List of UFC Lineal Champions

This article tracks the lineage of the original UFC championships. These are not official or recognized championships within the UFC but follow the original titles as they would have been contested in various promotions at the same weight class.

Origin

The era of modern mixed martial arts began in Japan in 1989 with the inception of professional Shooto. [1] In the U.S. it was UFC 1 in 1993. The rule set during the sport's infancy was significantly less voluminous than it has currently become. During the first event at UFC 1, there were no weight limits or weight classes. The idea was to determine who was the best fighter regardless of anything besides actual fighting merit. Initially as many fighters lacked legitimate training and relied merely on size and strength, those with technique, such as Royce Gracie, while substantially smaller in size, were able to find great success. As the larger fighters began to train in techniques and an influx of Olympic level wrestlers entered the sport, the technique gap greatly diminished and size and strengthen would often become the asymmetric advantage for the larger fighters. In order to allow smaller fighters to compete more fairly, weight classes were introduced at UFC 12.

This article tracks the lineage of the original UFC championships. If a lineal champion retires before losing at the particular weight, then the lineage ends and a new one is not restarted. The weight class is determined by actual fighter weight requirements, not nominally, such as in the Welterweight title that began as a UFC Lightweight title contested at 170 lbs. In instances where the title is contested in another organization that has dissimilar weight classes, the nearest weight class would be considered a valid defense if contested at that weight. For example, when the reigning lineal welterweight champion, Hayato Sakurai, fought Anderson Silva at Shooto: To The Top 7, the bout was contested at the Shooto welterweight division of 168 lbs. This represents a legitimate contention of the lineal UFC Welterweight title.

Lineal Champions

Openweight Championship

UFC 1 was the first Openweight tournament and thus the winner would claim the title of Openweight champion.

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (Total)	Defenses
1	Royce Gracie def. Gerard Gordeau	UFC 1 Denver, CO, USA	Nov 12, 1993	2362 days	1. def. Minoki Ichihara at UFC 2 on Mar 11, 1994 2. def. Jason DeLucia at UFC 2 on Mar 11, 1994 3. def. Remco Pardoel at UFC 2 on Mar 11, 1994 4. def. Patrick Smith at UFC 2 on Mar 11, 1994 5. def. Kimo Leopoldo at UFC 3 on Sep 9, 1994 6. def. Ron van Clief at UFC 4 on Dec 16, 1994 7. def. Keith Hackney at UFC 4 on Dec 16, 1994 8. def. Dan Severn at UFC 4 on Dec 16, 1994 9. drew with Ken Shamrock at UFC 5 on Apr 7, 1995 10. def. Nobuhiko Takada at Pride Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round on Jan 30, 2000
2	Kazushi Sakuraba	Pride Grand Prix 2000 Finals Tokyo, Japan	May 1, 2000	0 days
3	Igor Vovchanchyn			0 days
4	Template:Country data US Mark Coleman			511 days	1. def. Allan Goes at Pride 13 on Mar 25, 2001
5	Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira	PRIDE 16 Osaka, Japan	Sep 24, 2001	538 days	1. def. Heath Herring at Pride 17 on Nov 3, 2001 2. def. Enson Inoue at Pride 19 on Feb 24, 2002 3. def. Sanae Kikuta at UFO-Legend on Aug 8, 2002 4. def. Bob Sapp at Pride Shockwave on Aug 28, 2002 5. def. Semmy Schilt at Pride 23 on Nov 24, 2002 6. def. Dan Henderson at Pride 24 on Dec 23, 2002
6	Fedor Emelianenko	PRIDE 25 Yokohama, Japan	Mar 16, 2003	2659 days	1. def. Egidijus Valavicius at RINGS Bushido Rings 7: Adrenalinas on Apr 5, 2003 2. def. Kazuyuki Fujita at Pride 26 on Jun 8, 2003 3. def. Gary Goodridge at Pride Total Elimination 2003 on Aug 10, 2003 4. def. Yuji Nagata at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 on Dec 31, 2003 5. def. Mark Coleman at Pride Total Elimination 2004 on Apr 25, 2004 6. def. Kevin Randleman at Pride Critical Countdown 2004 on Jun 20, 2004 7. def. Naoya Ogawa at Pride Final Conflict 2004 on Aug 15, 2004 8. no contest with Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira at Pride Final Conflict 2004 on Aug 15, 2004 9. def. Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira at Pride Shockwave 2004 on Dec 31, 2004 10. def. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka at Pride Bushido 6 on Apr 3, 2005 11. def. Mirko Filipovic at Pride Final Conflict 2005 on Aug 28, 2005 12. def. Zuluzinho at Pride Shockwave 2005 on Dec 31, 2005 13. def. Mark Coleman at Pride 32 on Oct 21, 2006 14. def. Mark Hunt at Pride Shockwave 2006 on Dec 31, 2006 15. def. Matt Lindland at BodogFIGHT: Clash of Nations on Apr 14, 2007 16. def. Choi Hong-man at Yarennoka! on Dec 31, 2007 17. def. Tim Sylvia at Affliction: Banned on Jul 19, 2008 18. def. Andrei Arlovski at Affliction: Day of Reckoning on Jan 24, 2009 19. def. Brett Rogers at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers on Nov 7, 2009
7	Fabricio Werdum	Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum San Jose, CA, USA	Jun 26, 2010	357 days
8	Alistair Overeem	Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum Dallas, TX, USA	Jun 18, 2011	0 days (incumbent)	1. def. Brock Lesnar at UFC 141 on Dec 30, 2011

