple of bets on future picks.

I'm ready to do this. I'm feeling pretty good. I'm just going to let the folks know that I already placed one bet. I have Parker Porter to be UFC heavyweight champion at plus 100,000 odds, because how could I knock for that? Good odds. I'm going to go to.

still on the table and maybe the books are just trying to tell us something that the currently unemployed man is about to become employed and perhaps become UFC heavyweight champion of the world. You never can count them out, that is for sure. But before we get to the futures, because that will be the primary part of today. We'll just be breaking down the 2025 futures. I do want to do two recaps of 2024.

The biggest, got to go over how my futures went, because Mike, astonishingly, I made money on my 2024 futures. I didn't make a lot of money, but I did not think that I would. But I did. I hit, so every year I pick a future champion for every weight class, and I bet it. And not a lot because I can't have money tied up functionally for a year. But just makes it a little bit fun. And I happen to hit two of the, uh,

two of 11, so, but I hit enough, enough odds on that to cash just over top. But, Mike, the most important reward of the year has to be given out, because right now on MMAFighting.com, if you go there, you can see our fighter of the year, Ilya Tupori, our fight of the year, Max Holloway versus Justin Gaci, our knockout of the year, Max Holloway knocking out Justin Gachi,

submission of the year, Hamzaa Chimae, breaking Robert Whitaker's face, our rookie of the year. You can see all these things, and by the time this comes out, you can also see a odds and ends, other cool stuff, a sort of assortment of other of the year awards. But the thing you can't find, because you can only find it here, arguably the most prestigious award that this fine website gives out, it is the MMA fighting, fighter of the year gambling edition. That is right. The fighter who was the best for gamblers to be betting on this year.

And I got to tell you, Mike, there was a hotly contested battle this year because you might not believe this, Mike. But it's true. Of the 100 greatest upsets, mathematically in UFC history, we had eight of those this year. A lot of good-sized underdogs cash tickets this year. one of them was a top 10 upset of the year. And so obviously it does win our upset of the year. No questions asked. I'm talking about Gabrielle Fernandez submitting Kong Wong a plus 625 plus 800 in some places, a monstrous upset in a fight she was losing until she wasn't, frankly.

One of the 10 biggest mathematical upsets in history. And so Gabriella Fernandez, of course, gets the upset of the year. But the fighter of the year gambling edition, Mike, I took, I went through, I found, you know, five fighters who, their profitability, if you bet on them, Gabriel Fernandez is actually the most profitable. In two fights, she plus 685. Almost all of that comes from the Kong Wang win, obviously. You got some others. Amin Zahabi, who had one of the 20 biggest mathematical upsets over Javid Bostarat, also, you know, plus 650-ish neighborhood. it in that range. Hanato and Moikano shout out to you three wins. A couple of upsets in there, a couple of cashed out plus 350, but the fighter of the year gambling edition.

I cannot believe these words are coming out of my mouth, Mike Heck. Maybe this is the biggest upset of the year. Charles Energy Johnson, four fights, three upsets, plus 540 year in return. If you bet a hundred bucks on each of his four. fights. This was a man that is the enemy of Flywood Under's nation. Long, long, have we decried this man on this program. And here he is the No Betts Barred fighter of the year. Congratulations to Energy. You know, just what a year. Well done, Charles Johnson. Uh, multiple time, heck of a morning, live listener. I think he's popped in a time or two to, to chat a little bit.

But 2025 could be a very interesting year for good old energy. I did not see this coming. Surprisingly was made the all-violence, I believe, second team this year at Flyweight. Just an unbelievable run. And also, shout out to Brandon Rival. Two big-time upsets was certainly in contention as well, but only two fights, even if they're both big upsets. And so that is your no best bard fighter of the year. But Mike, to the futures, as I said,

Here's a brief recap of how I did in 2024, so we can set the stage as we get into our 2025 picks. I had heavyweight. I had John Jones. I was one of my two caches. I cashed them at plus 450. Basically exactly what I thought would happen. John would fight Steepa, and he wouldn't fight again, and he'd hold the belt. I nailed that one.

I also was very interested in, like, Curtis Blades at plus a billion, and very glad I didn't end ultimately doing that. Light heavyweight, I failed. Magabon and Goliath. did not get his title fight, so that was no cash there. The other one I cash, though, middleweight. Drick is Duplessi, my boy, plus 500. And so the two of those plus 950, and I then lost the other nine, so, you know, ended up half a unit functionally there, but a win is a win.

Shavkaoomanov failed. Alexander Volcanowski, I took a big swing for lightweight, just hoping, didn't happen. Mavsar Evluev failed. Cheeto Vera, I don't know what I was doing. Mike, that was very silly of me to pick Cheetah Vera. Manel Cop, you know, a couple extra months. Maybe we could be cooking with something, but didn't get there. Again, big fail, Myra Buena Silva.

Whoof. Aaron Blanchefield, woof. And then Tatiana Suarez. That one, that one was pretty close, right? A couple months moved. Maybe we could have made there. So that's where my 2024 futures were at. again very slight win and frankly just as a because i haven't actually done this a recap of my

twenty twenty four overall up a little over five units uh we never got really high we never got really low we just sort of made a little bit every time lost a little bit worried out but a profitable year is a profitable year and we will take that even if tampa brought us down a little bit to end the year and so mike that's annoying what you're a muffler you don't hear it oh i don't even notice it. I usually drown it out with the radio. How's this? Oh, yeah. Way better. Save on insurance by switching to Bel Air Direct and use the money to fix your car.

