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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions are fighters who have won UFC championships.^[1]

Historical notes

At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, mixed martial arts was not sanctioned in the United States, and did not include weight classes. Instead of the traditional championship model, the UFC held tournaments with the winner receiving a permanent appellation.^[2] In response to criticism from Senator John McCain that saw the loss of its television deal and the banning of the sport in thirty-six states, the UFC increased its cooperation with state athletic commissions and introduced weight classes in 1997, starting with UFC 12, and began introducing weight-specific titles.^[3]

The original codification for weight classes introduced only two divisions: heavyweight, which grouped together all competitors above 200 pounds (91 kg), and lightweight, which encompassed all competitors 199 pounds (90 kg) and under. At UFC 14 the lightweight division would be renamed to middleweight, though it would still encompass all fighters 199 pounds (90 kg) and under.^[4] The lightweight moniker would later return at UFC 16 with a new division consisting of those competitors 170 pounds (77 kg) and under.^[5] Two years later a fourth weight class, the bantamweight division, arrived at UFC 26 and included all fighters 155 pounds (70 kg) and under.^[4]

In 2000, the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board completely took over MMA regulation in its home state and developed new rules and weight classes that eventually became the de facto rule set for all mixed martial arts.^[6] The UFC realigned their weight classes to comply with these new regulations in 2001, beginning with UFC 31.^[7] At the time, this brought the total number of active divisions in the UFC to five: lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight.

It would be nearly ten years before the UFC would expand their divisional offerings to include any of the lower weight classes. The first additions came in late 2010 when the UFC merged with their sister organization World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC). Due to the WEC's focus on lighter weight fighters, this merger necessitated the addition of both the featherweight and bantamweight divisions to the UFC, starting with The Ultimate Fighter season 12 finale.^[8] In early 2012 the UFC decided they would delve even further into the lower weight classes when they announced the introduction of the flyweight division to their ranks, beginning with UFC on FX: Alves vs. Kampmann.^[9]

In November 2012, as a result of the forthcoming dissolution of their sister organization Strikeforce, the UFC announced they would be adding female fighters to their roster for the first time in the promotion's history. Initially, only the women's bantamweight division was brought over, with the division's premiere bout taking place at UFC 157.^[10] A little over a year later, the UFC announced they would be expanding their weight classes for female fighters with the addition of a women's strawweight division,^[11] the first bout took place at UFC Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Miller.^[12] In late 2016, a featherweight division was introduced for the women with the first bout to be for the inaugural championship at UFC 208 on February 11, 2017. In that same year the UFC announced the Women's Flyweight division would officially be added, with the winner of the 26th season of The Ultimate Fighter to be named the inaugural champion.

Current champions

^[13]

Men

Division	Champion	Since	Defenses
Heavyweight	Jon Jones	Mar 4, 2023	1
Heavyweight	Tom Aspinall (interim)	Nov 11, 2023	1
Light Heavyweight	Alex Pereira	Nov 11, 2023	3
Middleweight	Dricus du Plessis	Jan 20, 2024	1
Welterweight	Belal Muhammad	Jul 27, 2024	0
Lightweight	Islam Makhachev	Oct 22, 2022	3
Featherweight	Ilia Topuria	Feb 17, 2024	1
Bantamweight	Merab Dvalishvili	Sep 14, 2024	0
Flyweight	Alexandre Pantoja	Jul 8, 2023	3

Women

Division	Champion	Since	Defenses
Bantamweight	Julianna Peña	Oct 5, 2024	0
Flyweight	Valentina Shevchenko	Sep 14, 2024	0
Strawweight	Zhang Weili	Nov 12, 2022	2

Men's championship history

Heavyweight Championship

206 to 265 lb (93 to 120 kg)
The UFC Superfight Championship was unified with the UFC 11 Tournament Championship to determine the inaugural UFC Heavyweight Champion on February 7, 1997, when Mark Coleman defeated Dan Severn at UFC 12.^[4]

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (total)	Defenses
1	Mark Coleman def. Dan Severn	UFC 12 Dothan, AL, US	Feb 7, 1997	170 days
2	Maurice Smith	UFC 14 Birmingham, AL, US	Jul 27, 1997	147 days	1. def. Tank Abbott at UFC 15 on Oct 17, 1997
3	Randy Couture	UFC Japan Yokohama, Japan	Dec 21, 1997	? days
Couture was stripped of the title in January 1998, when he left the UFC due to a contract dispute.
4	Bas Rutten def. Kevin Randleman	UFC 20 Birmingham, AL, US	May 7, 1999	34 days
Rutten vacated the title in June 1999 in order to drop down to Light Heavyweight. He retired soon after due to training injuries.^[14]
5	Kevin Randleman def. Pete Williams	UFC 23 Tokyo, Japan	Nov 19, 1999	364 days	1. def. Pedro Rizzo at UFC 26 on Jun 9, 2000
6	Randy Couture (2)	UFC 28 Atlantic City, NJ, US	Nov 17, 2000	490 days (490+ days)	1. def. Pedro Rizzo at UFC 31 on May 4, 2001 2. def. Pedro Rizzo at UFC 34 on Nov 2, 2001
7	Josh Barnett	UFC 36 Las Vegas, NV, US	Mar 22, 2002	126 days
Barnett was stripped of the title on July 26, 2002, after testing positive for anabolic steroids in a post-fight drug test.^[15]
8	Ricco Rodriguez def. Randy Couture	UFC 39 Uncasville, CT, US	Sep 27, 2002	154 days
9	Tim Sylvia	UFC 41 Atlantic City, NJ, US	Feb 28, 2003	229 days	1. def. Gan McGee at UFC 44 on Sep 26, 2003
Sylvia was stripped of the title on October 15, 2003, after testing positive for anabolic steroids in a post-fight drug test.^[16]
10	Frank Mir def. Tim Sylvia	UFC 48 Las Vegas, NV, US	Jun 19, 2004	419 days
—	Andrei Arlovski def. Tim Sylvia for interim title	UFC 51 Las Vegas, NV, US	Feb 5, 2005	—	1. def. Justin Eilers at UFC 53 on Jun 4, 2005
Mir was stripped of the title on August 12, 2005, for inactivity resulting from injuries he sustained in a road accident.^[17]
11	Andrei Arlovski promoted to undisputed champion	—	Aug 12, 2005	246 days	1. def. Paul Buentello at UFC 55 on Oct 7, 2005
12	Tim Sylvia (2)	UFC 59 Anaheim, CA, US	Apr 15, 2006	322 days (551 days)	1. def. Andrei Arlovski at UFC 61 on Jul 8, 2006 2. def. Jeff Monson at UFC 65 on Nov 18, 2006
13	Randy Couture (3)	UFC 68 Columbus, OH, US	Mar 3, 2007	623 days (1,113+ days)	1. def. Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 74 on Aug 25, 2007
—	Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira def. Tim Sylvia for interim title	UFC 81 Las Vegas, NV, US	Feb 2, 2008	—
14	Brock Lesnar	UFC 91 Las Vegas, NV, US	Nov 15, 2008	707 days	1. def. interim champion Frank Mir at UFC 100 on Jul 11, 2009 2. def. interim champion Shane Carwin at UFC 116 on Jul 3, 2010
—	Frank Mir def. interim champion Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira	UFC 92 Las Vegas, NV, US	Dec 27, 2008	—
—	Shane Carwin def. Frank Mir for interim title	UFC 111 Newark, NJ, US	Mar 27, 2010	—
15	Cain Velasquez	UFC 121 Anaheim, CA, US	Oct 23, 2010	385 days
16	Junior dos Santos	UFC on Fox: Velasquez vs. dos Santos Anaheim, CA, US	Nov 12, 2011	413 days	1. def. Frank Mir at UFC 146 on May 26, 2012
17	Cain Velasquez (2)	UFC 155 Las Vegas, NV, US	Dec 29, 2012	896 days (1,281 days)	1. def. Antônio Silva at UFC 160 on May 25, 2013 2. def. Junior dos Santos at UFC 166 on Oct 19, 2013
—	Fabrício Werdum def. Mark Hunt for interim title	UFC 180 Mexico City, Mexico	Nov 15, 2014	—
18	Fabrício Werdum	UFC 188 Mexico City, Mexico	Jun 13, 2015	336 days
19	Stipe Miocic	UFC 198 Curitiba, Brazil	May 14, 2016	784 days	1. def. Alistair Overeem at UFC 203 on Sep 10, 2016 2. def. Junior dos Santos at UFC 211 on May 13, 2017 3. def. Francis Ngannou at UFC 220 on Jan 20, 2018
20	Daniel Cormier	UFC 226 Las Vegas, NV, US	Jul 7, 2018	406 days	1. def. Derrick Lewis at UFC 230 on Nov 3, 2018
21	Stipe Miocic (2)	UFC 241 Anaheim, CA, US	Aug 17, 2019	588 days (1,372 days)	1. def. Daniel Cormier at UFC 252 on Aug 15, 2020
22	Francis Ngannou	UFC 260 Las Vegas, NV, US	Mar 27, 2021	659 days	1. def. interim champion Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 on Jan 22, 2022
—	Ciryl Gane def. Derrick Lewis for interim title	UFC 265 Houston, TX, US	Aug 7, 2021	—
Ngannou was stripped of the title on January 14, 2023 when he left the UFC due to a contract dispute.^[18]
23	Jon Jones def. Ciryl Gane	UFC 285 Las Vegas, NV, US	Mar 4, 2023	662 days (incumbent)	1. def. Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 on Nov 16, 2024
—	Tom Aspinall def. Sergei Pavlovich for interim title	UFC 295 New York City, NY, US	Nov 11, 2023	410 days (incumbent)	1. def. Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 on Jul 27, 2024

Light Heavyweight Championship

186 to 205 lb (84 to 93 kg)
The Light Heavyweight Championship was known as the Middleweight Championship prior to UFC 31 (May 4, 2001). The Pride World Middleweight Championship (205.03 lb) was unified with the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship on September 8, 2007, when Quinton Jackson defeated Dan Henderson at UFC 75.^[4]