Heavyweight Championship

The Heavyweight class is defined as 206-265 lbs.

The first Heavyweight Championship was contested at UFC 12.

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (Total)	Defenses
1	Template:Country data US Mark Coleman def. Dan Severn	UFC 12 Dothan, AL, USA	Feb 7, 1997	170 days
2	Template:Country data US Maurice Smith	UFC 14 Birmingham, AL, USA	Jul 27, 1997	147 days	1. def. Tank Abbott at UFC 15 on Oct 17, 1997
3	Template:Country data US Randy Couture	UFC Japan Yokohama, Japan	Dec 21, 1997	308 days
4	Template:Country data US Enson Inoue	Vale Tudo Japan 1998 Tokyo, Japan	Oct 25, 1998	462 days	1. def. Soichi Nishida at Pride 5 on Apr 29, 1999
5	Template:Country data US Mark Kerr	Pride Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round Tokyo, Japan	Jan 30, 2000	92 days
6	Kazuyuki Fujita	Pride Grand Prix 2000 Finals Tokyo, Japan	May 1, 2000	0 days
7	Template:Country data US Mark Coleman (2)			511 days (681 days)	1. def. Igor Vovchanchyn at Pride Grand Prix 2000 Finals on May 1, 2000
8	Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira	PRIDE 16 Osaka, Japan	Sep 24, 2001	538 days	1. def. Heath Herring at Pride 17 on Nov 3, 2001 2. def. Enson Inoue at Pride 19 on Feb 24, 2002 3. def. Semmy Schilt at Pride 23 on Nov 24, 2002
9	Fedor Emelianenko	PRIDE 25 Yokohama, Japan	Mar 16, 2003	2659 days	1. def. Egidijus Valavicius at RINGS Bushido Rings 7: Adrenalinas on Apr 5, 2003 2. def. Kazuyuki Fujita at Pride 26 on Jun 8, 2003 3. def. Gary Goodridge at Pride Total Elimination 2003 on Aug 10, 2003 4. def. Yuji Nagata at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 on Dec 31, 2003 5. def. Mark Coleman at Pride Total Elimination 2004 on Apr 25, 2004 6. def. Kevin Randleman at Pride Critical Countdown 2004 on Jun 20, 2004 7. def. Naoya Ogawa at Pride Final Conflict 2004 on Aug 15, 2004 8. no contest Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira at Pride Final Conflict 2004 on Aug 15, 2004 9. def. Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira at Pride Shockwave 2004 on Dec 31, 2004 10. def. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka at Pride Bushido 6 on Apr 3, 2005 11. def. Mirko Filipovic at Pride Final Conflict 2005 on Aug 28, 2005 12. def. Mark Coleman at Pride 32 on Oct 21, 2006 13. def. Mark Hunt at Pride Shockwave 2006 on Dec 31, 2006 14. def. Matt Lindland at BodogFIGHT: Clash of Nations on Apr 14, 2007 15. def. Tim Sylvia at Affliction: Banned on Jul 19, 2008 16. def. Andrei Arlovski at Affliction: Day of Reckoning on Jan 24, 2009 17. def. Brett Rogers at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers on Nov 7, 2009
10	Fabricio Werdum	Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum San Jose, CA, USA	Jun 26, 2010	357 days
11	Alistair Overeem	Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum Dallas, TX, USA	Jun 18, 2011	0 days (incumbent)	1. def. Brock Lesnar at UFC 141 on Dec 30, 2011