Bell Air Direct, insurance, simplified. Conditions apply. This is what we're here for, the 2025 futures. And you certainly don't have to place a bet on every one of these. I have a bet down on every single weight class. 11 way class. They got 11 bets.

And I'm, you know, and then I want to talk through a couple of other options that I have as well. But Mike, let's start with you. Who will be the men's UFC heavyweight champion on the 31st of December 2025? So I do have bets on all these, or I eventually will. I'm just going to reveal what I'm going to do. I'm going with John Jones again.

Plus 110? Getting the plus money here. I just don't think he's going to fight Tom Asinol. I don't think it's going to happen. So I'm sticking with that theory. And if he ends up fighting Tom, I would probably pick Tom, but it's a fight that John could absolutely win. And I think John's going to fight once and he's going to fight. He's going to get the fight he wants.

He's going to fight Alex Pereira and he's going to smush him. And then he's going to be like, show me more money. And then I'll fight the fight you want me to fight. And then we'll see you in 2026. That's what I think. International Fight Week, John Jones versus Alex Pereira. Jones absolutely demolishes him. and then he says, show me even more money,

and I'll fight Tom Aspedal. And then the UFC won't, and that'll be his only fight in 2025. So John Jones plus 110. Look, I waffled back and forth between obviously there are really only two candidates. If you are feeling super saucy, Alex Pereira, but there's two candidates here.

It's Tom Aspenall. It's John Jones. And I put the money on Tom Aspenall because despite every logical piece of my brain understanding that the words I'm about to say are stupid, I can't shake them. It's just inconceivable that Tom Aspinall would be the interim champion for two full years,

and they would not say the UFC would still allow this to continue. I cannot, I know that they will. As I said, I understand that this is a very stupid statement for me, but I can't help it. I think John, maybe he does get the Alex prayer fight. I think by the end of this year, he is hung it up or vacated with the, maybe I'll come back, but I'm going to take a vacation like he did at light heavyweight.

Tom Aspinall minus 130. It's one of three minus odds bets I have for futures this year. And because there's just no other choice at heavyweight. It's one of those two and you're flipping the coin. So I am taking Tommy Aspinall. moving on to the light heavyweight division mike a couple of interesting choices here i will say there a couple of guys i have some circles on and one deeply funny uh odd odd line that is out there but who do you have for the men's light heavyweight champion at the end of 2025

this is this is real tough because i just i don't think alex perera is going to lose the light heavyweight title in a fight i think he's just going to bump up and try to do some weird stuff because I don't think he's got a tunnel legs left under him. I think he's just, what else does he have to do? He doesn't need to fight ankle live.

I would love to see him fight ankle life. If he's going to stay at 205, like that's the only fight to make in my opinion. But what about you're going to go up? As we know, that's not going to happen. Which leads me to maybe a surprising choice. I'm going with Yuri Perashka.

plus 800 because he's not because I don't think Alex Perre is going to be the champion by like the middle of 2025 not because he lost it in a fight it's because he'd be like you know what I fought enough I'm the king of this division

I'm going to go conquer something else and then Yuri Perash is going to do Prahash-esque things to Jamal Hill and once he does that it will be him fighting for the belt against somebody else and it could be Magamanei. Michael I could be Carlos Oldberg.

And Yuri is just such a weirdo, man. As long as he's not fighting Alex Pereira, I gave him a very good chance to beat anybody in this division because he is such a crazy person. And now he seems to be a very focused crazy person, which is even scarier. So plus 800, as long as Alex isn't the champion, I think that's some pretty saucy odds. So I took a little stab at that. I would love that because, you know, I love my large adult son and Yuri Bragka. I am on Magmanankalive.

It's the guy I took last year. He just didn't get the opportunity. This year it feels like he will, be it against Pereira or be it against somebody else, if Pereira does vacate. I think that he finally will get another opportunity because he did have the one weird sort of circumstances to get one. And he will finally convert and, you know, be the best light heavyweight in the world. Plus $195 to getting some okay price on that.

maybe we overthought this. It may just should be Alex Pereira, and in a year we can circle back and be like, we were idiots. That was very like, why did we bet against the guy who has the belt and this looked unbeatable? But one more I just really want to shout out

because as I was looking through these lines, I think this may be the funniest line available that you can bet on outside of something like super dumb, like betting Ihor, potteria, like plus a billion. Dominic Reyes is plus a thousand. I know. I looked at that one. Yiri Perashka is only slightly more likely the Dominicra has to be the chance.

That's pretty awesome. It's ludicrous. Considering where Dominic Reyes' career is, was at the start of last year, plus a thousand. Unbelievable. So one of my favorite lines as it was doing this. But we press on, Mike, because the middleweight division calls. Again, this was one of the two I got right last year. Drickus 2 plus E was my champion then.

