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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
Men
| Division | Champion | Since | Defenses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heavyweight |  Jon Jones
|
Mar 4, 2023 | 0 |
 Tom Aspinall (interim)
|
Nov 11, 2023 | 0 | |
| Light Heavyweight |  Alex Pereira
|
Nov 11, 2023 | 1 |
| Middleweight |  Dricus du Plessis
|
Jan 20, 2024 | 0 |
| Welterweight | Leon Edwards
|
Aug 20, 2022 | 2 |
| Lightweight |  Islam Makhachev
|
Oct 22, 2022 | 2 |
| Featherweight |  Ilia Topuria
|
Feb 17, 2024 | 0 |
| Bantamweight | Sean O'Malley
|
Aug 19, 2023 | 1 |
| Flyweight | Alexandre Pantoja
|
Jul 8, 2023 | 2 |
Women
| Division | Champion | Since | Defenses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bantamweight | Raquel Pennington
|
Jan 20, 2024 | 0 |
| Flyweight |  Alexa Grasso
|
Mar 4, 2023 | 1 |
| 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 |
| 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 | |
| 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 Arlovskidef. 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 |
| 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 |
| — | 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 | |
| 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 |
| — | 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 |
| 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 | Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=List_of_UFC_Champions|||||