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 becomes 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 featherweight
Women's bantamweight
Women's flyweight
Strawweight
Heavyweight (Up to 265 pounds)
Francis Ngannou
• Won title: March 27, 2021
• Outcome: KO2 over Stipe Miocic (UFC 260)
• Defenses: 0
Light heavyweight (205)
Jan Blachowicz
• Won title: Sept. 26, 2020
• Outcome: TKO2 over Dominick Reyes (UFC 253)
• Defenses: 1
Middleweight (185)
Israel Adesanya
• Won title: Oct. 6, 2019
• Outcome: TKO2 over Robert Whittaker (UFC 243)
• Defenses: 3
Welterweight (170)
Kamaru Usman
• Won title: March 2, 2019
• Outcome: UD over Tyron Woodley (UFC 235)
• Defenses: 4
Lightweight (155)
Charles Oliveira
• Won title: March 15, 2021
• Outcome: TKO2 over Michael Chandler (UFC 262)
• Defenses: 0
Men's featherweight (145)
Alexander Volkanovski
• Won title: Dec. 14, 2019
• Outcome: UD over Max Holloway (UFC 245)
• Defenses: 1
Men's bantamweight (135)
Aljamain Sterling
• Won title: March 6, 2021
• Outcome: DQ4 over Petr Yan (UFC 259)
• Defenses: 0
Men's flyweight (125)
Brandon Moreno
• Won title: June 12, 2021
• Outcome: SUB3 over Deiveson Figueiredo (UFC 263)
• Defenses: 0
Women's featherweight (145)
Amanda Nunes
• Won title: Dec. 29, 2018
• Outcome: TKO1 over Cris Cyborg (UFC 232)
• Defenses: 2
Women's bantamweight (135)
Amanda Nunes
• Won title: July 9, 2016
• Outcome: SUB1 over Miesha Tate (UFC 200)
• Defenses: 5
Women's flyweight (125)
Valentina Shevchenko
• Won title: Dec. 8, 2018
• Outcome: UD over Joanna Jedrzejczyk (UFC 231)
• Defenses: 5
Strawweight (115)
Rose Namajunas
• Won title: April 24, 2021
• Outcome: TKO1 over Zhang Weili (UFC 261)
• Defenses: 0