MMA / UFC | Full History
The UFC has no single yearly world champion — every weight division crowns its own title, changing hands fight by fight.
The "titles" figure above is each fighter's number of CONSECUTIVE title defenses in one division (the UFC's standard record metric), not total career defenses or combined promotions — e.g. Jose Aldo's 7 covers UFC-only defenses (he had 2 more in WEC before it merged into the UFC), and Jon Jones separately holds the record for most total defenses (13) across two divisions, which is not the same record as consecutive defenses in one reign. Entries above are a small, deliberately non-exhaustive set of the sport's most historically significant title fights (first-ever divisional champions, longest reigns, and first "champ-champ" title-holders) — the UFC has no single yearly sport champion, so this is not a season-by-season list, and dozens of other title changes, divisions (e.g. bantamweight, welterweight, women's strawweight) and shorter reigns are not covered here.
Top 10 Players — Most Titles
Notable Winners | Newest First
7 entries on record
Submission (guillotine choke), Round 1
Moved up from Light Heavyweight to win the Heavyweight title in his first fight back after a 3-year absence, adding a second-division title to a career total of 13 title defenses — the most of any UFC champion.
Submission (triangle choke)
Retired immediately after the win as reigning Lightweight Champion with a perfect 29-0 professional record — undefeated across his entire career.
KO (punches)
Added the Featherweight title to her Bantamweight belt, becoming the first female two-division ("champ-champ") titleholder.
TKO (punches)
Added the Lightweight title to his existing Featherweight belt, becoming the UFC's first simultaneous two-division ("champ-champ") titleholder.
Split decision
Became the first-ever UFC Flyweight Champion; went on to set the all-time record of 11 consecutive title defenses (2013-2018).
TKO (knee strikes)
Start of Silva's UFC Middleweight title reign — the longest of any champion in UFC history at 2,457 days, with 10 successful defenses (2006-2013).
Submission (crucifix, punches)
UFC 12 formally introduced weight classes; Coleman became the first-ever UFC Heavyweight Champion.