And Mike, I'm not going to bury the lead. Drickus 2 plus he's going to be my champion again. Plus 120 DDP. Not your betting favorite. The odds on favor right now is Hamzaa Chamaev at minus 200. But as we know, DDP is going to fight Sean Strickland in like a month and a half or whatever it is in February at this point in time.

It might be less than a month and a half, I think. like five weeks at this point, he will run things back with Sean Strickland. I will be picking him to win that fight, though. Obviously, their first contest was extremely close. Many people thought Strickland won. And then it does seem like the winner of the UFC 312 will face Hamzot. So I get why Hamzot's the favorite. But I'm back in my boy.

He cashed for me last year, much bigger odds. He keeps denying people. And if we did a, we did do something like this where I was like, Driggis 2 plus C is going to be the fighter of the year in 2025 and Casey is going to have to finally acknowledge that this man is good and so I'm backing him here plus 120 Mike Love the pick Was gonna go there and then I decided

If I'm gonna do this I'm just gonna have total fun with all of this And create all these weird scenarios So here's the scenario that I created Jednichu I have a I believe I know who you picked But I'm excited to see if I'm right Driggis duplice beats the soul out of Sean Strickland in February. One of those performances were just like, why do we do this again?

We're going to go on the post show and wonder why we ran this one back because it's just going to be a pillar at a post asswopin from DDP. He just got out awesome. He knows how to beat this guy. He had not a good night at the office and still beat him. Now he's going to have a great night at the office. And then the world is going to continue on and they're going to book Drick's Duplice v.

is Hamzat Shemayev, maybe in October. We'll see what Hamzat's up to. But there will be a date in a fight poster in a Dana White video announcing this fight, Drickie's Duplice v. Hamzaat Shamaif for the Middle A title. And then a month before, this fight is supposed to go down, Hamzat Shemayev is not going to make it for one reason or another. And someone's going to have to slide in on short notice. And this person is going to slide in after getting two, maybe three wins.

wins at 185. And then he's going to become the middle-way champion of the world. Anthony Fluffy Hernandez at plus 1,100 is what I'm going with because I just have no faith in Hamzat making it to a title fight at this point.

Every year I pick Hamzat to win a belt, never fights for it, never gets there for one reason or another. And someone's going to have to slide in and take the man's spot. And I think Anthony Hernandez is just going to run Brennan Allen out of the building. And then he's going to get another top five, top six guy. And as we say all the time, availability is your best friend. And I think Anthony

Hernandez is going to be willing, able, and available to fight Drickus Duplacy. And there is no fight that would get me more enthused as a fight watcher than watching two absolute savages like Drickis duplice and Anthony Hernandez try it out host each other for 25 minutes. It's going to rule. When I was looking at these futures and compiling who I was going to bet on and get my bets down, there were two weight classes that I would have bet, maybe not like my hand, but like a pinky finger, maybe even like a ring finger on my off hand that like, yeah, these will be my selections. And Fluffy was absolutely one of them. Six best odds right now to be the middleweight champion at the end of the year.

I do think the I think you laid out the path, right? It will have to be something short notice a replacement level because I think DDP is going to fight in February. He best case scenario fights Hamzaa Chamaev in the summer international fight week, something like that.

Or I guess Strickland doing that. And then end of the year, maybe there's another middleweight title shop, but we'll see if that ends up playing out. Other interesting lines, you know, Kyle Barallio plus 1,000 kind of where he's at. He's very close.

I looked at that just as a thing. Bo Nickel plus 2000, just because, again, like, if we're in a world where somebody has a big monster year and gets pushed to the moon, Bo Nickel seems like a likely candidate. And I even briefly toyed,

but it's too early. It's a year too. We're a year away from being a year away. For my guy, Henneye to Hitter, Rennie to Ridder, the Dutch Knight, plus 20K. Not this is the setup year.

He will be my selection for 2026. I promise you that. And we move on to the men's welterweight division. Mike, I'm going to guess where we're sympatico here, though. You could go a couple of different ways. One of, this is the second betting odds on favorite I have selected to be champion at the end of the year. I went Shavka-Rakmanov minus 150. He's the dude I picked this past year.

but for an injury to Bilal Muhammad, he may have in fact cashed that bet had they ended up settling up in December. Now it seems that they are destined to face each other sometime in the summer. Depends on the severity of Rachmanov's injury, sort of time schedules, but I think he gets the chance sometime this year,

and I do think he converts. So Mike, do you agree? Or is the injury scared you away? Are you just feeling Bilal? Where are we at? This is the most confused. using one of all the three classes because i don't know what to do because shopcott's clearly the number one guy but weird things could happen here because again we it's such a mystery we don't know what

the severity of his injury is we don't know if it's a torn MCL because boy if there's one thing we know about daniel cornea it's about it's being accurate with the information he puts out there because he's never wrong he's never wrong i i i gonna go shopcott at minus 150 but i'm gonna make i'm making three bets in this division. Ooh, because I am very close to pulling a hero shot trigger on the second one. I think we're going to be simpatico

on the hero's shot. But I am taking a, I'm taking a dog shot on Joaquin Buckley at plus 350. Wow, look at the turnaround. What a career turnaround. I know. He might get the shot. He might get the shot.

