Who Are The Current UFC Champions?

Date won: August 17, 2019

Defenses: 1

Miocic has beaten most of the biggest names in MMA to become the two time champion of the promotion. He currently holds the record for the most title defenses in his division having defended it three times since beating Fabricio Werdum. Miocic lost the title to Daniel Cormier at UFC 226 in 2018 and was able to avenge the loss and get the title back at UFC 241 last year. In his free time, Miocic is also a part-time firefighter/paramedic.

Date won: September 27, 2020

Defenses: 0

The Light Heavyweight title had been vacant since Jon Jones' contentious salary negotiations with the UFC saw him vacate the title on August 17th. Dominick Reyes and former KSW Light Heavyweight Champion Jan Błachowicz battled for the title in late September, with the Polish fighter ultimately coming out on top. Blachowicz joined the UFC in 2014 after a renowned 7-year career in the European KSW. 

Date won: Oct. 6, 2019

Defenses: 2

The “style bender” has only suffered one loss in MMA and in his short time in the sport, he was able to become the middleweight champion. His striking seems almost immediately adaptable to almost any opponent he has faced including the likes of Anderson Silva. He made his promotional debut with the UFC in 2018 and by 2019 he was the interim champ, and finally the undisputed champ when he beat Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 last fall.

Date won: March 2, 2019

Defenses: 2

“The Nigerian Nightmare” has lived up to his name in the UFC’s welterweight division proving to be a difficult puzzle for many fighters competing at 170 pounds. The 32-year-old has either knocked out his opponents or ground out a victory and won by decision. His only loss was early in his MMA career in 2013 in his second pro-fight. Since he has proven to be one of the most well-rounded welterweights since the days of Georges St-Pierre.

Date won: April 7, 2018

Defenses: 3

“The Eagle” of Dagestan has been dominant since his entry into MMA back in 2008. To call Nurmagomedov intimidating would be an understatement as the current lightweight champion has a video floating around from his childhood where he’s wrestling a bear as part of his early training. Knock out, submission, or decision for Nurmagomedov, his victories are all dominant and seemingly more violent than other fighters.

Most recently, Nurmagomedov successfully defended his title against Justin Gaethje. He took the fight into the second round where he forced Gaethje to submit and earning him the victory.

In a surprise move, Nurmagomedov announced his retirement from MMA following his victory over Gaethje. Attributing his decision to a promise he made to his mother following the death of his father, Khabib said: "No way I’m going to come here without my father. It was first time after what happened with my father, when UFC called me about Justin, I talk with my mother three days. She doesn’t want me to go fight without my father but I promised her it was going to be my last fight. If I give my word, I have to follow this. It was my last fight here.”

Date won: Dec. 14, 2019

Defenses: 1

The rugby player turned mixed martial artist recently picked up UFC gold with a recent victory over Max Holloway at UFC 245. The two fought to a decision last year that had the judges award Volkanovski the win and the title but he feels he and Holloway need to go again to solidify his position as the new featherweight champion.

Date won: March 6th, 2021

Defenses: 0

During UFC 259 Aljamain Sterling captured bantamweight in bizarre fashion. In the fourth round against Petr Yan, Sterling was hit by a textbook example of an illegal knee strike. Sterling was clearly injured and the referee declared it was a disqualification against Yan. Prior to the knee, Yan was winning on two of the three scorecards. All signs point towards these two fighting again in the near future.

Date won: July 18, 2020

Defenses: 1

According to ESPN, "Figueiredo knocked down Joseph Benavidez three times and then choked him out at 4:48 of the first round in the main event of UFC Fight Night on July 18, 2020 in Abu Dhabi. With the win, Figueiredo claimed the vacant UFC flyweight championship." 

Figueiredo defended his belt successfully against Alex Perez at UFC 255. Then, just a few weeks later, he retained his belt via majority draw against Brandon Moreno at UFC 256. The fight is considered to be one of the best of the year. 

Date won featherweight: Dec. 29, 2018

Date won bantamweight: July 9, 2016

Defenses (featherweight): 2

Defenses (bantamweight): 5

The lioness seems to be content at being the dominant champion of both the  145-pound and 135-pound divisions (featherweight and bantamweight). She won the bantamweight title in 2016 with a win over Miesha Tate and has successfully defended that title five times, and won the featherweight title in 2018 when she knocked out Cris Cyborg in the first round.

Date won: Dec. 8, 2018

Defenses: 4

Shevchenko has been fighting professionally since 2003 and coming from the world of kickboxing has made her a force to be reckoned with. She won the vacant flyweight title in 2018 at UFC 231 and has successfully defended it four times with the most recent defense at UFC 255.

Date won: Aug. 31, 2019

Defenses: 1

Zhang made her MMA debut back in 2013, she lost that fight by decision. Since then, she has fought and won her way to win the UFC title back in 2019 and made her first title defense last March at UFC 248 in what many fans are already calling a fight of the year contender. She went against former Strawweight champion, Joanna Jędrzejczyk where they fought to a split decision with Zhang retaining the title.