Light Heavyweight Championship

The Light Heavyweight class is defined as 186-205 lbs.

The first Light Heavyweight Championship was contested at UFC Japan.

The Light Heavyweight Title was contested in the UFC as the UFC Middleweight Title during Shamrock's reign.

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (Total)	Defenses
1	Template:Country data US Frank Shamrock def. Kevin Jackson	UFC Japan Tokyo, Japan	Dec 21, 1997	4131 days	1. def. Igor Zinoviev at UFC 16 on Mar 13, 1998 2. def. Jeremy Horn at UFC 17 on May 15, 1998 3. def. John Lober at UFC Brazil on Oct 16, 1998 4. def. Tito Ortiz at UFC 22 on Sep 24, 1999 5. def. Elvis Sinosic at K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 on Dec 10, 2000 6. def. Brian Pardoe at WEC 6 on Mar 27, 2003
Shamrock dropped to middleweight in 2003 and ultimately retired with the title in April, 2009

Middleweight Championship

The Middleweight class is defined as 171-185 lbs.

The first Middleweight Championship was contested at UFC 33.

The Middleweight Title was contested in Pride as the Pride Welterweight Title.

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (Total)	Defenses
1	Dave Menne def. Gil Castillo	UFC 33 Las Vegas, NV, USA	Sep 28, 2001	105 days
2	Murilo Bustamante	UFC 35 Las Vegas, NV, USA	Jan 11, 2002	1450 days	1. def. Matt Lindland at UFC 37 on May 10, 2002 2. def. Ryuta Sakurai at Pride Bushido 6 on Apr 3, 2005 3. def. Masanori Suda at Pride Bushido 9 on Sep 25, 2005 4. def Ikuhisa Minowa at Pride Bushido 9 on Sep 25, 2005
3	Dan Henderson	Pride Shockwave 2005 Saitama, Japan	Dec 31, 2005	238 days	1. def. Kazuo Misaki at Pride Bushido 10 on Apr 2, 2006
4	Kazuo Misaki	Pride Bushido 12 Nagoya, Japan	Aug 26, 2006	71 days
5	Paulo Filho	Pride Bushido 13 Yokohama, Japan	Nov 5, 2006	1657 days	1. def. Joe Doerksen at WEC 29 on Aug 5, 2007 2. def. Chael Sonnen at WEC 31 on Dec 12, 2007 3. def. Melvin Manhoef at Dream 10 on Jul 20, 2009 4. drew with Denis Kang at Impact FC 2 on Jul 18, 2010 5. def. Yuki Sasaki at Bitetti Combat MMA 8 on Dec 4, 2010 6. def. Jackson Mora at World Fighting Combat: Pretorian on Mar 19, 2011
6	Norman Paraisy	X-Combat Ultra: International Grand Prix Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	May 20, 2011	301 days	1. def. Jack Mason at Cage Warriors Fighting Championship 43 on Jul 9, 2011
7	Maiquel Falcão	Bellator 61 Bossier City, LA, United States	Mar 16, 2012	0 days (incumbent)	1. def. Vyacheslav Vasilevsky at Bellator 66 on Apr 20, 2012 2. def. Andreas Spang at Bellator 69 on May 18, 2012

Welterweight Championship

The Welterweight class is defined as 156-170 lbs.

