Who Are The Current UFC Champions?

• Date won: March 4th 2023
• Title defenses: 0

Following a scarily close fight with Dominick Reyes at UFC 247, Jones eventually vacated the Light Heavyweight title, expressing his desire for big money for a move up to Heavyweight that he had been teasing since 2012. For years, the move was somewhat in limbo, with Jones claiming he was bulking up the entire time.

Finally, Jones fought at Heavyweight at UFC 285 against Cyril Gane, who he took to the ground and tapped in astonishingly rapid fashion, cementing his status as the greatest fighter of all time for many. As it stands, Jones will likely fight former Heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic in July.

• Date won: January 21st 2023
• Title defenses: 0

Jamahal Hill was on a respectable three-fight win streak when he got his Light Heavyweight title opportunity, but it was still an opportunity that came along mainly because of the injury that Jiří Procházka suffered, forcing him to vacate the title and allowing Jamahal Hill to slide in.

He grabbed the chance with both hands, kicking off the new year by winning a decision over former champion Glover Teixera, who retired after the bout. Unfortunately, he has since relinquished the belt due to his own injury.

• Date won: April 8th 2023
• Title defenses: 0 (5 on previous run)

When Israel Adesanya first stepped into the octagon at UFC 221, he mimicked a dog urinating, symbolising that he was marking his territory. That he did. It took him just over a year to pick up 6 wins and have gold wrapped around his waist in the 2019 Fight of the Year against Kelvin Gastelum.

From then on, Adesanya put away the likes of Robert Whittaker, Paulo Costa and Jared Cannonier in performances where he was so dominant that he finished his opponent, or so dominant that he was seemingly doing enough to stay ahead and cruise to a decision.

The loss of his title came when he fought former foe Alex Pereira last November, where he was finished with a flurry of punches against the cage. It was a loss that saw him move to 0-3 against the Brazilian. Their immediate rematch would be a crossroads fight for Israel.

When it came in Miam, Florida, it took Adesanya just under 10 minutes to detach Pereira from consciousness, silencing all doubters and regaining his belt once again.

• Date won: August 20th 2022
• Title defenses: 1

Kamaru Usman had the kind of dominant run as UFC Welterweight Champion that had people starting to mention GOAT status. He had multiple title defenses with most of them ending via knockout. Before UFC 278, it looked as though no one in the world could beat Usman… That was until he fought Leon Edwards for the second time.

Edwards was struggling throughout the fight and if the fight had gone 56 seconds longer, he would’ve lost another decision. In the fifth round he faked a jab to force Usman’s head to his right side and met it with a jaw-dropping kick, resulting in a vicious KO. The pair met for their trilogy fight in London in March where despite losing a point for repeated fouls, Leon proved he was the better man across 25 minutes.

• Date won: October 22nd 2022

• Title defenses: 1

To those that paid close attention, it felt inevitable that Islam Makhachev would be crowned a world champion one day when he was rising up the ranks. Trained by UFC Lightweight GOAT Khabib Nurmagomedov, Makhachev’s wrestling is so exceptional that presents a real danger for any fighter around the same size.

He won the title against Charles Oliveria at UFC 280 in a dominant performance which made it look like a mismatch, with Makhachev getting the victory in the second round after an arm triangle. His one defense to date was against then-P4P #1 Alexander Volkanovski.

• Date won: December 14th 2019

• Title defenses: 5

The rugby player turned mixed martial artist picked up UFC gold with a victory over Max Holloway at UFC 245. The two fought to another decision in the rematch, albeit a closer one which many felt warranted a trilogy fight. Before that, Volk fought The Korean Zombie at UFC 273 and won via TKO in a fight where he looked superhuman. In his most recent Featherweight battle, Volkanovski took on Holloway for a 3rd time. While the first two fights were remarkably competitive, the third was not. Volkanovski made his mark, and closed the final chapter to the rivalry.

At UFC 284 in February, Alex went up to Lightweight to challenge Islam Makhachev for the title and though he came closer than many anticipated, the judges awarded the decision to Islam. We might soon see a rematch for it, as Alex has since taken out another Featherweight contender in Yair Rodriguez.

• Date won: August 20^th 2023
• Title defenses: 0

Sean O’Malley has been a star in the sport from his appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series which was famously commentated by Urijah Faber and Snoop Dogg, but it was only recently at UFC 292 where he got the chance to fight for the title.

When he and Aljo met in the cage, fans were pretty split on what way the bout would go, with a slight majority picking the champ, favoring his experience over the greener contender. In the second round though, O’Malley stepped Aljo back onto a wonderfully quick overhand, putting him down and ending the fight just seconds later to become the 135lb champion. He went on to immediately call out former foe Chito Vera on the microphone.

• Date won: July 8th 2023
• Title defenses: 0

Alexandre Pantoja had two wins over Brandon Moreno before they met at UFC 290 this past International Fight Week. For the fans and oddsmakers though, Moreno’s growth and experience since that pair of bouts was enough for him to be the favorite coming into their trilogy fight.

In a gruelling fight of the year contender, Pantoja proved once again that he was the better fighter by coming out on the good side of a split decision to win the 125lb championship for the first time.

• Date won: December 19th 2018
• Title defenses: 2

Before she retired, The Lioness was considered by many to be one of the best fighters in the world. When she was on a win streak that included first round finishes over Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey and a pair of decision wins over Valentina Shevchenko at Bantamweight, she got an opportunity to face 145lb champion Cris Cyborg in Inglewood, California. She silenced any critics, putting away Cyborg in under a minute in one of the best wins in the sport. Since then, the lack of real contenders at Featherweight has meant that she has picked up just two defenses of this belt, one against Felicia Spencer and the other against Megan Anderson.

• Date won: July 30th 2022
• Title defenses: 0 (5 on previous run)

After winning the Bantamweight strap at UFC 200, Amanda Nunes had an unprecedented title run at 135lbs. In the coming years, she knocked out Holly Holm and Ronda Rousey, the only other women to hold the title, in the first round. She was cruising through title defenses and even went up to Featherweight to win her aforementioned title there. When she met Julianna Peña at UFC 269, many expected a dismal fate for the Venezuelan, but it ended up being one of the bigger upsets in the history of the sport.

Nunes was far from done, though. The two would meet again in July of 2022 and Nunes would have her revenge. The Lioness put on a clinic in the decision victory, showing off her striking from both stances and used her superior strength to secure important takedowns late in the fight. She is now retired and the belt is vacant.

• Date won: March 4th 2023
• Title defenses: 0

Coming into UFC 285, very few people gave Alexa Grasso a chance against Valentina Shevchenko, who was basically the entire division’s history at that point, racking up a title win and seven defenses in three years, losing very few rounds in the process. Still though, MMA is one of the most unpredictable sports in the world and all it took was for the Bullet to attempt a spinning attack and Grasso jumped on the back, putting in a choke and tapping Valentina in the fourth round.

• Date won: November 12th 2022
• Title defenses: 1 (1 on previous run)

Finishing up our list of current UFC Champions is Zhang Weili, who originally won the Strawweight title in the summer of 2019, when she took the belt from Jéssica Andrade in 42 seconds in her home country. She defended the title once in one of the greatest fights in UFC history with Joanna Jędrzejczyk, before falling to Rose Namajunas’s beautiful headkick at UFC 261.

UFC 281 would prove to be Weili's shining comeback moment, as she defeated Carla Esparza for the title. She dominated the fight and took the victory after a rear-naked choke submission in the second round. In his first defense on her second run, Weili dominated Amanda Lemos at UFC 292.