He might get the next shot because he's available and Shavcott might not. not be. And I would actually pick him to be below Muhammad right now. I'm not totally confident, but I would pick him to win. I think he's got a style and I think he hits really hard and I think he could frustrate the shit out of Balmohama. But the hero's bet.

How can you not take a shot at plus 5,000 on the butt-smoking finisher, the rookie of the year? Carlos Brought is a plus 5,000? plus 5,000? That I think every person on earth should take a shot at that. I really want to just because it would be really fun. I love him.

I love that he just rips marbles, and then just clubs the shit out of people. It's the best. But like, it's a hard path to imagine. Because the Walterway belt's just not going to be fought for more than twice, right? Like, probably get the Shavkat versus Bilal in the late spring, early summer.

and maybe we get one in the fall or winter. And so it's hard to imagine. Protest kind of sneaks his way in there, but super fun. Definitely will be high on the pick list for next year. Also, I came into this hoping that I could get this, but the price just is not worth it. Islamakov, plus 500, is just not worth the price.

I thought he would be a bigger dog because the path is very clear. If he does beat Armand Sarukin next month, or technically next month by the time this air, that in a couple of weeks, then it seems almost a foregone conclusion that he is going to try and move up to well to wait unless Belaw retains the belt. And so I wanted a better price.

Plus 500 is just not a good enough price. So Shavkat is the correct play. And now we go to, again, I would bet my life. And I would bet any amount of money that you wanted to offer. I would bet my foot. That is how common. confident I am that I would physically have to cut my own foot off with a rusty hatchet. I would there's zero doubt in my mind and who your selection for the old lightweight champion

at the end of 2025 is but Mike let's make it official who will be the lightweight champion and tell me about his plus 500 odds plus 500 Michael Chandler's plus 15,000 Jed yeah uh-huh yeah it's it's you know where I'm going this is We're supposed to be all in on Armand Sarukian in 2024, but Islam just didn't want that smoke. He needed more time to prepare for the guy who's about to lift the belt off of him in a couple weeks' time. It's going to be Armin Sarukian plus 500,

and then Armin Sarukin is going to defend the title six times in 2025 against him all. And he's going to win the BMF title. It's going to be Max. He's going to be Charles Oliver again. He's going to be Dan Hooker. He's going to be Raphael Fizziv. He's going to beat him all, Jed. Armin Sarukian, the man that I have been telling the world about for the last seven years is going to cash that ticket at plus 500.

I was 0 for two last year. I might and future bets. This is one of them. I was just a year too early. Perhaps I'm both of those ones, but I'm going Arm and Sarucan. There's no ifs, Sanz or buds. Entirely unsurprising. But what may be surprising, I'm with you.

Armand Saru Kinsu Kinsu Kinsu K is who I have bet as well for a couple of very special. specific reasons. I will still ultimately pick Islam Makachev to beat Armand Sarukin when they fight in a couple of weeks. I think the fight's going to be amazing. But one, I think the odds of that fight are much better than plus 500. Like, Surukin has a much better chance of winning that fight than plus 500. And if he does, he's obviously going to just be the champion. Like if he, if he beats Islam, then that's over. Maybe they run it back. And then at that point, you certainly would favor Armand to win the trilogy fight between them. And if not, there is

not a lightweight I would pick over him, obviously if he goes in there and beats Islam. Alternatively, there's another path for this to succeed, even if Islam does beat Armin in January, because it's January. Because if Islam wins, I think he's going up to welterweight. And so if he goes up to welterweight, say bye-bye to

the lightweight title, and Armand Sarukian is still the, if he's not the best lightweight, he's the second best one. And so there's a very real world where he could lose the title fight in a couple of weeks and still become the lightweight champion by the end of the year. Plus 500,

that's just a great price, honestly, for an outcome that I think is very, very possible, even if maybe I am still going to pick Islam to beat him in that specific instance. I have another sprinkle. I have another sprinkle here.

Who are you feeling? I'm not feeling this at all, but just kind of looking at all of these. Who could sneak in and, get an easy path to a title shot at 155, especially if Islan does move up. It's the batty. Plus 10,000 on Patty Pimblit.

Don't like, I have zero confidence, but I've been apparently very wrong about Patty Pimble for the last couple of years. I don't think he's going to win the belt. But boy, oh boy, if there's a guy who can get there this year, just with the way the UFC likes to matchmake for certain fighters, Patty can get there, man. He can absolutely get there. If he ends up fight,

because we've seen him all these reported fights that he's supposed to have. If he ends up fighting like a Michael Chandler and beats him, like if he goes out there, just- And Michael Chandler sucks, so he could definitely beat him.

He's a win away from getting a title shot. They will give him a number one contender fight. It'll be something, not like completely favorable, but something more favorable than the alternative because the UFC really likes. likes him and they like his manager and let's be honest they probably have him at a bit of a discount comparatively to what he should be making right now because of the relationship so

i'm taking a little stab very few buccarini's but if there's any guy here with these five figure plus odds next to them that can get there quick it's probably patty so why the hell not what i like about this one is that if he does get the opportunity it would be end of the year, right? Like he would sneak into something at the end of 2025. And so even if he just gets into a title fight at, you know, in November somehow, then you're holding a plus 10,000 tickets. You can hedge the hell out of that and just go heavy in the other side and guarantee

yourself to make some money on that individual fight versus. So, uh, that's fun. I don't, you know, plus 10,000 plus 10,000. There's a path. There is a path, which is, uh, I love that energy. Because honestly, lightweight, I just couldn't find anybody else that I thought, like, had a reasonable chance to make it there. Like, Dustin Poir is not going to get another title fight. Connor McGregor, no.