The first Welterweight Championship was contested at UFC Brazil

The Welterweight Title was known as the UFC Lightweight Title in the UFC prior to UFC 31 (May 4, 2001).

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (Total)	Defenses
1	Template:Country data US Pat Miletich def. Mikey Burnett	UFC Brazil São Paulo, Brazil	Oct 16, 1998	109 days	1. def. Jorge Patino at UFC 18 on Jan 8, 1999
2	Jutaro Nakao	SuperBrawl 11 Honolulu, HI, United States	Feb 2, 1999	109 days
3	Tetsuji Kato	Shooto: 10th Anniversary Event Yokohama, Japan	May 29, 2000	293 days	1. def. Rhett Anthony at SuperBrawl 14 on Nov 5, 1999 2. def. Angelo Sergio at Vale Tudo Japan 1999 on Dec 11, 1999
4	Hayato Sakurai	Shooto – R.E.A.D. 2 Tokyo, Japan	Mar 17, 2000	527 days	1. def. Luiz Azeredo at Shooto – R.E.A.D. 8 on Aug 4, 2000 2. def. Frank Trigg at Shooto – R.E.A.D. Final on Dec 17, 2000 3. def. Jean Louis Alberch at GT – Golden Trophy 2001 on Mar 1, 2001
5	Anderson Silva	Shooto: To The Top 7 Osaka, Japan	Aug 26, 2001	651 days	1. def. Roan Carneiro at Mecca: World Vale Tudo 6 on Jan 31, 2002 2. def. Alex Stiebling at Pride 21 on Jun 23, 2002 3. def. Alexander Otsuka at Pride 22 on Sep 29, 2002 4. def. Carlos Newton at Pride 25 on Mar 16, 2003
6	Daiju Takase	Pride 26 Yokohama, Japan	Jun 8, 2003	58 days
7	Rodrigo Gracie	Pride Bushido 1 Saitama, Japan	Oct 5, 2003	412 days	1. def. Hayato Sakurai at Pride Bushido 2 on Feb 15, 2004
8	BJ Penn	Rumble on the Rock 6 Honolulu, HI, United States	Nov 20, 2004	530 days	1. def. Renzo Gracie at K-1: World Grand Prix Hawaii on Jul 29, 2005
9	Georges St-Pierre	UFC 58 Las Vegas, NV, United States	Mar 4, 2006	399 days	1. def. Matt Hughes at UFC 65 on Nov 18, 2006
10	Template:Country data US Matt Serra	UFC 69 Houston, TX, United States	Apr 7, 2007	378 days
11	Georges St-Pierre (2)	UFC 83 Montreal, QC, Canada	Apr 19, 2008	0 days (0 days) (incumbent)	1. def. Jon Fitch at UFC 87 on Aug 9, 2008 2. def. B.J. Penn at UFC 94 on Jan 31, 2009 3. def. Thiago Alves at UFC 100 on Jul 11, 2009 4. def. Dan Hardy at UFC 111 on Mar 27, 2010 5. def. Josh Koscheck at UFC 124 on Dec 11, 2010 6. def. Jake Shields at UFC 129 on Apr 30, 2011 7. def. Carlos Condit at UFC 154 on Nov 17, 2012

Lightweight Championship

The Lightweight class is defined as 146-155 lbs.

The first Lightweight Championship was contested at UFC 30.