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (Total)	Defenses
1	Frank Shamrock def. Kevin Jackson	UFC Japan Yokohama, Japan	Dec 21, 1997	703 days	1. def. Igor Zinoviev at UFC 16 on Mar 13, 1998 2. def. Jeremy Horn at UFC 17 on May 15, 1998 3. def. John Lober at UFC Brazil on Oct 16, 1998 4. def. Tito Ortiz at UFC 22 on Sep 24, 1999
Shamrock vacated the title on November 24, 1999, when he retired from the UFC, citing a lack of competition.^[1]
2	Tito Ortiz def. Wanderlei Silva	UFC 25 Tokyo, Japan	Apr 14, 2000	1,260 days	1. def. Yuki Kondo at UFC 29 on Dec 16, 2000 2. def. Evan Tanner at UFC 30 on Feb 23, 2001 3. def. Elvis Sinosic at UFC 32 on Jun 29, 2001 4. def. Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC 33 on Sep 28, 2001 5. def. Ken Shamrock at UFC 40 on Nov 22, 2002
—	Randy Couture def. Chuck Liddell for interim title	UFC 43 Las Vegas, NV, US	Jun 6, 2003	—
3	Randy Couture	UFC 44 Las Vegas, NV, US	Sep 26, 2003	127 days
4	Vitor Belfort	UFC 46 Las Vegas, NV, US	Jan 31, 2004	203 days
5	Randy Couture (2)	UFC 49 Las Vegas, NV, US	Aug 21, 2004	238 days (365 days)
6	Chuck Liddell	UFC 52 Las Vegas, NV, US	Apr 16, 2005	770 days	1. def. Jeremy Horn at UFC 54 on Aug 20, 2005 2. def. Randy Couture at UFC 57 on Feb 4, 2006 3. def. Renato Sobral at UFC 62 on Aug 26, 2006 4. def. Tito Ortiz at UFC 66 on Dec 30, 2006
7	Quinton Jackson	UFC 71 Las Vegas, NV, US	May 26, 2007	406 days	1. def. Dan Henderson at UFC 75 on Sep 8, 2007
8	Forrest Griffin	UFC 86 Las Vegas, NV, US	Jul 5, 2008	175 days
9	Rashad Evans	UFC 92 Las Vegas, NV, US	Dec 27, 2008	147 days
10	Lyoto Machida	UFC 98 Las Vegas, NV, US	May 23, 2009	350 days	1. def. Maurício Rua at UFC 104 on Oct 24, 2009
11	Maurício Rua	UFC 113 Montreal, QC, Canada	May 8, 2010	315 days
12	Jon Jones	UFC 128 Newark, NJ, US	Mar 19, 2011	1,501 days	1. def. Quinton Jackson at UFC 135 on Sep 24, 2011 2. def. Lyoto Machida at UFC 140 on Dec 10, 2011 3. def. Rashad Evans at UFC 145 on Apr 21, 2012 4. def. Vitor Belfort at UFC 152 on Sep 22, 2012 5. def. Chael Sonnen at UFC 159 on Apr 27, 2013 6. def. Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165 on Sep 21, 2013 7. def. Glover Teixeira at UFC 172 on Apr 26, 2014 8. def. Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 on Jan 3, 2015
Jones was stripped of the title on April 28, 2015, due to his involvement and arrest in a felony hit-and-run.^[19]
13	Daniel Cormier def. Anthony Johnson	UFC 187 Las Vegas, NV, US	May 23, 2015	1,315 days	1. def. Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 192 on Oct 3, 2015 2. def. Anthony Johnson at UFC 210 on Apr 8, 2017 3. def. Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 220 on Jan 20, 2018
—	Jon Jones def. Ovince Saint Preux for interim title	UFC 197 Las Vegas, NV, US	Apr 23, 2016	—
Jones was stripped of the interim title on November 9, 2016, due to his one-year suspension related to a failed pre-fight drug test.^[20]
Jones won the undisputed title at UFC 214 on July 29, 2017, but was stripped on September 13, 2017, after his win was overturned to a no-contest due to a failed pre-fight drug test. Cormier was then retroactively reinstated as champion.^[21]
Cormier vacated the title on December 28, 2018, 174 days after winning the heavyweight title.^[22]
14	Jon Jones (2) def. Alexander Gustafsson	UFC 232 Inglewood, CA, US	Dec 29, 2018	597 days (2,098 days)	1. def. Anthony Smith at UFC 235 on Mar 2, 2019 2. def. Thiago Santos at UFC 239 on Jul 6, 2019 3. def. Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 on Feb 8, 2020
Jones vacated the belt on August 17, 2020, citing issues with the UFC over salary negotiation and the desire to compete at heavyweight.^[23]^[24]
15	Jan Błachowicz def. Dominick Reyes	UFC 253 Abu Dhabi, UAE	Sep 27, 2020	398 days	1. def. Israel Adesanya at UFC 259 on Mar 6, 2021
16	Glover Teixeira	UFC 267 Abu Dhabi, UAE	Oct 30, 2021	225 days
17	Jiří Procházka	UFC 275 Kallang, Singapore	Jun 12, 2022	164 days
Procházka vacated the belt on November 23, 2022, after suffering a severe shoulder injury.^[25]^[26]
Jan Błachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev fought to a draw for the vacant title on December 10, 2022, at UFC 282 in Las Vegas, NV, US.^[27]
18	Jamahal Hill def. Glover Teixeira	UFC 283 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Jan 21, 2023	174 days
Hill vacated the belt on July 14, 2023, after suffering an achilles tendon rupture.^[28]
19	Alex Pereira def. Jiří Procházka	UFC 295 New York City, NY, US	Nov 11, 2023	410 days (incumbent)	1. def. Jamahal Hill at UFC 300 on Apr 13, 2024 2. def. Jiří Procházka at UFC 303 on Jun 29, 2024 3. def. Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 307 on Oct 5, 2024

Middleweight Championship

171 to 185 lb (78 to 84 kg)
The Pride World Welterweight Championship (182.98 lb) was unified with the UFC Middleweight Championship on March 1, 2008, when Anderson Silva defeated Dan Henderson at UFC 82.^[29]

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign	Defenses
1	Dave Menne def. Gil Castillo	UFC 33 Las Vegas, NV, US	Sep 28, 2001	105 days
2	Murilo Bustamante	UFC 35 Las Vegas, NV, US	Jan 11, 2002	267 days	1. def. Matt Lindland at UFC 37 on May 10, 2002
Bustamante was stripped of the title on October 5, 2002, when he left the UFC for Pride.^[1]
3	Evan Tanner def. David Terrell	UFC 51 Las Vegas, NV, US	Feb 5, 2005	119 days
4	Rich Franklin	UFC 53 Atlantic City, NJ, US	Jun 4, 2005	497 days	1. def. Nate Quarry at UFC 56 on Nov 19, 2005 2. def. David Loiseau at UFC 58 on Mar 4, 2006
5	Anderson Silva	UFC 64 Las Vegas, NV, US	Oct 14, 2006	2,457 days	1. def. Nate Marquardt at UFC 73 on Jul 7, 2007 2. def. Rich Franklin at UFC 77 on Oct 20, 2007 3. def. Dan Henderson at UFC 82 on Mar 1, 2008 4. def. Patrick Côté at UFC 90 on Oct 25, 2008 5. def. Thales Leites at UFC 97 on Apr 18, 2009 6. def. Demian Maia at UFC 112 on Apr 10, 2010 7. def. Chael Sonnen at UFC 117 on Aug 7, 2010 8. def. Vitor Belfort at UFC 126 on Feb 5, 2011 9. def. Yushin Okami at UFC 134 on Aug 27, 2011 10. def. Chael Sonnen at UFC 148 on Jul 7, 2012
6	Chris Weidman	UFC 162 Las Vegas, NV, US	Jul 6, 2013	889 days	1. def. Anderson Silva at UFC 168 on Dec 28, 2013 2. def. Lyoto Machida at UFC 175 on Jul 5, 2014 3. def. Vitor Belfort at UFC 187 on May 23, 2015
7	Luke Rockhold	UFC 194 Las Vegas, NV, US	Dec 12, 2015	175 days
8	Michael Bisping	UFC 199 Inglewood, CA, US	Jun 4, 2016	518 days	1. def. Dan Henderson at UFC 204 on Oct 8, 2016
—	Robert Whittaker def. Yoel Romero for interim title	UFC 213 Las Vegas, NV, US	Jul 8, 2017	—
9	Georges St-Pierre	UFC 217 New York City, NY, US	Nov 4, 2017	33 days
St-Pierre vacated the title on December 7, 2017, due to ulcerative colitis.^[30]^[31]
10	Robert Whittaker promoted to undisputed champion	—	Dec 7, 2017	660 days
—	Israel Adesanya def. Kelvin Gastelum for interim title	UFC 236 Atlanta, GA, US	Apr 13, 2019	—
11	Israel Adesanya	UFC 243 Melbourne, Australia	Oct 6, 2019	1,134 days	1. def. Yoel Romero at UFC 248 on Mar 7, 2020 2. def. Paulo Costa at UFC 253 on Sep 27, 2020 3. def. Marvin Vettori at UFC 263 on Jun 12, 2021 4. def. Robert Whittaker at UFC 271 on Feb 12, 2022 5. def. Jared Cannonier at UFC 276 on Jul 2, 2022
12	Alex Pereira	UFC 281 New York City, NY, US	Nov 12, 2022	147 days
13	Israel Adesanya (2)	UFC 287 Miami, FL, US	Apr 8, 2023	155 days (1,289 days)
14	Sean Strickland	UFC 293 Sydney, Australia	Sep 10, 2023	132 days
15	Dricus du Plessis	UFC 297 Toronto, ON, Canada	Jan 20, 2024	340 days (incumbent)	1. def. Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 on Aug 18, 2024

Welterweight Championship

156 to 170 lb (71 to 77 kg)
The Welterweight Championship was known as the Lightweight Championship prior to UFC 31 (May 4, 2001).

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (Total)	Defenses
1	Pat Miletich def. Mikey Burnett	UFC Brazil São Paulo, Brazil	Oct 16, 1998	931 days	1. def. Jorge Patino at UFC 18 on Jan 8, 1999 2. def. André Pederneiras at UFC 21 on Jul 16, 1999 3. def. John Alessio at UFC 26 on Jun 9, 2000 4. def. Kenichi Yamamoto at UFC 29 on Dec 16, 2000
2	Carlos Newton	UFC 31 Atlantic City, NJ, US	May 4, 2001	183 days
3	Matt Hughes	UFC 34 Las Vegas, NV, US	Nov 2, 2001	820 days	1. def. Hayato Sakurai at UFC 36 on Mar 22, 2002 2. def. Carlos Newton at UFC 38 on Jul 13, 2002 3. def. Gil Castillo at UFC 40 on Nov 22, 2002 4. def. Sean Sherk at UFC 42 on Apr 25, 2003 5. def. Frank Trigg at UFC 45 on Nov 21, 2003
4	B.J. Penn	UFC 46 Las Vegas, NV, US	Jan 31, 2004	107 days
Penn was stripped of the title on May 17, 2004, when he left the UFC for K-1.^[32]
5	Matt Hughes (2) def. Georges St-Pierre	UFC 50 Atlantic City, NJ, US	Oct 22, 2004	757 days (1,577 days)	1. def. Frank Trigg at UFC 52 on Apr 16, 2005 2. def. B.J. Penn at UFC 63 on Sep 23, 2006
6	Georges St-Pierre	UFC 65 Sacramento, CA, US	Nov 18, 2006	140 days
7	Matt Serra	UFC 69 Houston, TX, US	Apr 7, 2007	378 days
—	Georges St-Pierre def. Matt Hughes for interim title	UFC 79 Las Vegas, NV, US	Dec 29, 2007	—
8	Georges St-Pierre (2)	UFC 83 Montreal, QC, Canada	Apr 19, 2008	2,064 days (2,204 days)	1. def. Jon Fitch at UFC 87 on Aug 9, 2008 2. def. B.J. Penn at UFC 94 on Jan 31, 2009 3. def. Thiago Alves at UFC 100 on Jul 11, 2009 4. def. Dan Hardy at UFC 111 on Mar 27, 2010 5. def. Josh Koscheck at UFC 124 on Dec 11, 2010 6. def. Jake Shields at UFC 129 on Apr 30, 2011 7. def. interim champion Carlos Condit at UFC 154 on Nov 17, 2012 8. def. Nick Diaz at UFC 158 on Mar 16, 2013 9. def. Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 on Nov 16, 2013
—	Carlos Condit def. Nick Diaz for interim title	UFC 143 Las Vegas, NV, US	Feb 4, 2012	—
St-Pierre vacated the title on December 13, 2013, when he decided to take time off.^[33]
9	Johny Hendricks def. Robbie Lawler	UFC 171 Dallas, TX, US	Mar 15, 2014	266 days
10	Robbie Lawler	UFC 181 Las Vegas, NV, US	Dec 6, 2014	602 days	1. def. Rory MacDonald at UFC 189 on Jul 11, 2015 2. def. Carlos Condit at UFC 195 on Jan 2, 2016
11	Tyron Woodley	UFC 201 Atlanta, GA, US	Jul 30, 2016	945 days	1. drew with Stephen Thompson at UFC 205 on Nov 12, 2016 2. def. Stephen Thompson at UFC 209 on Mar 4, 2017 3. def. Demian Maia at UFC 214 on Jul 29, 2017 4. def. Darren Till at UFC 228 on Sep 8, 2018
—	Colby Covington def. Rafael dos Anjos for interim title	UFC 225 Chicago, IL, US	Jun 9, 2018	—
Covington was stripped of the interim title on September 8, 2018, due to injury.^[34]
12	Kamaru Usman	UFC 235 Las Vegas, NV, US	Mar 2, 2019	1,267 days	1. def. Colby Covington at UFC 245 on Dec 14, 2019 2. def. Jorge Masvidal at UFC 251 on Jul 12, 2020 3. def. Gilbert Burns at UFC 258 on Feb 13, 2021 4. def. Jorge Masvidal at UFC 261 on Apr 24, 2021 5. def. Colby Covington at UFC 268 on Nov 6, 2021
13	Leon Edwards	UFC 278 Salt Lake City, UT, US	Aug 20, 2022	707 days	1. def. Kamaru Usman at UFC 286 on Mar 18, 2023 2. def. Colby Covington at UFC 296 on Dec 16, 2023
14	Belal Muhammad	UFC 304 Manchester, England, UK	Jul 27, 2024	151 days (incumbent)