Max, like, Max is probably not that far off, but I don't know. So I just didn't like anybody else, but I like Armin a lot. So those are getting great odds on it. But we persist because we move on down to featherweight. And this is. surprised, by the way, that Ilya does not have odds next to him at lightweight? A little bit. I don't think, so I'm surprised he doesn't have odds because they should, there's no reason not to take money on him. I don't think he's going to get the lightweight fights

this year. I think that ultimately he is going to keep trying to angle for it and it's just not going to happen for him. And so I wouldn't bet him unless he was like a real big price. But a little surprised, especially because, like, Volcanovsky has odds, you know, like, there are, there are odds for other feather weights. So, uh, I am surprised he doesn't have odds. It's a good point. He does have odds for featherweight, though, Mike. He is your betting favorite minus 175 to remain the featherweight champion, uh, this year. And I will be very, very honest.

I, I think the only way that he is not your featherweight champion by the end of this year is if he somehow does get to move up to lightweight and vacate. and vacates the title. I don't think that's going to happen. And so I have my future wager is on Iliate Tuporia, though there is one other guy who I'm marginally interested in. But what about you, Mike? I'm doing the same thing I did last year.

Ultimately, I think it will be Elliott Tuporia. I think he's one of the three best fighters on planet Earth right now. But I'm going with Mosaar again, plus 200. I got better odds on him last year. I think he was like plus 900 last year. and I felt real good about that. And I honestly believe that of all the potential challengers for Iliotiporia, Mavzar is the toughest fight for him. I think stylistically, he's the toughest fight for Iliate Soporia.

And I think he's a win away from getting there. In fact, I think he should get it now. He won't because it's going to be Volk, but if Lovoyev should be next, they should just do a Vloya versus Diego Lopez. I would pick Mavzar again in that fight. and then after that happens, he should be next. So there's a very real chance. And if Volcanovsky somehow wins the belt back, it's going to suck and it's going to ruin the bat

because Tuporia is just going to get a trilogy fight ran right back. But yeah, I'll take a shot out of Mowzar. There's a reason he's down to a plus 200 because the Sharp seemed to have some belief in him as well. Yeah, I think that and just if Teporia does move up, Mowzar would be the obvious choice to kind of, to slide in to take the title if he does. I was legitimately interested in the Volcanovsky Plus 800 bet because that bet is basically

can he be DeLia Tuporia? I don't think he will be Della Tupori in a rematch, but the odds on the Volk Tuporia fight will not be Tuporea minus 1,000 favorite, which is functionally what this would suggest. So plus 800 for Volk, kind of interested in it, but I'm just not going to do it because I think to put a win. And so last year, I took a lot more reaches. I did not have nearly as many minus odds people on my team. This year, I decided maybe I'd like to win a couple more of these

instead of go two and nine on it. So I am ultimately not going to bank on Alexander Volcanovsky to get back to the title. Men's bantam weight, pretty easy one for me. I think that there are, you have certainly some choices. but we know that in a couple of weeks, Umar and Armagometrov will be taking on Marabdalshvili for the Bannamweight title. I have been saying for quite some time that Umar and Murgamatov is the best bandamweight on the whole,

whole planet of earth. And I think the only reason I did not pick him to be champion last year was I just didn't see how he could get two-way title fight in 12 months, given how his 2023 went. Ultimately, that was correct. He needed 13 months to get to that. title fight Mike, but he has it. I think he will beat Maraudevallisvili, and when he does, I think he will beat

Peoria, or Sean O'Malley, or Corey Sainaghani, or whoever it is that would come to face him. So, Umar to Magamatov plus 110, that's my bet. So this is kind of a weird one. This is like an early year hedge because I am betting, I already have a bet in on Marab to beat Umar, A UFC 311. I got him at plus 245. I just think this is a 50-50 fight. I really do.

Plus 3.45 is a big number. I'm going to take it. It's at plus 2.35 right now, so I got a little bit better odds than it currently sits at. Having said that, I do think Umar is going to win, and that is going to open the door for a man you just mentioned, Jed. And a guy who I think actually matches up very interestingly from a stylistic perspective, a guy who seems to be back in the fold, feeling himself again, healthy,

feeling great. Piotr Yan plus 650 is the bet. I do not hate this. Coming off that performance over Figgi, Jan is not out there. Murab is out here saying some very insane stuff that is not true about like,

I under defending against Omar, and then I want to have four fights in the first five months or whatever. I want to fight Sean in March, and then I fight, Piotr again in April or whatever. Like that's clearly just never going to happen. But Bantamoyt is kind of frosty right now where whoever wins Umar versus Marab,

unless there's some insane controversy, there's not going to be an immediate rematch, right? And so then you've got Sean O'Malley, you've got Piotrion hanging around as viable options for either dude. Corey Sandhagan, Davidson, Figuero, sort of lurking. Like, there are names to have a multiple title defense year, especially with a January title defense. And so, Peyote d'Anne, I think, has a very good chance to fight for the belt this year.

