The UFC began in 1993 with fighters of all sizes competing against each other. Four years later, UFC 12 introduced weight classes: heavyweight, for fighters 200 pounds and above, and lightweight, for those 199 pounds and under. That night in Dothan, Alabama, Mark Coleman needed less than three minutes to defeat Dan Severn by a neck crank to become the promotion's first heavyweight champion -- its first champion, period.
Today, there 12 weight divisions in the UFC -- eight for men, four for women. Below are the current UFC champions in each weight division.
Click here for the current champions in all of the major fight promotions: Bellator MMA, One Championship, PFL, Rizin and Invicta FC, in addition to the UFC.
All-time UFC champions by division:
Heavyweight | Light heavyweight
Middleweight | Welterweight
Lightweight | Men's featherweight
Men's bantamweight | Men's flyweight
Women's bantamweight
Women's flyweight
Strawweight
Heavyweight (Up to 265 pounds)
Jon Jones
• Won title: March 4, 2023
• Outcome: Sub1 over Ciryl Gane (UFC 285)
• Defenses: 1
• Interim champion: Tom Aspinall (UFC 295)
Light heavyweight (205)
Alex Pereira
• Won title: Nov. 11, 2023
• Outcome: TKO2 over Jirí Procházka (UFC 295)
• Defenses: 3
Middleweight (185)
Dricus Du Plessis
• Won title: Jan. 20, 2024
• Outcome: SD over Sean Strickland (UFC 297)
• Defenses: 1
Welterweight (170)
Belal Muhammad
• Won title: July 27, 2024
• Outcome: UD over Leon Edwards (UFC 304)
• Defenses: 0
Lightweight (155)
Islam Makhachev
• Won title: Oct. 22, 2022
• Outcome: Sub2 over Charles Oliveira (UFC 280)
• Defenses: 3
Men's featherweight (145)
Ilia Topuria
• Won title: Feb. 17, 2024
• Outcome: KO2 over Alexander Volkanovski (UFC 298)
• Defenses: 1
Men's bantamweight (135)
Merab Dvalishvili
• Won title: Sept. 14, 2024
• Outcome: UD over Sean O'Malley (UFC 306)
• Defenses: 0
Men's flyweight (125)
Alexandre Pantoja
• Won title: July 8, 2023
• Outcome: SD over Brandon Moreno (UFC 290)
• Defenses: 2
Women's bantamweight (135)
Julianna Peña
• Won title: Oct. 5, 2024
• Outcome: UD over Raquel Pennington (UFC 307)
• Defenses: 0
Women's flyweight (125)
Valentina Shevchenko
• Won title: Sept. 14, 2024
• Outcome: UD over Alexa Grasso (UFC 306)
• Defenses: 0
Strawweight (115)
Zhang Weili
• Won title: Nov. 12, 2022
• Outcome: Sub2 over Carla Esparza (UFC 281)
• Defenses: 2