Lightweight Championship

146 to 155 lb (66 to 70 kg)
The Lightweight Championship was known as the Bantamweight Championship prior to UFC 31 (May 4, 2001). The Strikeforce Lightweight Championship was unified (perhaps unofficially) with the UFC Lightweight Championship on April 20, 2013, when Benson Henderson defeated Gilbert Melendez at UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Melendez.^[35]

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (Total)	Defenses
1	Jens Pulver def. Caol Uno	UFC 30 Atlantic City, NJ, US	Feb 23, 2001	393 days	1. def. Dennis Hallman at UFC 33 on Sep 28, 2001 2. def. B.J. Penn at UFC 35 on Jan 11, 2002
Pulver was stripped of the title on March 23, 2002, when he left the UFC due to a contract dispute.^[1]
B.J. Penn and Caol Uno fought to a draw on February 28, 2003, at UFC 41 in Atlantic City, NJ, US in the finale of a four-man tournament for the vacant title.^[1]
2	Sean Sherk def. Kenny Florian	UFC 64 Las Vegas, NV, US	Oct 14, 2006	420 days	1. def. Hermes França at UFC 73 on Jul 7, 2007
Sherk was stripped of the title on December 8, 2007, after testing positive for anabolic steroids in a post-fight drug test.^[36]
3	B.J. Penn def. Joe Stevenson	UFC 80 Newcastle, England, UK	Jan 19, 2008	812 days	1. def. Sean Sherk at UFC 84 on May 24, 2008 2. def. Kenny Florian at UFC 101 on Aug 8, 2009 3. def. Diego Sanchez at UFC 107 on Dec 12, 2009
4	Frankie Edgar	UFC 112 Abu Dhabi, UAE	Apr 10, 2010	687 days	1. def. B.J. Penn at UFC 118 on Aug 28, 2010 2. drew with Gray Maynard at UFC 125 on Jan 1, 2011 3. def. Gray Maynard at UFC 136 on Oct 8, 2011
5	Benson Henderson	UFC 144 Saitama, Japan	Feb 26, 2012	552 days	1. def. Frankie Edgar at UFC 150 on Aug 11, 2012 2. def. Nate Diaz at UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Diaz on Dec 8, 2012 3. def. Gilbert Melendez at UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Melendez on Apr 20, 2013
6	Anthony Pettis	UFC 164 Milwaukee, WI, US	Aug 31, 2013	560 days	1. def. Gilbert Melendez at UFC 181 on Dec 6, 2014
7	Rafael dos Anjos	UFC 185 Dallas, TX, US	Mar 14, 2015	481 days	1. def. Donald Cerrone at UFC on Fox: dos Anjos vs. Cowboy 2 on Dec 19, 2015
8	Eddie Alvarez	UFC Fight Night: dos Anjos vs. Alvarez Las Vegas, NV, US	Jul 7, 2016	128 days
9	Conor McGregor	UFC 205 New York City, NY, US	Nov 12, 2016	511 days
—	Tony Ferguson def. Kevin Lee for interim title	UFC 216 Las Vegas, NV, US	Oct 7, 2017	—
Both McGregor and Ferguson were stripped of their titles on April 7, 2018, due to inactivity and injury, respectively.^[37]
10	Khabib Nurmagomedov def. Al Iaquinta	UFC 223 Brooklyn, NY, US	Apr 7, 2018	1,077 days	1. def. Conor McGregor at UFC 229 on Oct 6, 2018 2. def. interim champion Dustin Poirier at UFC 242 on Sep 7, 2019 3. def. interim champion Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 on Oct 24, 2020
—	Dustin Poirier def. Max Holloway for interim title	UFC 236 Atlanta, GA, US	Apr 13, 2019	—
—	Justin Gaethje def. Tony Ferguson for interim title	UFC 249 Jacksonville, FL, US	May 9, 2020	—
Nurmagomedov announced his retirement on October 24, 2020.^[38] The title was officially vacated on March 19, 2021.^[39]
11	Charles Oliveira def. Michael Chandler	UFC 262 Houston, TX, US	May 15, 2021	357 days	1. def. Dustin Poirier at UFC 269 on Dec 11, 2021
Oliveira was stripped of the title on May 7, 2022 after failing to make weight for his title defense against Justin Gaethje at UFC 274.^[40]
12	Islam Makhachev def. Charles Oliveira	UFC 280 Abu Dhabi, UAE	Oct 22, 2022	795 days (incumbent)	1. def. Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284 on Feb 12, 2023 2. def. Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 294 on Oct 21, 2023 3. def. Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 on Jun 1, 2024

Featherweight Championship

136 to 145 lb (61 to 66 kg)
Prior to the UFC-WEC merger, José Aldo was the WEC Featherweight Champion. Aldo was awarded the inaugural UFC Featherweight Championship on November 20, 2010, at UFC 123 in a ceremony prior to the event.^[41]

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (Total)	Defenses
1	José Aldo promoted to undisputed champion	UFC 123 Auburn Hills, MI, US	Nov 20, 2010	1,848 days	1. def. Mark Hominick at UFC 129 on Apr 30, 2011 2. def. Kenny Florian at UFC 136 on Oct 8, 2011 3. def. Chad Mendes at UFC 142 on Jan 14, 2012 4. def. Frankie Edgar at UFC 156 on Feb 2, 2013 5. def. Jung Chan-sung at UFC 163 on Aug 3, 2013 6. def. Ricardo Lamas at UFC 169 on Feb 1, 2014 7. def. Chad Mendes at UFC 179 on Oct 25, 2014
—	Conor McGregor def. Chad Mendes for interim title	UFC 189 Las Vegas, NV, US	Jul 11, 2015	—
2	Conor McGregor	UFC 194 Las Vegas, NV, US	Dec 12, 2015	350 days
—	José Aldo def. Frankie Edgar for interim title	UFC 200 Las Vegas, NV, US	Jul 9, 2016	—
McGregor was stripped of the title on November 26, 2016, 14 days after winning the lightweight title.^[42]^[43]
3	José Aldo (2) promoted to undisputed champion	—	Nov 26, 2016	189 days (2,037 days)
—	Max Holloway def. Anthony Pettis for interim title	UFC 206 Toronto, ON, Canada	Dec 10, 2016	—
4	Max Holloway	UFC 212 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Jun 3, 2017	925 days	1. def. José Aldo at UFC 218 on Dec 2, 2017 2. def. Brian Ortega at UFC 231 on Dec 8, 2018 3. def. Frankie Edgar at UFC 240 on Jul 27, 2019
5	Alexander Volkanovski	UFC 245 Las Vegas, NV, US	Dec 14, 2019	1,526 days	1. def. Max Holloway at UFC 251 on Jul 12, 2020 2. def. Brian Ortega at UFC 266 on Sep 25, 2021 3. def. Jung Chan-sung at UFC 273 on Apr 9, 2022 4. def. Max Holloway at UFC 276 on Jul 2, 2022 5. def. interim champion Yair Rodríguez at UFC 290 on Jul 8, 2023
—	Yair Rodríguez def. Josh Emmett for interim title	UFC 284 Perth, Australia	Feb 12, 2023	—
6	Ilia Topuria	UFC 298 Anaheim, CA, US	Feb 17, 2024	312 days (incumbent)	1. def. Max Holloway at UFC 308 on Oct 26, 2024

Bantamweight Championship

126 to 135 lb (57 to 61 kg)
Prior to UFC-WEC merger, Dominick Cruz was the WEC Bantamweight Champion. At WEC 53, Cruz defeated Scott Jorgensen to retain the WEC Bantamweight Championship and was awarded the inaugural UFC Bantamweight Championship.^[44]

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (Total)	Defenses
1	Dominick Cruz def. Scott Jorgensen	WEC 53 Glendale, AZ, US	Dec 16, 2010	1,117 days	1. def. Urijah Faber at UFC 132 on Jul 2, 2011 2. def. Demetrious Johnson at UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson on Oct 1, 2011
—	Renan Barão def. Urijah Faber for interim title	UFC 149 Calgary, AB, Canada	Jul 21, 2012	—	1. def. Michael McDonald at UFC on Fuel TV: Barão vs. McDonald on Feb 16, 2013 2. def. Eddie Wineland at UFC 165 on Sep 21, 2013
Cruz vacated the title on January 6, 2014, after repeated injuries prevented him from returning to competition to defend his title.^[45]
2	Renan Barão promoted to undisputed champion	—	Jan 6, 2014	138 days	1. def. Urijah Faber at UFC 169 on Feb 1, 2014
3	T.J. Dillashaw	UFC 173 Las Vegas, NV, US	May 24, 2014	603 days	1. def. Joe Soto at UFC 177 on Aug 30, 2014 2. def. Renan Barão at UFC on Fox: Dillashaw vs. Barão 2 on Jul 25, 2015
4	Dominick Cruz (2)	UFC Fight Night: Dillashaw vs. Cruz Boston, MA, US	Jan 17, 2016	348 days (1,465 days)	1. def. Urijah Faber at UFC 199 on Jun 4, 2016
5	Cody Garbrandt	UFC 207 Las Vegas, NV, US	Dec 30, 2016	309 days
6	T.J. Dillashaw (2)	UFC 217 New York City, NY, US	Nov 4, 2017	501 days (1,104 days)	1. def. Cody Garbrandt at UFC 227 on Aug 4, 2018
Dillashaw vacated the title on March 20, 2019, due to a failed drug test.^[46]
7	Henry Cejudo def. Marlon Moraes	UFC 238 Chicago, IL, US	Jun 8, 2019	352 days	1. def. Dominick Cruz at UFC 249 on May 9, 2020
Cejudo announced his retirement on May 9, 2020. The title was officially vacated on May 24, 2020.^[47]
8	Petr Yan def. José Aldo	UFC 251 Abu Dhabi, UAE	Jul 12, 2020	237 days
9	Aljamain Sterling	UFC 259 Las Vegas, NV, US	Mar 6, 2021	896 days	1. def. interim champion Petr Yan at UFC 273 on Apr 9, 2022 2. def. T.J. Dillashaw at UFC 280 on Oct 22, 2022 3. def. Henry Cejudo at UFC 288 on May 6, 2023
—	Petr Yan def. Cory Sandhagen for interim title	UFC 267 Abu Dhabi, UAE	Oct 30, 2021	—
10	Sean O'Malley	UFC 292 Boston, MA, US	Aug 19, 2023	393 days	1. def. Marlon Vera at UFC 299 on Mar 9, 2024
11	Merab Dvalishvili	UFC 306 Las Vegas, NV, US	Sep 14, 2024	102 days (incumbent)