And we saw how it went against Marab. So if Marab wins, probably not great for him. But if Umar wins, I do think that fight is more interesting. So I don't hate that one at all, honestly. And it would be incredibly funny if Umar wins the belt and his first title defense is against Peter, Piotr Yan, and Marops isn't, because Marov fought for it. hard and then umar wins the belt they give him yon right away be so funny it would be deeply deeply funny uh and then but you you also touched on something that i think is uh part and parcel of why i

picked umar here i if you think you just should not bet marab at this price for the future because you should just bet him to beat umar you get better odds and they're functionally saying the same thing uh it's actually less risk than than doing it. So if you are betting the Marab future here, you are taking on more risk than just betting him straight up over Umar, which is a bit insane. So, uh,

and yeah, really the bantam weight, there are four horses in this race to have the belt by the end of the year. I would personally love to say Jose Aldo plus 2,500. It's just never going to happen. There are only four people who can realistically do this for the, at this point in time. Moving on to men's flyweight,

Mike, men's division future champions for 2025. And I'm tired of overthinking this. We've all been overthinking this for far too long. Every year we're just like, nope, pants won't do it again. Nope, he's not like the most disrespectful, the most underrated champion, maybe in UFC history, certainly in the current UFC crop. Alejandro Pantosia, one of the five best fighters of the year, two title defenses in 2024.

I think he holds the belt through. this year again, in part because he's already beaten all the other dudes who are probably going to fight him. So he's already beaten the dudes he may defend against. And there's only one name that even kind of jumped out at me as a possible secondary. So I have Al-a-Hen-Pentosa plus 100. What about you, Mike? I won't have been Al-Copp at plus 500. You did it. I did it. I'm going to do it. He let me down at plus 800 last year. He just looked. He beat the shit out of Bruno Silva. I mean, was that was the guy that Casey and I have been telling the world. That's the guy who I needed on episode one of what the heck back in the day.

I needed Minel Cop. And people asked, who is this guy that you have on the first show? It's the first show ever. This is how you're going to introduce yourself to the NBA fighting world. You're going to bring on Minel Cop? Yeah, I am. And there's a reason why, because that's the dude. That's the dude that I was hoping to introduce to the world.

And yes, he's had some big finishes. is he melted guys like O'Day Osborne and it was fun but we got the full on Menel Cop experience at UFC Tampa showboating dancing around having a good time and despite the multitude of follows against him he still brutalized this very good fighter in Bruno Silva and I feel like he's he's figured it out he's figured out the UFC side of things and I think his personality is money and I think you should get to the next shot. It doesn't seem like he's going to get it, but especially now that he's going to fight, and I can't wait for that fight. So yeah, give him Minilcott plus 500 beats Brandon Royvall.

He's getting a title shot. So I'll take a shot on him. So the other person, I don't hate it, by the way. I had Minow cop this past year. So I get it. I'm just, I'm done doubting pants. And this will be the year bites me in the ass, I'm sure. The other person I was at least marginally interested in is Davis and Figaro, plus 650. I don't think he will ultimately come down and run things back with Pantosia, but flyweight's such a weird position. Figgie is now really out of the Bantamweight title conversation for at least this year. And if he can make the weight, he has a win over Pantosia, maybe they make that happen. So marginal interest there. I will say, Mike, I'm surprised that

there's one dude who's not available right now. And I understand why. But our boy, Mohamed Makhai, you cannot get odds on. I know he's not in the UFC as it stands, but I think he's coming back this year. I think he will pay his penance in ACA or wherever he is right now. And then by middle of the year, he returns to the UFC. He makes amends,

and maybe by the end of the year, he is back there because he's one of the five best flyweights in the world. So I almost certainly would have taken a stab if I could have gotten odds on him, but I can't get odds. on him. So that's where we go. I like honestly like the only I because I don't think he's coming back this year. And I'm as days go by, I'm leaning towards the fact he never comes back.

I don't think he likes him at all. I don't think they like him. I don't think they care. He does not draw them a dime. He does nothing for their bottom line. Nothing. And you know how they feel about flyways. Wouldn't shock me.

Wow. Bold take. Put that. Have you recorded the onto the next one, uh, 20, 25 predictions because I need that to be your bold take of the year. He never comes back.

They're going to be in no rush to bring him back. Because he's not, first of all, he's not a star. He's good. I mean, I'm the guy and I still believe this. With his head on right,

he could be a two division champion. He is just immature as fuck. And it, it doesn't seem like he's getting any better at that. And he's just, there are certain lines that the UFC, like, will not let you cross. And one of them is just, like,

messing with UFC employees and being a complete pain in the, in the promotion's ass. And it seems like Maham Makhlyev was a pain in the promotion's ass the entire time he was there. And sure, there will be people saying, oh, Muhammad, like, he's one of the five best flywates in the world. And he is. But again, he does nothing for the UFC. Absolutely nothing. And I would

love to see him back and I hope he gets his shit together. But it doesn't seem like he is in any rush to do that, which means the UFC is not going to be in any rush to bring him back. The one name that I think should be on this list that is not on this list is Keoggi Horaguchi. That name should be on this list above Muhammad Mikhail if we're being honest. So that would be the interesting one for me. And I hope I'm wrong. I hope Moham Kayaev grows up and he gets his shit together in his social media game gets better because he's just a tough hang man. But poor Gucci I could see in the UFC sometime this year.