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (Total)	Defenses
1	Jens Pulver def. Caol Uno	UFC 30 Atlantic City, NJ, USA	Feb 23, 2001	701 days	1. def. Dennis Hallman at UFC 33 on Sep 28, 2001 2. def. B.J. Penn at UFC 35 on Jan 11, 2002 3. def. Rob Emerson at UW: Ultimate Wrestling on Jun 29, 2002 4. def. Takehiro Murahama at UFO: Legend on Aug 8, 2002
2	Duane Ludwig	UCC 12: Adrenaline Montreal, QC, Canada	Jan 25, 2003	1231 days	1. def. Genki Sudo at UFC 42 on Apr 25, 2003 2. def. Toshikatsu Harada at ROF 21: Full Blast on Feb 11, 2006 3. def. Jason Palacios at International Freestyle Fighting 1 on May 6, 2006
3	Tyson Griffin	Strikeforce: Revenge San Jose, CA, USA	Jun 9, 2006	239 days	1. def. David Lee at UFC 63 on Sep 23, 2006
4	Frankie Edgar	UFC 67 Las Vegas, NV, USA	Feb 3, 2007	424 days	1. def. Mark Bocek at UFC 73 on Jul 7, 2007 2. def. Spencer Fisher at UFC 78 on Nov 17, 2007
5	Gray Maynard	UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Lauzon Broomfield, CO, USA	Apr 2, 2008	1284 days	1. def. Rich Clementi at UFC 90 on Oct 25, 2008 2. def. Jim Miller at UFC 96 on Mar 7, 2009 3. def. Roger Huerta at UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs. Guillard on Sep 16, 2009 4. def. Nate Diaz at UFC Fight Night: Maynard vs. Diaz on Jan 11, 2010 5. def. Kenny Florian at UFC 118 on Aug 28, 2010 6. drew with Frankie Edgar at UFC 125 on Jan 1, 2011
6	Frankie Edgar (2)	UFC 136 Houston, TX, USA	Oct 8, 2011	424 days (565 days)
7	Benson Henderson	UFC 144 Saitama, Japan	Feb 26, 2012	0 days (incumbent)	1. def. Frankie Edgar at UFC 150 on Aug 11, 2012 2. def. Nate Diaz at UFC on Fox 5 on Dec 8, 2012

Featherweight Championship

136 to 145 lb (61 to 66 kg)

Prior to the UFC-WEC merger, José Aldo was the WEC Featherweight Champion. Aldo was awarded the inaugural UFC Featherweight Championship on Nov 20, 2010 at UFC 123 in a ceremony prior to the event.

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign	Defenses
1	José Aldo promoted to undisputed champion	UFC 123 Auburn Hills, MI, USA	Nov 20, 2010	0 days (incumbent)	1. def. Mark Hominick at UFC 129 on Apr 30, 2011 2. def. Kenny Florian at UFC 136 on Oct 8, 2011 3. def. Chad Mendes at UFC 142 on Jan 14, 2012

Bantamweight Championship

126 to 135 lb (57 to 61 kg)

Prior to UFC-WEC merger, Dominick Cruz was the WEC Bantamweight Champion. At WEC 53 Cruz defeated Scott Jorgensen to retain the WEC Bantamweight Championship and become the inaugural UFC Bantamweight Champion.

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign	Defenses
1	Dominick Cruz def. Scott Jorgensen	WEC 53 Glendale, AZ, USA	Dec 16, 2010	0 days (incumbent)	1. def. Urijah Faber at UFC 132 on Jul 2, 2011 2. def. Demetrious Johnson at UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson on Oct 1, 2011

Flyweight Championship

116 to 125 lb (53 to 57 kg)

Demetrious Johnson defeated Joseph Benavidez on September 22, 2012 at UFC 152 in Toronto, ON, Canada in the finale of a 4-man tournament for the inaugural title.

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign	Defenses
1	Template:Country data US Demetrious Johnson def. Joseph Benavidez	UFC 152 Toronto, ON, Canada	Sep 22, 2012	0 days (incumbent)