Flyweight Championship

116 to 125 lb (53 to 57 kg)
Demetrious Johnson defeated Joseph Benavidez on September 22, 2012, at UFC 152 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the finale of a four-man tournament for the inaugural title.^[48]

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (Total)	Defenses
1	Demetrious Johnson def. Joseph Benavidez	UFC 152 Toronto, ON, Canada	Sep 22, 2012	2,142 days	1. def. John Dodson at UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Dodson on Jan 26, 2013 2. def. John Moraga at UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Moraga on Jul 27, 2013 3. def. Joseph Benavidez at UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Benavidez 2 on Dec 14, 2013 4. def. Ali Bagautinov at UFC 174 on June 14, 2014 5. def. Chris Cariaso at UFC 178 on Sep 27, 2014 6. def. Kyoji Horiguchi at UFC 186 on Apr 25, 2015 7. def. John Dodson at UFC 191 on Sep 5, 2015 8. def. Henry Cejudo at UFC 197 on Apr 23, 2016 9. def. Tim Elliott at The Ultimate Fighter: Tournament of Champions Finale on Dec 3, 2016 10. def. Wilson Reis at UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Reis on Apr 15, 2017 11. def. Ray Borg at UFC 216 on Oct 7, 2017
2	Henry Cejudo	UFC 227 Los Angeles, CA, US	Aug 4, 2018	574 days	1. def. T.J. Dillashaw at UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs. Dillashaw on Jan 19, 2019
Cejudo announced on December 20, 2019, that he would vacate his title to focus on defending the bantamweight title. It was officially vacated on February 29, 2020.^[49]
3	Deiveson Figueiredo def. Joseph Benavidez	UFC Fight Night: Figueiredo vs. Benavidez 2 Abu Dhabi, UAE	Jul 19, 2020	328 days	1. def. Alex Perez at UFC 255 on Nov 21, 2020 2. drew with Brandon Moreno at UFC 256 on Dec 12, 2020
4	Brandon Moreno	UFC 263 Glendale, AZ, US	Jun 12, 2021	223 days
5	Deiveson Figueiredo (2)	UFC 270 Anaheim, CA, US	Jan 22, 2022	364 days (692 days)
—	Brandon Moreno def. Kai Kara-France for interim title	UFC 277 Dallas, TX, US	Jul 30, 2022	—
6	Brandon Moreno (2)	UFC 283 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Jan 21, 2023	168 days (391 days)
7	Alexandre Pantoja	UFC 290 Las Vegas, NV, US	Jul 8, 2023	536 days (incumbent)	1. def. Brandon Royval at UFC 296 on Dec 16, 2023 2. def. Steve Erceg at UFC 301 on May 4, 2024 3. def. Kai Asakura at UFC 310 on Dec 7, 2024

Women's championship history

Women's Bantamweight Championship

126 to 135 lb (57 to 61 kg)
Prior to its folding and absorption by the UFC, Ronda Rousey was the Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion. Rousey was awarded the inaugural UFC Women's Bantamweight Championship on December 6, 2012, at a UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Diaz pre-event press conference.^[50]

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign	Defenses
1	Ronda Rousey promoted to undisputed champion	UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Diaz Seattle, WA, US	Dec 6, 2012	1,074 days	1. def. Liz Carmouche at UFC 157 on Feb 23, 2013 2. def. Miesha Tate at UFC 168 on Dec 28, 2013 3. def. Sara McMann at UFC 170 on Feb 22, 2014 4. def. Alexis Davis at UFC 175 on Jul 5, 2014 5. def. Cat Zingano at UFC 184 on Feb 28, 2015 6. def. Bethe Correia at UFC 190 on Aug 1, 2015
2	Holly Holm	UFC 193 Melbourne, Australia	Nov 15, 2015	111 days
3	Miesha Tate	UFC 196 Las Vegas, NV, US	Mar 5, 2016	126 days
4	Amanda Nunes	UFC 200 Las Vegas, NV, US	Jul 9, 2016	1,981 days	1. def. Ronda Rousey at UFC 207 on Dec 30, 2016 2. def. Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 215 on Sep 9, 2017 3. def. Raquel Pennington at UFC 224 on May 12, 2018 4. def. Holly Holm at UFC 239 on Jul 6, 2019 5. def. Germaine de Randamie at UFC 245 on Dec 14, 2019
5	Julianna Peña	UFC 269 Las Vegas, NV, US	Dec 11, 2021	232 days
6	Amanda Nunes (2)	UFC 277 Dallas, TX, US	Jul 30, 2022	325 days (2,306 days)	1. def. Irene Aldana at UFC 289 on Jun 10, 2023
Nunes announced her retirement on June 10, 2023.^[51] The title was officially vacated on June 20, 2023.
7	Raquel Pennington def. Mayra Bueno Silva	UFC 297 Toronto, ON, Canada	Jan 20, 2024	255 days
8	Julianna Peña (2)	UFC 307 Salt Lake City, UT, US	Oct 5, 2024	81 days (incumbent)

Women's Flyweight Championship

116 to 125 lb (53 to 57 kg)
The inaugural title was contested on December 1, 2017, in Las Vegas, NV, US at The Ultimate Fighter: A New World Champion Finale. The inaugural title fight was between two fighters who appeared on the 26th season of The Ultimate Fighter.

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign	Defenses
1	Nicco Montaño def. Roxanne Modafferi	The Ultimate Fighter: A New World Champion Finale Las Vegas, NV, US	Dec 1, 2017	280 days
Montaño was stripped of the title on September 7, 2018, after she was forced to withdraw from her title defense at UFC 228 due to weight cut issues.^[52]
2	Valentina Shevchenko def. Joanna Jędrzejczyk	UFC 231 Toronto, ON, Canada	Dec 8, 2018	1,547 days	1. def. Jessica Eye at UFC 238 on Jun 8, 2019 2. def. Liz Carmouche at UFC Fight Night: Shevchenko vs. Carmouche 2 on Aug 10, 2019 3. def. Katlyn Chookagian at UFC 247 on Feb 8, 2020 4. def. Jennifer Maia at UFC 255 on Nov 21, 2020 5. def. Jéssica Andrade at UFC 261 on Apr 24, 2021 6. def. Lauren Murphy at UFC 266 on Sep 25, 2021 7. def. Taila Santos at UFC 275 on Jun 12, 2022
3	Alexa Grasso	UFC 285 Las Vegas, NV, US	Mar 4, 2023	561 days	1. drew with Valentina Shevchenko at UFC Fight Night: Grasso vs. Shevchenko 2 on Sep 16, 2023
4	Valentina Shevchenko (2)	UFC 306 Las Vegas, NV, US	Sep 14, 2024	102 days (incumbent)

Women's Strawweight Championship

106 to 115 lb (48 to 52 kg)
Previously the Invicta FC Strawweight Champion, Carla Esparza defeated Rose Namajunas for the inaugural title on December 12, 2014, in the tournament finale of The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned.^[11]

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign	Defenses
1	Carla Esparza def. Rose Namajunas	The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned Finale Las Vegas, NV, US	Dec 12, 2014	92 days
2	Joanna Jędrzejczyk	UFC 185 Dallas, TX, US	Mar 14, 2015	966 days	1. def. Jessica Penne at UFC Fight Night: Jędrzejczyk vs. Penne on Jun 20, 2015 2. def. Valérie Létourneau at UFC 193 on Nov 15, 2015 3. def. Cláudia Gadelha at The Ultimate Fighter: Team Joanna vs. Team Cláudia Finale on Jul 8, 2016 4. def. Karolina Kowalkiewicz at UFC 205 on Nov 12, 2016 5. def. Jéssica Andrade at UFC 211 on May 13, 2017
3	Rose Namajunas	UFC 217 New York City, NY, US	Nov 4, 2017	554 days	1. def. Joanna Jędrzejczyk at UFC 223 on Apr 7, 2018
4	Jéssica Andrade	UFC 237 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	May 11, 2019	112 days
5	Zhang Weili	UFC Fight Night: Andrade vs. Zhang Shenzhen, China	Aug 31, 2019	603 days	1. def. Joanna Jędrzejczyk at UFC 248 on Mar 7, 2020
6	Rose Namajunas (2)	UFC 261 Jacksonville, FL, US	Apr 24, 2021	378 days (932 days)	1. def. Zhang Weili at UFC 268 on Nov 6, 2021
7	Carla Esparza (2)	UFC 274 Phoenix, AZ, US	May 7, 2022	190 days (282 days)
8	Zhang Weili (2)	UFC 281 New York City, NY, US	Nov 12, 2022	774 days (incumbent)	1. def. Amanda Lemos at UFC 292 on Aug 19, 2023 2. def. Yan Xiaonan at UFC 300 on Apr 13, 2024

Defunct titles

Superfight Championship

The openweight title used before the introduction of weight classes in 1997. It was designed to create a reigning UFC champion for the UFC tournament winners to challenge.^[53]

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign	Defenses
Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie fought to a draw on April 7, 1995, at UFC 5 in Charlotte, NC, US for the inaugural Superfight title.^[1]
1	Ken Shamrock def. Dan Severn	UFC 6 Casper, WY, US	Jul 14, 1995	308 days	1. drew with Oleg Taktarov at UFC 7 on Sep 8, 1995 2. def. Kimo Leopoldo at UFC 8 on Feb 16, 1996
2	Dan Severn	UFC 9 Detroit, MI, US	May 17, 1996	266 days
Mark Coleman defeated Severn on February 7, 1997, at UFC 12 in Dothan, AL, US. This bout unified the UFC Superfight Championship with the UFC 11 Tournament Championship to determine the inaugural UFC Heavyweight Champion.^[4]

Women's Featherweight Championship

136 to 145 lb (62 to 66 kg)
The inaugural title was contested on February 11, 2017, in Brooklyn, NY, US at UFC 208.^[54]

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign	Defenses
1	Germaine de Randamie def. Holly Holm	UFC 208 Brooklyn, NY, US	Feb 11, 2017	128 days
de Randamie was stripped of the title on June 19, 2017, after she refused to defend the title against Cris Cyborg.^[55]
2	Cris Cyborg def. Tonya Evinger	UFC 214 Anaheim, CA, US	Jul 29, 2017	517 days	1. def. Holly Holm at UFC 219 on Dec 30, 2017 2. def. Yana Kunitskaya at UFC 222 on Mar 3, 2018
3	Amanda Nunes	UFC 232 Inglewood, CA, US	Dec 29, 2018	1,634 days	1. def. Felicia Spencer at UFC 250 on Jun 6, 2020 2. def. Megan Anderson at UFC 259 on Mar 6, 2021
Nunes announced her retirement on June 10, 2023.^[51] The title was officially vacated on June 20, 2023.