I can definitely see Horo Gucci. And I will say, you know, Makayev, she's just hat in hand. He's 24 years old. He made mistakes as a young man. We've all done it. Be Josh Van. Josh Van. Well, we can't all be Josh fan.

some people are immature when they're 36 Mike and Muhammad Mikhail he's going to learn he's coming back and uh 2026 flyway champion moham makaiyev you heard it here first that wraps up the men's divisions Mike we only got three weight classes left they are the women's divisions and uh I had a clear choice for bantam weight uh but I'm very interested to see where you take this because Kayla Harrison is the odds on favor minus 300 the biggest future favorite available. Mike, did you go with Kayla Harrison to be the Bannonweight champion

by the end of 2025? No, I didn't. Neither did I. I went with Amanda Nunes. That's what exactly right with, Mike, plus 500.

Because I don't, I don't, like, even if Amanda wasn't on this list, I still don't think I would have picked Kayla. Because I just, I'm not laying minus 300, to wait for 365 days to cash out of minus 300 bet i don't know if she can make 135 like she can make

136 i don't know if she can make 135 man you just you do it in Vegas you get the you don't do a digital scale just the quick 135 shout and move on it's easy dude yeah it's it just seems like a lot and it's the way cut shows and it affected her in the and the and the the Vierre fight and I know Katelyn's a really good fighter and I knew that was going to be a really difficult matchup for her a lot more than people are giving it credit for and say what you will about Julianna

Pena but if she fights Giuliana Pena like she fought Ketland-Veyer she's going to lose she's just going to lose that fight she's just and it ain't going to be pretty it's going to be terrible to watch but she's going to lose and I think Nunes

is going to come back I think she'll sit Caged side awaiting the winner I think she'll expect Kayla to win. And then Juliana might pull it off. And then a man's been like, I'll come back and do this thing. So I won't the man to do it's a plus 500. If she was like plus 200,

I probably wouldn't have done it. But there's a reason she's at plus 500. The Sharps believe she's coming back in some way, shape, or form. And boy, does this division need her? I also looked at Macy Chias on a plus 1100. Shout out Dean Thomas for putting this on my radar. But she's like damn good.

But I'm going Nunes at plus 500, and let's hope cool things happen at 135 this year. Chiesin was the first teamer, all-violence team for women's bantamweight in 2024. Plus 1,100 is interesting. But I think that this is one of the easiest calls for me to make. I think Kayla Harrison will beat Juliana Pena. I know that you have outlined your concerns, which are valid. I think she gets it done probably in the summer. and then that does, in fact, bring Amanda Nunes,

who's already sort of teased to return back. She comes back. They finally have the fight that they had been planning to have all those years ago. And despite her being out for 80 years or however how long it's been since Amanda Nunes' last fought, I think she beats Kayla Harrison in her return matchup. And certainly I think plus 500 is a great price for that to happen. So one of the easier weight classes for me to choose women's flyweight. the exact opposite.

Super difficult choice for me here. And honestly, I don't know if I made the right one. Mike, I ultimately just decided I got to be a, I got to have a brand. I got to stay with my brand. My brand for as long as I've worked here, it's been Valentina Shipchenko. It has cost me a whole lot of money. And it may well cost me some more on this future bet, but minus $1.25. I am betting on the champ to remain the champ.

And frankly, if she had had bantamweight odds at like a plus $10,000,000, I might have taken a stab for funzies. I would have felt better about it than I feel about this one because she is not her best anymore. Absolutely. And so it'll be tougher to hold this belt through all of 2025, I think. My initial pick was going to be Zhang Wei Lee because I was like there's, it's going to be a super high number. It's going to be like plus 5,000. It's only plus a thousand.

So no, I can't do it. I just not, the juice is not worth the squeeze. So I had a hard time. time with this one as well. Schifchenko seems like the right choice. But if we're going to talk about brand and knowing who you are as a person, you're taking the plus 600

shot on Natty Ice because I can assure you ladies and gentlemen, Natty Ice will never again be plus 600. Never again. She will either be minus money next year or she'll be like plus 200. So if I'm, this is the best odds I'm ever going to get her at in this conversation.

So I'm going to take a shot. she is one win away from getting a title fight one she just needs one win and she's fighting for the belt next so plus 600 i'm taking a shot of course i absolutely love this for you i thought that like maybe this could happen but this was less certain than i was about fluffy and i was about uh arman i was like maybe because there's just not a lot of great choices uh i think honestly if i was being fully smart it would probably just be manning because like maybe she plus 200 maybe she if she beats val like she might not even have to fight again they might not do this until like the summer so oh i don't know this was a really really tough weight

class uh i didn't particularly love any of it because they're just i could see macy barber somehow finding her way to the title at thing like i could see a lot of outcomes nothing that i feel clean about for for flyweight right now which is very very odd but mike that brings us the last choice that we have to make for our 2025 futures. Women's Strawway, your champion, Zhang Wili, the odds on favor at minus 150 to retain her belt through all of 2025. Spoiler alert, I did not pick her for my selection,

but Mike, tell us who the women's strawway champion will be at the end of this year. John Willie. Ooh. I love it. The only, uh, the only, uh, the only, uh, the only face.

favorite that I've chosen through any of the weight classes. I just, she's the best fighter in the world right now. She's the best women's fighter on planet Earth. And I know Valentina is the flyway champion. She got her grew back a little bit. But I think, I think Zhang's going to beat Tatiana, man.

