5 MMA fighters who fought in the most weight divisions

#1 BJ Penn – Featherweight (145lbs), Lightweight (155lbs), Welterweight (170lbs), Middleweight (185lbs), Light-heavyweight (205lbs), Heavyweight (206lbs and above)

BJ Penn won UFC titles in two different weight classes - but fought in a total of six

BJ Penn is an MMA legend for many different reasons, but even ignoring all of his great accomplishments, he’d still go down in the sport’s history for being the only man to ever compete in six different weight divisions – moving all the way up to Heavyweight despite 155lbs being his optimum class.

Penn debuted in the UFC – and in the sport of MMA – as a Lightweight in 2001, and won his first three fights with frightening ease. His first title shot didn’t go so well though and he was defeated by champion Jens Pulver.

Two more wins put him back in line for the title, but in one of the worst decisions in UFC history, he was robbed of his first championship win by the judges, who decided his title fight with Caol Uno was a draw. And so with Welterweight champ Matt Hughes having cleaned out his division, Penn moved up to 170lbs for a ‘Superfight’ of sorts.

Penn’s victory over Hughes was one of the biggest upsets in MMA at the time, but his title reign would be short-lived as he dropped the belt to leave the UFC. From there he went on one of MMA’s all-time great wanderings – floating between Japan’s K-1 and his own Rumble on the Rock promotion – and it was during this period that his weight truly fluctuated.

‘The Prodigy’ moved to 185lbs – where he looked horribly out of shape – for wins over Rodrigo and Renzo Gracie, and those fights sandwiched a truly bizarre outing at Heavyweight – against future UFC Light-heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida.

For that fight – which was technically classed as ‘Openweight’ – Machida came in at 225lbs, very much a Heavyweight, while Penn weighed in at 191lbs. Even then – in a testament to his greatness – Penn managed to go the distance.

2006 saw him return to the UFC as a Welterweight, but a failed title challenge triggered a move back to 155lbs, where he finally lived up to his potential and won the UFC title, defending it successfully 3 times.

Even then he couldn’t stick to one division – 2009 saw him move up to 170lbs for an attempt to hold two UFC titles at the same time, but he was defeated by champ Georges St-Pierre. In 2010 he lost his Lightweight crown to Frankie Edgar, and that was enough for him to move back to 170lbs.

Penn defeated his old rival Hughes in his first fight back in the division, but a draw with Jon Fitch and losses to Nick Diaz and Rory MacDonald appeared to signal the end, and he retired in 2012.

2014 saw him return to action; the return wasn’t a surprise but the weight class was, as he moved to 145lbs to fight Edgar for a third time. Despite looking fantastic physically, however, Penn was firmly past his prime.

Edgar defeated him in one-sided fashion, sending him back into retirement and a comeback in 2017 went just as badly – he lost to Yair Rodriguez and Dennis Siver.

As of now, Penn remains on the UFC’s active roster, but for how much longer he will stay there is a mystery. What isn’t in doubt is the likelihood that no other fighter in MMA history will ever fight in as many different weight classes as the sport’s ultimate wanderer.