Tournament winners

Event	Date	Division	Winner	Runner-up
UFC 1	Nov 12, 1993	Openweight	Royce Gracie	Gerard Gordeau
UFC 2	Mar 11, 1994	Openweight	Royce Gracie (2)	Patrick Smith
UFC 3	Sep 9, 1994	Openweight	Steve Jennum	Harold Howard
UFC 4	Dec 16, 1994	Openweight	Royce Gracie (3)	Dan Severn
UFC 5	Apr 7, 1995	Openweight	Dan Severn	Dave Beneteau
UFC 6	Jul 14, 1995	Openweight	Oleg Taktarov	Tank Abbott
UFC 7	Sep 8, 1995	Openweight	Marco Ruas	Paul Varelans
The Ultimate Ultimate	Dec 16, 1995	Openweight	Dan Severn (2)	Oleg Taktarov
UFC 8	Feb 16, 1996	Openweight	Don Frye	Gary Goodridge
UFC 10	Jul 12, 1996	Openweight	Mark Coleman	Don Frye
UFC 11	Sep 20, 1996	Openweight	Mark Coleman (2)	Scott Ferrozzo
The Ultimate Ultimate 2	Dec 7, 1996	Openweight	Don Frye (2)	Tank Abbott
UFC 12	Feb 7, 1997	Heavyweight	Vitor Belfort	Scott Ferrozzo
UFC 12	Feb 7, 1997	Light Heavyweight	Jerry Bohlander	Nick Sanzo
UFC 13	May 30, 1997	Heavyweight	Randy Couture	Steven Graham
UFC 13	May 30, 1997	LightHeavyweight	Guy Mezger	Tito Ortiz
UFC 14	Jul 27, 1997	Heavyweight	Mark Kerr	Dan Bobish
UFC 14	Jul 27, 1997	LightHeavyweight	Kevin Jackson	Tony Fryklund
UFC 15	Oct 17, 1997	Heavyweight	Mark Kerr (2)	Dwayne Cason
Ultimate Japan	Dec 21, 1997	Heavyweight	Kazushi Sakuraba	Marcus Silveira
UFC 16	Mar 13, 1998	Welterweight	Pat Miletich	Chris Brennan
UFC 17	May 15, 1998	Middleweight	Dan Henderson	Carlos Newton
UFC 23	Nov 19, 1999	Middleweight	Kenichi Yamamoto	Katsuhisa Fujii
UFC 39 UFC 41	Feb 28, 2003	Lightweight	B.J. Penn drew with Caol Uno in the finale of the 4-man tournament.
UFC on FX 2 UFC on FX 3 UFC 152	Sep 22, 2012	Flyweight	Demetrious Johnson	Joseph Benavidez

The Ultimate Fighter

The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) is a reality television series and mixed martial arts competition produced by the UFC. The show features professional fighters living together and competing against one another in a tournament for a contract with the UFC.

Season	Finale	Division	Winner	Runner-up
TUF 1: Team Couture vs. Team Liddell	Apr 9, 2005	Light Heavyweight	Forrest Griffin	Stephan Bonnar
TUF 1: Team Couture vs. Team Liddell	Apr 9, 2005	Middleweight	Diego Sanchez	Kenny Florian
TUF 2: Team Hughes vs. Team Franklin	Nov 5, 2005	Heavyweight	Rashad Evans	Brad Imes
TUF 2: Team Hughes vs. Team Franklin	Nov 5, 2005	Welterweight	Joe Stevenson	Luke Cummo
TUF 3: Team Ortiz vs. Team Shamrock	Jun 24, 2006	Middleweight	Kendall Grove	Ed Herman
TUF 3: Team Ortiz vs. Team Shamrock	Jun 24, 2006	Light Heavyweight	Michael Bisping	Josh Haynes
TUF 4: The Comeback	Nov 11, 2006	Middleweight	Travis Lutter	Patrick Côté
TUF 4: The Comeback	Nov 11, 2006	Welterweight	Matt Serra	Chris Lytle
TUF 5: Team Pulver vs. Team Penn	Jun 23, 2007	Lightweight	Nate Diaz	Manny Gamburyan
TUF 6: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra	Dec 8, 2007	Welterweight	Mac Danzig	Tom Speer
TUF 7: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest	Jun 21, 2008	Middleweight	Amir Sadollah	C. B. Dollaway
TUF 8: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir	Dec 13, 2008	Light Heavyweight	Ryan Bader	Vinny Magalhães
TUF 8: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir	Dec 13, 2008	Lightweight	Efrain Escudero	Phillipe Nover
TUF 9: United States vs. United Kingdom	Jun 20, 2009	Lightweight	Ross Pearson	Andre Winner
TUF 9: United States vs. United Kingdom	Jun 20, 2009	Welterweight	James Wilks	DaMarques Johnson
TUF 10: Heavyweights	Dec 5, 2009	Heavyweight	Roy Nelson	Brendan Schaub
TUF 11: Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz	Jun 19, 2010	Middleweight	Court McGee	Kris McCray
TUF 12: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck	Dec 4, 2010	Lightweight	Jonathan Brookins	Michael Johnson
TUF 13: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos	Jun 4, 2011	Welterweight	Tony Ferguson	Ramsey Nijem
TUF 14: Team Bisping vs. Team Miller	Dec 3, 2011	Bantamweight	John Dodson	T.J. Dillashaw
TUF 14: Team Bisping vs. Team Miller	Dec 3, 2011	Featherweight	Diego Brandão	Dennis Bermudez
TUF 15: Live	Jun 1, 2012	Lightweight	Michael Chiesa	Al Iaquinta
TUF: Brazil	Jun 23, 2012	Featherweight	Rony Jason	Godofredo Pepey
TUF: Brazil	Jun 23, 2012	Middleweight	Cezar Ferreira	Sérgio Moraes
TUF 16: Team Carwin vs. Team Nelson	Dec 15, 2012	Welterweight	Colton Smith	Mike Ricci
TUF: The Smashes	Dec 15, 2012	Lightweight	Norman Parke	Colin Fletcher
TUF: The Smashes	Dec 15, 2012	Welterweight	Robert Whittaker	Brad Scott
TUF 17: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen	Apr 13, 2013	Middleweight	Kelvin Gastelum	Uriah Hall
TUF: Brazil 2	Jun 8, 2013	Welterweight	Leonardo Santos	William Macario
TUF 18: Team Rousey vs. Team Tate	Nov 30, 2013	Bantamweight	Chris Holdsworth	Davey Grant
TUF 18: Team Rousey vs. Team Tate	Nov 30, 2013	Women's Bantamweight	Julianna Peña	Jessica Rakoczy
TUF: China	Mar 1, 2014	Welterweight	Zhang Lipeng	Wang Sai
TUF: China	Ago 23, 2014	Featherweight	Ning Guangyou	Yang Jianping
TUF Nations: Canada vs. Australia	Apr 16, 2014	Welterweight	Chad Laprise	Olivier Aubin-Mercier
TUF Nations: Canada vs. Australia	Apr 16, 2014	Middleweight	Elias Theodorou	Sheldon Westcott
TUF: Brazil 3	May 31, 2014	Middleweight	Warlley Alves	Márcio Alexandre Júnior
TUF: Brazil 3	May 31, 2014	Heavyweight	Antônio Carlos Júnior	Vitor Miranda
TUF 19: Team Edgar vs. Team Penn	Jul 6, 2014	Middleweight	Eddie Gordon	Dhiego Lima
TUF 19: Team Edgar vs. Team Penn	Jul 6, 2014	Light Heavyweight	Corey Anderson	Matt Van Buren
TUF: Latin America	Nov 15, 2014	Bantamweight	Alejandro Pérez	José Alberto Quiñónez
TUF: Latin America	Nov 15, 2014	Featherweight	Yair Rodríguez	Leonardo Morales
TUF 20: A Champion Will Be Crowned	Dec 12, 2014	Women's Strawweight	Carla Esparza	Rose Namajunas
TUF 21: American Top Team vs. Blackzilians	Jul 12, 2015	Welterweight	Kamaru Usman	Hayder Hassan
TUF: Brazil 4	Aug 1, 2015	Bantamweight	Reginaldo Vieira	Dileno Lopes
TUF: Brazil 4	Aug 1, 2015	Lightweight	Glaico França	Fernando Bruno
TUF: Latin America 2	Nov 21, 2015	Lightweight	Enrique Barzola	Horacio Gutiérrez
TUF: Latin America 2	Nov 21, 2015	Welterweight	Erick Montaño	Enrique Marín
TUF 22: Team McGregor vs. Team Faber	Dec 11, 2015	Lightweight	Ryan Hall	Artem Lobov
TUF 23: Team Joanna vs. Team Cláudia	Jul 8, 2016	Women's Strawweight	Tatiana Suarez	Amanda Cooper
TUF 23: Team Joanna vs. Team Cláudia	Jul 8, 2016	Light Heavyweight	Andrew Sanchez	Khalil Rountree Jr.
TUF: Latin America 3	Nov 5, 2016	Lightweight	Martin Bravo	Claudio Puelles
TUF 24: Tournament of Champions	Dec 3, 2016	Flyweight	Tim Elliott	Hiromasa Ougikubo
TUF 25: Redemption	Jul 7, 2017	Welterweight	Jesse Taylor	Dhiego Lima
TUF 26: A New World Champion	Dec 1, 2017	Women's Flyweight	Nicco Montaño	Roxanne Modafferi
TUF 27: Undefeated	Jul 6, 2018	Featherweight	Brad Katona	Jay Cucciniello
TUF 27: Undefeated	Jul 6, 2018	Lightweight	Michael Trizano	Joe Giannetti
TUF 28: Heavy Hitters	Nov 30, 2018	Heavyweight	Juan Espino	Justin Frazier
TUF 28: Heavy Hitters	Nov 30, 2018	Women's Featherweight	Macy Chiasson	Pannie Kianzad
TUF 29: Team Volkanovski vs. Team Ortega	Aug 28, 2021	Bantamweight	Ricky Turcios	Brady Hiestand
TUF 29: Team Volkanovski vs. Team Ortega	Aug 28, 2021	Middleweight	Bryan Battle	Gilbert Urbina
TUF 30: Team Peña vs. Team Nunes	Aug 6, 2022	Heavyweight	Mohammed Usman	Zac Pauga
TUF 30: Team Peña vs. Team Nunes	Aug 6, 2022	Women's Flyweight	Juliana Miller	Brogan Walker-Sanchez
TUF 31: Team McGregor vs. Team Chandler	Aug 19, 2023	Bantamweight	Brad Katona	Cody Gibson
TUF 31: Team McGregor vs. Team Chandler	Aug 19, 2023	Lightweight	Kurt Holobaugh	Austin Hubbard
TUF 32: Team Grasso vs. Team Shevchenko	Aug 24, 2024	Featherweight	Mairon Santos	Kaan Ofli
TUF 32: Team Grasso vs. Team Shevchenko	Aug 24, 2024	Middleweight	Ryan Loder	Robert Valentin

Championship wins by nationality

The table is divided by number of division championships, tournament championships, total championships, and individual champions. Fighters with multiple championship wins have each championship counted for the total. There is a distinction between the total number of championships won by a nationality and the number of individual fighters that won them. Division championships are the primary separation criteria due to being non-closed competition. It includes title holders and interim title holders. Countries that are tied are separated by number of individual champions. Interim champions who become undisputed champions are listed only once. Tournament championships are secondary due to many tournaments being country-specific and thus not generally a national achievement to win. Runners-up and TUF runners-up are not included.

