List of UFC champions


champions are fighters who have won UFC championships. 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. 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.
The original codification for weight classes introduced only two divisions: heavyweight, which grouped together all competitors above, and lightweight, which encompassed all competitors 199 pounds and under. At UFC 14 the lightweight division would be renamed to middleweight, though it would still encompass all fighters 199 pounds and under. The lightweight moniker would later return at UFC 16 with a new division consisting of those competitors and under. Two years later a fourth weight class, the bantamweight division, arrived at UFC 26 and included all fighters and under.
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. The UFC realigned their weight classes to comply with these new regulations in 2001, beginning with UFC 31. 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. 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. 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.
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. 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, the first bout took place at.
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 to be named the inaugural champion.

Current champions

Men

Women

Men's championship history

Heavyweight Championship

206 to 265 lb
The UFC [|Superfight Championship] was unified with the UFC [|Tournament Championship] to determine the inaugural UFC Heavyweight Champion on February 7, 1997, when Mark Coleman defeated Dan Severn at UFC 12.

Light Heavyweight Championship

186 to 205 lb
The Light Heavyweight Championship was known as the Middleweight Championship prior to UFC 31.
The Pride World Middleweight Championship was unified with the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship on September 8, 2007, when Quinton Jackson defeated Dan Henderson at UFC 75.

Middleweight Championship

171 to 185 lb
The Pride World Welterweight Championship was unified with the UFC Middleweight Championship on March 1, 2008, when Anderson Silva defeated Dan Henderson at UFC 82.

Welterweight Championship

156 to 170 lb
The Welterweight Championship was known as the Lightweight Championship prior to UFC 31.

Lightweight Championship

146 to 155 lb
The Lightweight Championship was known as the Bantamweight Championship prior to UFC 31.
The Strikeforce Lightweight Championship was unified with the UFC Lightweight Championship on April 20, 2013, when Benson Henderson defeated Gilbert Melendez at.

Featherweight Championship

136 to 145 lb
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.

Bantamweight Championship

126 to 135 lb
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.

Flyweight Championship

116 to 125 lb
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.

Women's championship history

Women's Featherweight Championship

136 to 145 lb
The inaugural title was contested on February 11, 2017, in Brooklyn, NY, US at UFC 208.

Women's Bantamweight Championship

126 to 135 lb
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 pre-event press conference.
No.NameEventDateReignDefenses
1 Ronda Rousey
promoted to undisputed champion
Seattle, WA, US		Dec 6, 20121,074 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 HolmUFC 193
Melbourne, Australia		Nov 15, 2015111 days
3 Miesha TateUFC 196
Las Vegas, NV, US		Mar 5, 2016126 days
4 Amanda NunesUFC 200
Las Vegas, NV, US		Jul 9, 2016 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

Women's Flyweight Championship

116 to 125 lb
The inaugural title was contested on December 1, 2017, in Las Vegas, NV, US at. The inaugural title fight was between two fighters who appeared on the.

Women's Strawweight Championship

106 to 115 lb
Previously the Invicta FC Strawweight Champion, Carla Esparza defeated Rose Namajunas for the inaugural title on December 12, 2014, in the tournament finale of.
No.NameEventDateReignDefenses
1 Carla Esparza
def. Rose Namajunas
Las Vegas, NV, US		Dec 12, 201492 days
2UFC 185
Dallas, TX, US		Mar 14, 2015966 days
3UFC 217
New York City, NY, US		Nov 4, 2017554 days
4UFC 237
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil		May 11, 2019112 days
5
Shenzhen, China		Aug 31, 2019 days

Superfight Championship (defunct)

An 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.

