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Current and all-time UFC champions

Merab Dvalishvili and Valentina Shevchenko both became champions at UFC 306. Mike Kirschbaum/Zuffa LLC

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