Country	Division championships	Tournament championships	Total championships	Individual champions
United States	82	17	99	72
Brazil	24	6	30	22
Russia	4	1	5	4
Mexico	4	-	4	3
Canada	4	-	4	2
England	3	-	3	3
Nigeria	3	-	3	2
Australia	2	-	2	2
Georgia	2	-	2	2
Netherlands	2	-	2	2
Poland	2	-	2	2
China	2	-	2	1
Ireland	2	-	2	1
Kyrgyzstan	2	-	2	1
Belarus	1	-	1	1
Cameroon	1	-	1	1
France	1	-	1	1
Czech Republic	1	-	1	1
South Africa	1	-	1	1
Japan	0	2	2	2

TUF winners by nationality

Country	TUF winners
United States	35
Brazil	8
Mexico	5
Canada	4
England	3
China	2
Nigeria	2
Australia	1
Jamaica	1
Northern Ireland	1
Peru	1
Spain	1

Most wins in title bouts

Fighters with four or more championship and/or interim championship title wins.^[56] Fighters with the same number of title wins are arranged in order of most title fights. Tournament championships and TUF winners are not included.

Title wins	Champion	Division	Win	Loss	Draw	No-Contest
16	Jon Jones	Heavyweight Light Heavyweight	2 14	0 0		0 1
13	Georges St-Pierre	Middleweight Welterweight	1 12	0 2
12	Demetrious Johnson	Bantamweight Flyweight	0 12	1 1
11	Anderson Silva	Middleweight	11	2
11	Amanda Nunes	Women's Featherweight Women's Bantamweight	3 8	0 1
9	Randy Couture	Heavyweight Light Heavyweight	6 3	3 3
	Matt Hughes	Welterweight	9	3
	Valentina Shevchenko	Women's Bantamweight Women's Flyweight	0 9	1 1	0 1
8	José Aldo	Featherweight Bantamweight	8 0	3 1
8	Israel Adesanya	Light Heavyweight Middleweight	0 8	1 3
6	Joanna Jędrzejczyk	Women's Flyweight Women's Strawweight	0 6	1 3
	Daniel Cormier	Heavyweight Light Heavyweight	2 4	2 1		0 1
	Tito Ortiz	Light Heavyweight	6	3
	Alexander Volkanovski	Lightweight Featherweight	0 6	2 1
	Stipe Miocic	Heavyweight	6	3
	Ronda Rousey	Women's Bantamweight	6	2
	Kamaru Usman	Welterweight	6	2
5	B.J. Penn	Welterweight Lightweight	1 4	2 3	0 1
	Max Holloway	Lightweight Featherweight	0 5	1 4
	Tim Sylvia	Heavyweight	5	4
	T.J. Dillashaw	Bantamweight Flyweight	5 0	2 1
	Chuck Liddell	Light Heavyweight	5	2
	Dominick Cruz	Bantamweight	5	2
	Zhang Weili	Women's Strawweight	5	2
	Pat Miletich	Welterweight	5	1
	Alex Pereira	Light Heavyweight Middleweight	4 1	0 1
	Frank Shamrock	Light Heavyweight	5	0
4	Rose Namajunas	Women's Strawweight	4	3
	Cain Velasquez	Heavyweight	4	2
	Renan Barão	Bantamweight	4	2
	Tyron Woodley	Welterweight	4	1	1
	Henry Cejudo	Bantamweight Flyweight	2 2	1 1
	Benson Henderson	Lightweight	4	1
	Chris Weidman	Middleweight	4	1
	Aljamain Sterling	Bantamweight	4	1
	Khabib Nurmagomedov	Lightweight	4	0
	Islam Makhachev	Lightweight	4	0
	Alexandre Pantoja	Flyweight	4	0

Most consecutive title defenses

The following includes all UFC champions who were able to consecutively defend their title three times or more. Fighters with the same number of title defenses are listed chronologically.^[57]

Defenses	Champion	Division	Period
11	Demetrious Johnson	Flyweight	Sep 22, 2012 — Aug 4, 2018
10	Anderson Silva	Middleweight	Oct 14, 2006 — Jul 6, 2013
9	Georges St-Pierre	Welterweight	Apr 19, 2008 — Dec 13, 2013
8	Jon Jones	Light Heavyweight	Mar 19, 2011 — Apr 28, 2015
7	José Aldo	Featherweight	Nov 20, 2010 — Dec 12, 2015
7	Valentina Shevchenko	Women's Flyweight	Dec 8, 2018 — Mar 4, 2023
6	Ronda Rousey	Women's Bantamweight	Dec 6, 2012 — Nov 15, 2015
5	Tito Ortiz	Light Heavyweight	Apr 14, 2000 — Sep 26, 2003
	Matt Hughes	Welterweight	Nov 2, 2001 — Jan 31, 2004
	Joanna Jędrzejczyk	Women's Strawweight	Mar 14, 2015 — Nov 4, 2017
	Amanda Nunes	Women's Bantamweight	Jul 9, 2016 — Dec 11, 2021
	Kamaru Usman	Welterweight	Mar 2, 2019 — Aug 20, 2022
	Israel Adesanya	Middleweight	Oct 6, 2019 — Nov 12, 2022
	Alexander Volkanovski	Featherweight	Dec 14, 2019 — Feb 17, 2024
4	Frank Shamrock	Light Heavyweight	Dec 21, 1997 — Nov 24, 1999
	Pat Miletich	Welterweight	Oct 16, 1998 — May 4, 2001
	Chuck Liddell	Light Heavyweight	Apr 16, 2005 — May 26, 2007
	Tyron Woodley^[a]	Welterweight	Jul 30, 2016 — Mar 2, 2019
3	B.J. Penn	Lightweight	Jan 19, 2008 — Apr 10, 2010
	Frankie Edgar^[b]	Lightweight	Apr 10, 2010 — Feb 26, 2012
	Benson Henderson	Lightweight	Feb 26, 2012 — Aug 31, 2013
	Renan Barão^[c]	Bantamweight	Jul 21, 2012 — May 24, 2014
	Chris Weidman	Middleweight	Jul 6, 2013 — Dec 12, 2015
	Daniel Cormier^[d]	Light Heavyweight	May 23, 2015 — Dec 28, 2018
	Stipe Miocic	Heavyweight	May 14, 2016 — Jul 7, 2018
	Max Holloway	Featherweight	Jun 3, 2017 — Dec 14, 2019
	Jon Jones	Light Heavyweight	Dec 29, 2018 — Aug 17, 2020
	Khabib Nurmagomedov	Lightweight	Apr 7, 2018 — Mar 19, 2021
	Aljamain Sterling	Bantamweight	Mar 6, 2021 — Aug 19, 2023
	Islam Makhachev	Lightweight	Oct 22, 2022 — Present
	Alex Pereira	Light Heavyweight	Nov 11, 2023 — Present
	Alexandre Pantoja	Flyweight	Jul 8, 2023 — Present

Bold — Incumbent champion.

^ Woodley successfully defended the UFC Welterweight Championship three times and retained the title once following a draw against Stephen Thompson at UFC 205.
^ Edgar successfully defended the UFC Lightweight Championship twice and retained the title once following a draw against Gray Maynard at UFC 125.
^ Barão successfully defended the interim UFC Bantamweight Championship twice before being promoted to undisputed champion and defending his title once more.
^ Cormier lost to Jon Jones attempting his 3rd consecutive defense. However, Jones' win was later overturned to a no-contest due to a failed pre-fight drug test. Cormier was later reinstated as champion and made his 3rd successful title defense at UFC 220.

Longest reigning champions

The following is a list of the ten longest reigning UFC champions.

Longest individual reigns

	Name	Title Reign	Weight class	Successful defenses
1	Anderson Silva	2,457 days	MW	10
2	Demetrious Johnson	2,142 days	FLW	11
3	Georges St-Pierre	2,064 days	WW	9
4	Amanda Nunes	1,981 days	W-BW	5
5	José Aldo	1,848 days	FTW	7
6	Amanda Nunes	1,634 days	W-FTW	2
7	Valentina Shevchenko	1,547 days	W-FLW	7
8	Alexander Volkanovski	1,526 days	FTW	5
9	Jon Jones	1,501 days	LHW	8
10	Daniel Cormier	1,315 days	LHW	3

Longest combined reigns

	Name	Days as champion	Reigns	Weight class	Cumulative title defenses
1	Amanda Nunes	3,940 days	3	W-BW, W-FTW	8
2	Jon Jones	2,760 days	3	LHW, HW	12
3	Anderson Silva	2,457 days	1	MW	10
4	Georges St-Pierre	2,237 days	3	WW, MW	9
5	Demetrious Johnson	2,142 days	1	FLW	11
6	José Aldo	2,037 days	2	FTW	7
7	Daniel Cormier	1,722 days	2	LHW, HW	4
8	Valentina Shevchenko	1,649 days	2	W-FLW	7
9	Matt Hughes	1,577 days	2	WW	7
10	Alexander Volkanovski	1,526 days	1	FTW	5

Bold — Incumbent champion.

Multi-division champions

Fighters who have won championships in multiple weight classes.^[58] Tournament championships and TUF winners are not included.

Randy Couture is notably the first champion to hold belts in two different divisions, and one of the few to reclaim a title after being defeated. Conor McGregor was the first fighter to hold multiple titles simultaneously.

	Interim

	Champion	Division	Won	Lost	Defenses	Reign	Total reign
1	Randy Couture	Heavyweight	Dec 21, 1997 (UFC Japan)	Jan ?, 1998 (stripped)	0	? days	1,478 + ? days
			Nov 17, 2000 (UFC 28)	Mar 22, 2002 (UFC 36)	2	490 days
			Mar 3, 2007 (UFC 68)	Nov 15, 2008 (UFC 91)	1	623 days
		Light Heavyweight	Jun 6, 2003 (UFC 43)	Sep 26, 2003 (UFC 44)	0	-
			Sep 26, 2003 (UFC 44)	Jan 31, 2004 (UFC 46)	0	127 days
			Aug 21, 2004 (UFC 49)	Apr 16, 2005 (UFC 52)	0	238 days
2	B.J. Penn	Welterweight	Jan 31, 2004 (UFC 46)	May 17, 2004 (stripped)	0	107 days	919 days
2	B.J. Penn	Lightweight	Jan 19, 2008 (UFC 80)	Apr 10, 2010 (UFC 112)	3	812 days	919 days
3	Conor McGregor	Featherweight	Jul 11, 2015 (UFC 189)	Dec 12, 2015 (UFC 194)	0	-	861 days
		Featherweight	Dec 12, 2015 (UFC 194)	Nov 26, 2016 (stripped)	0	350 days
		Lightweight	Nov 12, 2016 (UFC 205)	Apr 7, 2018 (stripped)	0	511 days
4	Georges St-Pierre	Welterweight	Nov 18, 2006 (UFC 65)	Apr 7, 2007 (UFC 69)	0	140 days	2,237 days
			Dec 29, 2007 (UFC 79)	Apr 19, 2008 (UFC 83)	0	-
			Apr 19, 2008 (UFC 83)	Dec 13, 2013 (vacated)	9	2,064 days
		Middleweight	Nov 4, 2017 (UFC 217)	Dec 7, 2017 (vacated)	0	33 days
5	Daniel Cormier	Light Heavyweight	May 23, 2015 (UFC 187)	Dec 28, 2018 (vacated)	3	1,315 days	1,722 days
5	Daniel Cormier	Heavyweight	Jul 7, 2018 (UFC 226)	Aug 17, 2019 (UFC 241)	1	407 days	1,722 days
6	Amanda Nunes	Women's Bantamweight	Jul 9, 2016 (UFC 200)	Dec 11, 2021 (UFC 269)	5	1,981 days	3,940 days
		Women's Bantamweight	Jul 30, 2022 (UFC 277)	Jun 20, 2023 (vacated)	1	325 days
		Women's Featherweight	Dec 29, 2018 (UFC 232)	Jun 20, 2023 (vacated)	2	1,634 days
7	Henry Cejudo	Flyweight	Aug 4, 2018 (UFC 227)	Feb 29, 2020 (vacated)	1	574 days	926 days
7	Henry Cejudo	Bantamweight	Jun 8, 2019 (UFC 238)	May 24, 2020 (vacated)	1	352 days	926 days
8	Jon Jones	Light Heavyweight	Mar 19, 2011 (UFC 128)	Apr 28, 2015 (stripped)	8	1,501 days	2,760 days
			Apr 23, 2016 (UFC 197)	Nov 19, 2016 (stripped)	0	-
			Dec 29, 2018 (UFC 232)	Aug 17, 2020 (vacated)	3	597 days
		Heavyweight	Mar 4, 2023 (UFC 285)	Incumbent	1	662 days
9	Alex Pereira	Middleweight	Nov 12, 2022 (UFC 281)	Apr 8, 2023 (UFC 287)	0	147 days	557 days
9	Alex Pereira	Light Heavyweight	Nov 11, 2023 (UFC 295)	Incumbent	3	410 days	557 days

Simultaneous two division champions

Note: Defenses shown are while champion was a two division champion.