Tournament winners

''The Ultimate Fighter''

The Ultimate Fighter 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.
SeasonFinaleDivisionWinnerRunner-up
TUF 1: Team Couture vs. Team LiddellApr 9, 2005Light Heavyweight Forrest Griffin Stephan Bonnar
TUF 1: Team Couture vs. Team LiddellApr 9, 2005Middleweight Diego Sanchez Kenny Florian
TUF 2: Team Hughes vs. Team FranklinNov 5, 2005Heavyweight Rashad Evans Brad Imes
TUF 2: Team Hughes vs. Team FranklinNov 5, 2005Welterweight Joe Stevenson Luke Cummo
TUF 3: Team Ortiz vs. Team ShamrockJun 24, 2006Middleweight Kendall Grove Ed Herman
TUF 3: Team Ortiz vs. Team ShamrockJun 24, 2006Light Heavyweight Michael Bisping Josh Haynes
TUF 4: The ComebackNov 11, 2006Middleweight Travis Lutter Patrick Côté
TUF 4: The ComebackNov 11, 2006Welterweight Matt Serra Chris Lytle
TUF 5: Team Pulver vs. Team PennJun 23, 2007Lightweight Nate Diaz Manvel Gamburyan
TUF 6: Team Hughes vs. Team SerraWelterweight Mac Danzig Tommy Speer
TUF 7: Team Rampage vs. Team ForrestMiddleweight Amir Sadollah C.B. Dollaway
TUF 8: Team Nogueira vs. Team MirLight Heavyweight Ryan Bader Vinicius Magalhães
TUF 8: Team Nogueira vs. Team MirLightweight Efrain Escudero Phillipe Nover
TUF 9: United States vs. United KingdomLightweight Ross Pearson Andre Winner
TUF 9: United States vs. United KingdomWelterweight James Wilks DaMarques Johnson
TUF 10: HeavyweightsHeavyweight Roy Nelson Brendan Schaub
TUF 11: Team Liddell vs. Team OrtizMiddleweight Court McGee Kris McCray
TUF 12: Team GSP vs. Team KoscheckLightweight Jonathan Brookins Michael Johnson
TUF 13: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos SantosJun 4, 2011Welterweight Tony Ferguson Ramsey Nijem
TUF 14: Team Bisping vs. Team MillerBantamweight John Dodson T.J. Dillashaw
TUF 14: Team Bisping vs. Team MillerFeatherweight Diego Brandao Dennis Bermudez
TUF 15: LiveLightweight Michael Chiesa Al Iaquinta
Jun 23, 2012Featherweight Rony Mariano Bezerra Godofredo Pepey
Jun 23, 2012Middleweight Cezar Ferreira Sergio Moraes
TUF 16: Team Carwin vs. Team NelsonDec 15, 2012Welterweight Colton Smith Mike Ricci
Lightweight Norman Parke Colin Fletcher
Welterweight Robert Whittaker Brad Scott
TUF 17: Team Jones vs. Team SonnenMiddleweight Kelvin Gastelum Uriah Hall
Welterweight Leonardo Santos William Macario
Nov 30, 2013Bantamweight Chris Holdsworth Davey Grant
Nov 30, 2013Women's Bantamweight Julianna Peña Jessica Rakoczy
Featherweight Ning Guangyou Yang Jianping
Welterweight Zhang Lipeng Wang Sai
Welterweight Chad Laprise Olivier Aubin-Mercier
Middleweight Elias Theodorou Sheldon Westcott
May 31, 2014Middleweight Warlley Alves Márcio Alexandre Júnior
May 31, 2014Heavyweight Antônio Carlos Júnior Vitor Miranda
Jul 6, 2014Middleweight Eddie Gordon Dhiego Lima
Jul 6, 2014Light Heavyweight Corey Anderson Matt Van Buren
Nov 15, 2014Bantamweight Alejandro Pérez José Alberto Quiñónez
Nov 15, 2014Featherweight Yair Rodríguez Leonardo Morales
Women's Strawweight Carla Esparza Rose Namajunas
Welterweight Kamaru Usman Hayder Hassan
Aug 1, 2015Bantamweight Reginaldo Vieira Dileno Lopes
Aug 1, 2015Lightweight Glaico França Fernando Bruno
Lightweight Enrique Barzola Horacio Gutiérrez
Welterweight Erick Montaño Enrique Marín
Lightweight Ryan Hall Artem Lobov
Women's Strawweight Tatiana Suarez Amanda Cooper
Light Heavyweight Andrew Sanchez Khalil Rountree
Lightweight Martín Bravo Claudio Puelles
Flyweight Tim Elliott Hiromasa Ogikubo
Welterweight Jesse Taylor Dhiego Lima
Women's Flyweight Nicco Montaño Roxanne Modafferi
Featherweight Brad Katona Jay Cucciniello
Lightweight Mike Trizano Joe Giannetti
Heavyweight Juan Francisco Espino Justin Frazier
Women's Featherweight Macy Chiasson Pannie Kianzad