Like if Tatiana even gets there, which I just am not. That's always a question. That's a huge question. And I think even if she does get there, the things that Tatiana does so well, she ain't going to be able to do to Zhang because Zhang is just as much of a Haas, if not more so than Tatiana Swares is.

So I'm really looking forward to this fight. I really hope it happens. But I, until I see somebody outhoss her and beat her, I'm not picking against her. So the only favorite pick on all of these is Jean Wiliya minus 5, 150. It's kind of looked at John Jaroba plus 600, but Zhang's just going to run her over too. So yeah, I went John Wiley I mean, I briefly flirted with being the most on-brand human of all time and picking McKinsey Dern at plus 15,000.

That's it. That's the brand. I mean, that is the brand. But I did not. And I went with Tatiana Suarez plus 140. If she wasn't booked to fight, I would not have bet this. She is booked to fight.

Now that's a far cry from making the walk. but if she does, I will pick her to beat Wiley because I picked Tatiana to be the champ last year. I think I picked her two years before that. I've been, you know, we've all been hoping. Maybe this is the year it finally happens for her and for Shavkat. And if she wins one, that's probably it. She may not fight again this year the way that they tend to ice the women's title,

titles, you know? So Tatiana Suarez, just make it to the cage. one time, girl. Please for plus 140 to catch the year and close me out. She is the full. I picked four fighters that I picked in 2024. And Tatian Sorres is the fourth of that list. So, Mike, that's it.

We have through the last 45 minutes or so effectively established who the champions at the end of the year will be. Do you have anything else to say before we skedaddle on out of here and get ready because we are what like 10 days away from the start of another beautiful UFC year we will have Mike as you know we will have a fantasy season kicking off this time next week basically I'm going to ask you just a little little teaser and maybe it has already dropped by the time this drops I don't know but on to the next one we're going to have our prediction show live on Sunday and the people just submit the craziest most fun buy-sell questions that you can imagine. So I'm going to

throw this one out there at you, Jed, and see what you think. Buy or sell, there will be at least one champ champ in the UFC in 2025. So I listened to the Aetnau that was dropped this past weekend, the part one of the two part onto the next one year in extravaganza. I did not remember that

the question was like, would there be three champ champs? was an insane buyer's sell for there to be three of them. I will sell it. I think there will be no champ champs by the end of 2025. One is obviously the correct number. If there's going to be, it would be one. I just don't think there are that many options, right?

Like Alex Pereira, I don't think you can do it. Islamogachev, I'm not even, if Belal wins, then he's not even going to try. I just don't think they're going to give them the opportunity yet. Pantosia. I say Pantosia doesn't even seem like because of where Bannamweight is right now. So I think it is unlikely if it was going to be, I think the best bet is Lamaakov, but I still don't even think that's a good bet.

Yeah, it's going to be tough. I think the question was over under three champ champ fights. Oh, champ, champ, fight. Okay, that still was a lot. lot, by the way. I mean, we got two. How many we get in 20203? We got a couple.

Well, we got two because of the Volk had two of them. So we got two. All right. Well, we'll see. It should be an interesting year. I guess it's not insane. Contract year. UFC's TV rights on the line.

Could see some weird stuff. Some weird stuff. And it all kicks off next week, Mike, for UFC Apex 101. I believe, I believe 2025 starts the next 100 in the apex. The McKinsey Dern, Amanda Hebas, two rematch that we all needed. And then UFC 311, your boy, finally getting his crack at the title on this week. And so you can take him as a Mokachev, Umar Manga Medev, taking on Mara Mavalev. And of course, Mike, this time next week, we will draft our 2025 first season.

I think we're going to do it into two halves, I believe, is how I've done. decided for our fantasy and God knows you'll be drafting Armand Tsruki and I'm certain of that. And Alex Pereira. The one one will be and by the end of the year we'll have made a lot of money on our futures and everyone will be successful and it'll be great. So thank you for joining me for the first. I'm going to call this the first No Betts Bar of 2025 since that is when it will be released. And I look forward to another wonderful year of fist fights and watching.

parties and the UFC with you, my brother. Very excited. Thanks for listening. People are in my house. People are in my house. Sorry. Doorbells are ringing. We'll go see to those. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Love y'all.

It was the night before the gathering and all through the house. The host rapid cozy cashmere throw from Home Sense for their spouse. Kids toys for $6.99 under the tree. And crystal glasses for just $14.99 for their brimals. brother Lee, a baking dish made in Portugal for Tom and Sue, and a nice $599 candle, perfectly priced just for you. Happy holidays to all, and to all a good price. Home Sense, endless presents, perfectly priced.