	Champion	Division	Period	Defenses	Reign
1	Conor McGregor	Featherweight	Nov 12, 2016 – Nov 26, 2016	0	14 days
1	Conor McGregor	Lightweight	Nov 12, 2016 – Nov 26, 2016	0	14 days
2	Daniel Cormier	Light Heavyweight	Jul 7, 2018 – Dec 28, 2018	0	174 days
2	Daniel Cormier	Heavyweight	Jul 7, 2018 – Dec 28, 2018	1	174 days
3	Amanda Nunes	Women's Bantamweight	Dec 29, 2018 – Dec 11, 2021	2	1,078 days
3	Amanda Nunes	Women's Featherweight	Dec 29, 2018 – Dec 11, 2021	2	1,078 days
4	Henry Cejudo	Flyweight	Jun 8, 2019 – Feb 29, 2020	0	266 days
4	Henry Cejudo	Bantamweight	Jun 8, 2019 – Feb 29, 2020	1	266 days
5	Amanda Nunes (2)	Women's Featherweight	Jul 30, 2022 – Jun 20, 2023	0	325 days
5	Amanda Nunes (2)	Women's Bantamweight	Jul 30, 2022 – Jun 20, 2023	1	325 days

Bold - Active reigns.

Missed weight title fights

There have been multiple instances in UFC history where a fighter misses the required weight limit for a championship fight. The following fights were originally scheduled and advertised as title fights, with the contenders earning a title shot, but due to a fighter missing weight these fights took place, only one fighter was eligible for the title, or the fight was changed to a non-title fight.

Event	Date	Championship	Result			Notes
UFC 56	Nov 19, 2005	Welterweight	Matt Hughes (c) (170 lb)	def.	Joe Riggs (172.5 lb)	Fight changed to non-title contest
UFC 67	Feb 3, 2007	Middleweight	Anderson Silva (c) (185 lb)	def.	Travis Lutter (187 lb)	Fight changed to non-title contest
UFC 206	Dec 10, 2016	Interim Featherweight	Max Holloway (145 lb)	def.	Anthony Pettis (148 lb)	Only Holloway was eligible to win title
UFC 221	Feb 11, 2018	Interim Middleweight	Yoel Romero (187.7 lb)	def.	Luke Rockhold (185 lb)	Only Rockhold was eligible to win title
UFC 225	Jun 9, 2018	Middleweight	Robert Whittaker (c) (185 lb)	def.	Yoel Romero (185.2 lb)	Fight changed to non-title contest
UFC Fight Night: Benavidez vs. Figueiredo	Feb 29, 2020	Flyweight	Deiveson Figueiredo (127.5 lb)	def.	Joseph Benavidez (124.5 lb)	Only Benavidez was eligible to win title
UFC 274	May 7, 2022	Lightweight	Charles Oliveira ~~(c)~~ (155.5 lb)	def.	Justin Gaethje (155 lb)	Oliveira was stripped of the title, only Gaethje was eligible to win title

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "UFC Championship Lineage". The Orange County Register. July 2, 2007. Archived from the original on November 3, 2007. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
^ Plotz, David (November 7, 1999). "Fight Clubbed". Slate. Retrieved March 21, 2007.
^ Gentry III, Clyde (2003). No Holds Barred: Ultimate Fighting and the Martial Arts Revolution (Paperback ed.). Milo Books. pp. 106, 123. ISBN 978-1-903854-30-3.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Harshcore, Rod (2011-09-29). "UFC Weight Classes & Their Champions: A History". Yell! Magazine. Archived from the original on 2023-04-10. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
^ Meltzer, Dave (April 18, 2009). "UFC 16: Frank's house". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
^ "Mixed Martial Arts Unified Rules of Conduct". New Jersey State Athletic Control Board. 2000. Archived from the original on April 3, 2009. Retrieved September 8, 2007.
^ Trembow, Ivan (July 21, 2006). "New Jersey Commission Corrects Mainstream UFC Stories". MMAWeekly.com. Ivan's Blog. Retrieved September 8, 2007.
^ Whitman, Mike (October 28, 2010). "UFC, WEC to Merge in 2011". Sherdog.com. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
^ Whitman, Matt (December 11, 2011). "UFC Adds Flyweight Class; 4-Man Title Tourney Begins March 3". Sherdog.com. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
^ Whitman, Mike (November 9, 2012). "Report: Strikeforce Champion Ronda Rousey to Join UFC in 2013, Strikeforce to Fold". Sherdog.com. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
^ ^a ^b Doyle, Dave (December 11, 2013). "'TUF 20' will feature all-women's cast; crown first UFC strawweight champion". MMAFighting.com. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
^ Cruz, Guilherme (June 11, 2014). "Strawweights Claudia Gadelha, Tina Lahdemaki meet at UFC Fight Night 45". MMAFighting.com. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
^ "UFC Division Champions & Featured Fighters". Ultimate Fighting Championship. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
^ Rutten, Bas. "Bas Rutten Biography". Archived from the original on May 20, 2007. Retrieved September 12, 2007.
^ Fitzgerald, Tom (November 26, 2006). "UFC fighter flunks drug test". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved September 12, 2007.
^ Fitzgerald, Tom (November 26, 2006). "Fighting outside the box". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved September 12, 2007.
^ Staff (August 13, 2005). "UFC Strips Mir of Heavyweight Belt, Arlovski New Champion". Sherdog.com. Retrieved September 12, 2007.
^ Mahjouri, Shakiel (January 14, 2023). "UFC releases heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou from contract, strips him of title". CBS Sports. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
^ "Jon Jones stripped of title, Daniel Cormier vs. Anthony Johnson for belt headlines UFC 187". mmafighting.com. April 28, 2015. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
^ Staff (2016-11-09). "UFC strips Jon Jones of interim light heavyweight title on heels of one-year suspension". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
^ Marc Raimondi (2017-09-13). "Daniel Cormier reinstated as UFC light heavyweight champion". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 2017-09-13.
^ Ariel Helwani (2018-12-28). "Daniel Cormier to relinquish UFC light heavyweight title". espn.com. Retrieved 2018-12-28.
^ Mike Bohn (2020-08-17). "Jon Jones vacates UFC title: 'It's officially up for grabs'". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
^ "Jon Jones Announces he's vacated the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship". ufc.com. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
^ Kevin Iole (2022-11-23). "UFC 282: Jiri Prochazka injured, vacates light heavyweight championship; Blachowicz-Ankalaev title bout booked". sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
^ Nolan King (2022-11-23). "Jiri Prochazka apologizes for UFC 282 withdrawal, explains vacating light heavyweight title". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
^ Doherty, Dan (2022-12-11). "UFC 282: Magomed Ankalaev and Jan Blachowicz Fight to Puzzling Draw". Cageside Press. Retrieved 2022-12-11.
^ "Jamahal Hill relinquishes UFC light heavyweight title after ruptured Achilles tendon". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. 14 July 2023.
^ Kyte, Spencer (October 19, 2012). "Champion vs. Champion: A UFC History". UFC.com. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
^ Brett Okamoto (December 2, 2017). "Dana White: Georges St-Pierre will be 'out for a minute' with colitis". espn.com. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
^ Brett Okamoto (December 7, 2017). "Georges St-Pierre vacates middleweight title; Robert Whittaker takes spot". espn.com. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
^ "Zuffa Strips Penn of Title". Sherdog.com. May 18, 2004. Retrieved December 9, 2007.
^ "It's official: Georges St-Pierre vacating UFC welterweight title". mmajunkie.com. December 13, 2013. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
^ Steven Marrocco (2018-07-24). "Tyron Woodley vs. Darren Till title fight headlines UFC 228; Colby Covington to be stripped (updated)". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
^ "Benson Henderson vs. Gilbert Melendez, Daniel Cormier vs. Frank Mir set for UFC on FOX 7". MMA Fighting. 2013-01-15. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
^ Meltzer, Dave (December 9, 2007). "Sherk stripped of lightweight title". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved December 10, 2007.
^ "Breaking! Dana White addresses the UFC's complicated lightweight title picture | BJPenn.com". 2018-04-02.
^ "Khabib Nurmagomedov announces his retirement following emotional victory over Justin Gaethje in UFC 254 main event mmafighting.com". 2020-10-24.
^ Brett Okamoto (2021-03-19). "Dana White: Khabib Nurmagomedov officially retired; Michael Chandler-Charles Oliveira for title". espn.com. Retrieved 2021-03-19.
^ "Update On The UFC 274 Main Event | UFC". www.ufc.com. 2022-05-06. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
^ Morgan, John; Stupp, Dann (November 20, 2010). "New UFC Champion Jose Aldo officially awarded title belt". MMAjunkie.com. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
^ "McGregor vacates featherweight title, Aldo now undisputed champion". ufc.com. November 26, 2016. Retrieved November 26, 2016.
^ "Conor McGregor: UFC never contacted me about relinquishing the featherweight title". mmafighting.com. December 18, 2016. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
^ Nelson, Chris (December 14, 2010). "Harris Eager to Crown First UFC Bantamweight Champ". Sherdog.com. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
^ "Dominick Cruz out, vacates bantamweight title; Urijah Faber now meets Renan Barao at UFC 169". mmajunkie.com. January 6, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
^ "T.J. Dillashaw suspended for failed drug test, relinquishes UFC bantamweight title". BloodyElbow.com. March 20, 2019. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
^ "Henry Cejudo explains decision to retire after UFC 249 win: 'I want to leave on top". MMAJunkie. May 10, 2020. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
^ Mrosko, Geno (September 23, 2012). "UFC 152 results: Demetrious Johnson wins flyweight title with split decision victory over Joseph Benavidez". MMAmania.com. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
^ "Deiveson Figueiredo KO's Joseph Benavidez; flyweight title stays vacant". espn.com. March 2020.
^ Gerbasi, Thomas (December 6, 2012). "The UFC Crowns Its First Queen". UFC. Retrieved January 7, 2013.
^ ^a ^b Nolan King (2023-06-10). "UFC 289 results: Amanda Nunes retires after one-sided title defense vs. Irene Aldana". mmajunkie.com.
^ Marc Raimondi (2018-09-07). "Dana White says Nicco Montaño is no longer the UFC women's flyweight champion". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 2018-09-07.
^ Meltzer, Dave (April 8, 2009). "Relive UFC 6: Clash of the Titans". Sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
^ Staff (2016-12-13). "Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie fight for inaugural featherweight title at UFC 208". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
^ Staff (2017-06-19). "'Cyborg' vs. Megan Anderson for title at UFC 214 after Germaine de Randamie stripped". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2017-06-19.
^ "Most wins in UFC title bouts". Fightmatrix.com. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
^ "Most consecutive UFC title defenses". Fightmatrix.com. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
^ "MMA All-time Record Holders". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on May 17, 2012.