Champions by nationality

Division champions are the primary separation criteria due to being non-closed competition. It includes title holders and interim title holders. Interim champions who become undisputed champions are listed only once. People with multiple title reigns will have each of them counted. Tournament wins 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.
CountryDivision
champions		Tournament
champions		TUF
winners		Total
United States691631116
Brazil165829
Canada4-37
Russia21-3
Australia2-13
Nigeria2-13
Ireland2--2
Netherlands2--2
England1-45
China1-23
Belarus1--1
Kyrgyzstan1--1
Poland1--1
Mexico--55
Japan-2-2
Jamaica--11
Northern Ireland--11
Peru--11
Spain--11

Most wins in title bouts

Fighters with four or more championship and/or interim championship title wins. 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 winsChampionDivisionWLDNC
14 Jon JonesLight Heavyweight1401
13 Georges St-PierreMiddleweight
Welterweight		1
12		0
2
12 Demetrious JohnsonBantamweight
Flyweight		0
12		1
1
11 Anderson SilvaMiddleweight112
9 Randy CoutureHeavyweight
Light Heavyweight		6
3		3
3
9 Matt HughesWelterweight93
8 José AldoFeatherweight
Bantamweight		8
0		3
1
8 Amanda NunesWomen's Featherweight
Women's Bantamweight		2
6		0
0
6 Joanna JędrzejczykWomen's Flyweight
Women's Strawweight		0
6		1
3
6 Tito OrtizLight Heavyweight63
6 Daniel CormierHeavyweight
Light Heavyweight		2
4		1
1		0
1
6 Ronda RouseyWomen's Bantamweight62
5 B.J. PennWelterweight
Lightweight		1
4		2
3		0
1
5 Tim SylviaHeavyweight54
5 Max HollowayLightweight
Featherweight		0
5		1
2
5 Chuck LiddellLight Heavyweight52
5 T.J. DillashawBantamweight
Flyweight		5
0		1
1
5 Pat MiletichWelterweight51
5 Dominick CruzBantamweight52
5 Stipe MiocicHeavyweight51
5 Frank ShamrockLight Heavyweight50
4 Cain VelasquezHeavyweight42
4 Renan BarãoBantamweight42
4 Tyron WoodleyWelterweight411
4 Benson HendersonLightweight41
4 Chris WeidmanMiddleweight41
4 Valentina ShevchenkoWomen's Bantamweight
Women's Flyweight		0
4		1
0
4 Henry CejudoBantamweight
Flyweight		2
2		0
1

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.
DefensesChampionDivisionPeriod
11 Demetrious JohnsonFlyweightSep 22, 2012 – Aug 4, 2018
10 Anderson SilvaMiddleweightOct 14, 2006 – Jul 6, 2013
9 Georges St-PierreWelterweightApr 19, 2008 – Dec 13, 2013
8 Jon JonesLight HeavyweightMar 19, 2011 – Apr 28, 2015
7 José AldoFeatherweightNov 20, 2010 – Dec 12, 2015
6 Ronda RouseyWomen's BantamweightDec 6, 2012 – Nov 15, 2015
5 Tito OrtizLight HeavyweightApr 14, 2000 – Sep 26, 2003
5 Matt HughesWelterweightNov 2, 2001 – Jan 31, 2004
5 Joanna JędrzejczykWomen's StrawweightMar 14, 2015 – Nov 4, 2017
5 Amanda NunesWomen's BantamweightJul 9, 2016 – present
4 Frank ShamrockLight HeavyweightDec 21, 1997 – Nov 24, 1999
4 Pat MiletichWelterweightOct 16, 1998 – May 4, 2001
4 Chuck LiddellLight HeavyweightApr 16, 2005 – May 26, 2007
4 Tyron WoodleyWelterweightJul 30, 2016 – Mar 2, 2019
3 B.J. PennLightweightJan 19, 2008 – Apr 10, 2010
3 Frankie EdgarLightweightApr 10, 2010 – Feb 26, 2012
3 Benson HendersonLightweightFeb 26, 2012 – Aug 31, 2013
3 Renan BarãoBantamweightJul 21, 2012 – May 24, 2014
3 Chris WeidmanMiddleweightJul 6, 2013 – Dec 12, 2015
3 Daniel CormierLight HeavyweightMay 23, 2015 – Dec 28, 2018
3 Stipe MiocicHeavyweightMay 14, 2016 – Jul 7, 2018
3 Max HollowayFeatherweightJun 3, 2017 – Dec 14, 2019
3 Valentina ShevchenkoWomen's FlyweightDec 8, 2018 – present
3 Jon JonesLight HeavyweightDec 29, 2018 – present

Longest reigning champions

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

Longest individual reigns

Longest combined reigns

Multi-division champions

Fighters who have won championships in multiple weight classes. 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
*Simultaneous two
division champion

ChampionDivisionWonLostDefensesReignTotal reign
Randy CoutureHeavyweightDec 21, 1997 Jan ?, 1998 0? days1,478+ days
Randy CoutureHeavyweightNov 17, 2000 Mar 22, 2002 2490 days1,478+ days
Randy CoutureLight HeavyweightSep 26, 2003 Jan 31, 2004 0127 days1,478+ days
Randy CoutureLight HeavyweightAug 21, 2004 Apr 16, 2005 0238 days1,478+ days
Randy CoutureHeavyweightMar 3, 2007 Nov 15, 2008 1623 days1,478+ days
B.J. PennWelterweightJan 31, 2004 May 17, 2004 0107 days919 days
B.J. PennLightweightJan 19, 2008 Apr 10, 2010 3812 days919 days
Conor McGregor*FeatherweightJul 11, 2015 Dec 12, 2015 0154 days965 days
Conor McGregor*FeatherweightDec 12, 2015 Nov 26, 2016 0350 days965 days
Conor McGregor*LightweightNov 12, 2016 Apr 7, 2018 0511 days965 days
Georges St-PierreWelterweightNov 18, 2006 Apr 7, 2007 0140 days2,356 days
Georges St-PierreWelterweightDec 29, 2007 Apr 19, 2008 0119 days2,356 days
Georges St-PierreWelterweightApr 19, 2008 Dec 13, 2013 92,064 days2,356 days
Georges St-PierreMiddleweightNov 4, 2017 Dec 7, 2017 033 days2,356 days
Daniel Cormier*Light HeavyweightMay 23, 2015 Dec 28, 2018 31,315 days1,722 days
Daniel Cormier*HeavyweightJul 7, 2018 Aug 17, 2019 1407 days1,722 days
Amanda Nunes*Women's BantamweightJul 9, 2016 Incumbent5' days
Amanda Nunes*Women's FeatherweightDec 29, 2018 Incumbent1' days
Henry Cejudo*FlyweightAug 4, 2018 Dec 19, 2019 1502 days839 days
Henry Cejudo*BantamweightJun 8, 2019 May 9, 2020 1337 days839 days

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 to win, or the fight was changed to a non-title fight.
EventDateWeight classResult
UFC 56November 19, 2005WelterweightChampion Matt Hughes def. Joe Riggs
UFC 67February 3, 2007MiddleweightChampion Anderson Silva def. Travis Lutter
UFC 206December 10, 2016FeatherweightVacant - Max Holloway def. Anthony Pettis
UFC 221February 11, 2018MiddleweightVacant - Yoel Romero def. Luke Rockhold
UFC 225June 9, 2018MiddleweightChampion Robert Whittaker def. Yoel Romero
February 29, 2020FlyweightVacant - Deiveson Figueiredo def. Joseph Benavidez