External links

Current Title Holders at UFC.com

[58] Woodley successfully defended the UFC Welterweight Championship three times and retained the title once following a draw against Stephen Thompson at UFC 205.

[59] Edgar successfully defended the UFC Lightweight Championship twice and retained the title once following a draw against Gray Maynard at UFC 125.

[60] Barão successfully defended the interim UFC Bantamweight Championship twice before being promoted to undisputed champion and defending his title once more.

[61] Cormier lost to Jon Jones attempting his 3rd consecutive defense. However, Jones' win was later overturned to a no-contest due to a failed pre-fight drug test. Cormier was later reinstated as champion and made his 3rd successful title defense at UFC 220.

[ocr-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "UFC Championship Lineage". The Orange County Register. July 2, 2007. Archived from the original on November 3, 2007. Retrieved September 14, 2007.

[2] Plotz, David (November 7, 1999). "Fight Clubbed". Slate. Retrieved March 21, 2007.

[3] Gentry III, Clyde (2003). No Holds Barred: Ultimate Fighting and the Martial Arts Revolution (Paperback ed.). Milo Books. pp. 106, 123. ISBN 978-1-903854-30-3.

[Champion_vs._Champion-4] Harshcore, Rod (2011-09-29). "UFC Weight Classes & Their Champions: A History". Yell! Magazine. Archived from the original on 2023-04-10. Retrieved December 24, 2012.

[5] Meltzer, Dave (April 18, 2009). "UFC 16: Frank's house". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved January 15, 2013.

[6] "Mixed Martial Arts Unified Rules of Conduct". New Jersey State Athletic Control Board. 2000. Archived from the original on April 3, 2009. Retrieved September 8, 2007.

[7] Trembow, Ivan (July 21, 2006). "New Jersey Commission Corrects Mainstream UFC Stories". MMAWeekly.com. Ivan's Blog. Retrieved September 8, 2007.

[8] Whitman, Mike (October 28, 2010). "UFC, WEC to Merge in 2011". Sherdog.com. Retrieved October 20, 2012.

[9] Whitman, Matt (December 11, 2011). "UFC Adds Flyweight Class; 4-Man Title Tourney Begins March 3". Sherdog.com. Retrieved October 20, 2012.

[10] Whitman, Mike (November 9, 2012). "Report: Strikeforce Champion Ronda Rousey to Join UFC in 2013, Strikeforce to Fold". Sherdog.com. Retrieved December 12, 2012.

[Doyle-11] Doyle, Dave (December 11, 2013). "'TUF 20' will feature all-women's cast; crown first UFC strawweight champion". MMAFighting.com. Retrieved December 15, 2013.

[Cruz-12] Cruz, Guilherme (June 11, 2014). "Strawweights Claudia Gadelha, Tina Lahdemaki meet at UFC Fight Night 45". MMAFighting.com. Retrieved June 11, 2014.

[Fighters-13] "UFC Division Champions & Featured Fighters". Ultimate Fighting Championship. Retrieved 13 February 2022.

[14] Rutten, Bas. "Bas Rutten Biography". Archived from the original on May 20, 2007. Retrieved September 12, 2007.

[15] Fitzgerald, Tom (November 26, 2006). "UFC fighter flunks drug test". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved September 12, 2007.

[16] Fitzgerald, Tom (November 26, 2006). "Fighting outside the box". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved September 12, 2007.

[17] Staff (August 13, 2005). "UFC Strips Mir of Heavyweight Belt, Arlovski New Champion". Sherdog.com. Retrieved September 12, 2007.

[18] Mahjouri, Shakiel (January 14, 2023). "UFC releases heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou from contract, strips him of title". CBS Sports. Retrieved January 14, 2023.

[19] "Jon Jones stripped of title, Daniel Cormier vs. Anthony Johnson for belt headlines UFC 187". mmafighting.com. April 28, 2015. Retrieved April 28, 2015.

[20] Staff (2016-11-09). "UFC strips Jon Jones of interim light heavyweight title on heels of one-year suspension". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2016-11-09.

[21] Marc Raimondi (2017-09-13). "Daniel Cormier reinstated as UFC light heavyweight champion". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 2017-09-13.

[22] Ariel Helwani (2018-12-28). "Daniel Cormier to relinquish UFC light heavyweight title". espn.com. Retrieved 2018-12-28.

[23] Mike Bohn (2020-08-17). "Jon Jones vacates UFC title: 'It's officially up for grabs'". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2020-08-17.

[24] "Jon Jones Announces he's vacated the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship". ufc.com. Retrieved 2020-08-18.

[25] Kevin Iole (2022-11-23). "UFC 282: Jiri Prochazka injured, vacates light heavyweight championship; Blachowicz-Ankalaev title bout booked". sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2022-11-23.

[26] Nolan King (2022-11-23). "Jiri Prochazka apologizes for UFC 282 withdrawal, explains vacating light heavyweight title". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2022-11-23.

[27] Doherty, Dan (2022-12-11). "UFC 282: Magomed Ankalaev and Jan Blachowicz Fight to Puzzling Draw". Cageside Press. Retrieved 2022-12-11.

[28] "Jamahal Hill relinquishes UFC light heavyweight title after ruptured Achilles tendon". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. 14 July 2023.

[29] Kyte, Spencer (October 19, 2012). "Champion vs. Champion: A UFC History". UFC.com. Retrieved December 24, 2012.

[30] Brett Okamoto (December 2, 2017). "Dana White: Georges St-Pierre will be 'out for a minute' with colitis". espn.com. Retrieved December 8, 2017.

[31] Brett Okamoto (December 7, 2017). "Georges St-Pierre vacates middleweight title; Robert Whittaker takes spot". espn.com. Retrieved December 8, 2017.

[32] "Zuffa Strips Penn of Title". Sherdog.com. May 18, 2004. Retrieved December 9, 2007.

[33] "It's official: Georges St-Pierre vacating UFC welterweight title". mmajunkie.com. December 13, 2013. Retrieved December 13, 2013.

[34] Steven Marrocco (2018-07-24). "Tyron Woodley vs. Darren Till title fight headlines UFC 228; Colby Covington to be stripped (updated)". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2018-09-09.

[35] "Benson Henderson vs. Gilbert Melendez, Daniel Cormier vs. Frank Mir set for UFC on FOX 7". MMA Fighting. 2013-01-15. Retrieved 2014-08-12.

[36] Meltzer, Dave (December 9, 2007). "Sherk stripped of lightweight title". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved December 10, 2007.

[37] "Breaking! Dana White addresses the UFC's complicated lightweight title picture | BJPenn.com". 2018-04-02.

[38] "Khabib Nurmagomedov announces his retirement following emotional victory over Justin Gaethje in UFC 254 main event mmafighting.com". 2020-10-24.

[39] Brett Okamoto (2021-03-19). "Dana White: Khabib Nurmagomedov officially retired; Michael Chandler-Charles Oliveira for title". espn.com. Retrieved 2021-03-19.

[weigh-in_statement-40] "Update On The UFC 274 Main Event | UFC". www.ufc.com. 2022-05-06. Retrieved 2022-05-06.

[41] Morgan, John; Stupp, Dann (November 20, 2010). "New UFC Champion Jose Aldo officially awarded title belt". MMAjunkie.com. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2012.

[42] "McGregor vacates featherweight title, Aldo now undisputed champion". ufc.com. November 26, 2016. Retrieved November 26, 2016.

[43] "Conor McGregor: UFC never contacted me about relinquishing the featherweight title". mmafighting.com. December 18, 2016. Retrieved December 18, 2016.

[44] Nelson, Chris (December 14, 2010). "Harris Eager to Crown First UFC Bantamweight Champ". Sherdog.com. Retrieved October 20, 2012.

[45] "Dominick Cruz out, vacates bantamweight title; Urijah Faber now meets Renan Barao at UFC 169". mmajunkie.com. January 6, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2014.

[46] "T.J. Dillashaw suspended for failed drug test, relinquishes UFC bantamweight title". BloodyElbow.com. March 20, 2019. Retrieved March 20, 2019.

[47] "Henry Cejudo explains decision to retire after UFC 249 win: 'I want to leave on top". MMAJunkie. May 10, 2020. Retrieved May 10, 2020.

[48] Mrosko, Geno (September 23, 2012). "UFC 152 results: Demetrious Johnson wins flyweight title with split decision victory over Joseph Benavidez". MMAmania.com. Retrieved December 24, 2012.

[49] "Deiveson Figueiredo KO's Joseph Benavidez; flyweight title stays vacant". espn.com. March 2020.

[50] Gerbasi, Thomas (December 6, 2012). "The UFC Crowns Its First Queen". UFC. Retrieved January 7, 2013.

[nunes-51] Nolan King (2023-06-10). "UFC 289 results: Amanda Nunes retires after one-sided title defense vs. Irene Aldana". mmajunkie.com.

[52] Marc Raimondi (2018-09-07). "Dana White says Nicco Montaño is no longer the UFC women's flyweight champion". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 2018-09-07.

[53] Meltzer, Dave (April 8, 2009). "Relive UFC 6: Clash of the Titans". Sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved January 8, 2013.

[WFW-54] Staff (2016-12-13). "Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie fight for inaugural featherweight title at UFC 208". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2016-12-13.

[55] Staff (2017-06-19). "'Cyborg' vs. Megan Anderson for title at UFC 214 after Germaine de Randamie stripped". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2017-06-19.

[56] "Most wins in UFC title bouts". Fightmatrix.com. Retrieved December 24, 2012.

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v t e Ultimate Fighting Championship
By year	1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
General info	Apex Dana White's Contender Series Endeavor Fight Island Fight Pass Hall of Fame Performance Institute Road to UFC The Ultimate Fighter WWE TKO Group Holdings Zuffa
Executives	Dana White (CEO and president) Marshall Zelaznik (former executive vice president and COO)
Lists	Bonus award recipients Champions Controversies Events Fighters Current Canadian Czech Irish Rankings Records

v t e Mixed martial arts champions
Current champions for active organizations	UFC Bellator MMA ACA AMC MMA-1 ONE KSW PFL Rizin BRAVE Cage Warriors LFA Pancrase Shooto KOTC Deep FFC Invicta FC UAE Warriors
Legacy champions for defunct organizations	Pride FC Strikeforce IFL EliteXC Cage Rage Dream Hero's WEC SRC SFL
Miscellaneous	UFC Men's Pound for Pound rankings UFC Women's Pound for Pound rankings MMA records List of undefeated mixed martial artists List of mixed martial artists with the most sanctioned fights