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We’re getting ever closer now to the end of the decade (2010-2019), and it’s certainly been an eventful one for the UFC. The world’s biggest MMA promotion has grown massively over the last ten years, absorbing sister promotions WEC and StrikeForce and adding seven new weight classes along the way.
Great fighters have come and gone over that time, and unsurprisingly, none of the UFC’s champions at the start of 2010 still hold their titles at the end of the decade. Here is a look at the UFC champions in each weight class at the start of the decade, and at the end of the decade too.
Note: for the purposes of this article, where the UFC has imported a division from another promotion during the decade, with the existing champion being automatically declared UFC champion, I have taken that promotion’s champion to be de facto UFC champion at the start of the decade.
Heavyweight: Brock Lesnar and Stipe Miocic
As 2010 dawned, the Heavyweight division was still very much in the era of Brock Lesnar. ‘The Beast Incarnate’ had defeated Frank Mir to unify his UFC Heavyweight title with Mir’s interim title at UFC 100 in July 2009, but his next title defense – against Shane Carwin – had to be postponed due to Lesnar’s ongoing battle with diverticulitis.
2010 actually began with another interim title fight – Carwin brutally defeated Mir – before July saw Lesnar return in another unification match, beating Carwin by second round submission in an instant classic. Unfortunately for fans of the former WWE superstar, he was comprehensively defeated in his next defense by Cain Velasquez, and returned to professional wrestling shortly after one final loss to Alistair Overeem.
Today’s Heavyweight champion is Stipe Miocic, who began his second title reign this August by defeating the man who dethroned him a year prior, Daniel Cormier. Miocic’s first title reign saw him defend his crown successfully against Overeem, Junior Dos Santos and Francis Ngannou, and the current plan involves a third fight with Cormier at some point in 2020.
Light-Heavyweight: Lyoto Machida and Jon Jones
Lyoto Machida had claimed the UFC Light-Heavyweight title in mid-2009, and with his victory Joe Rogan stated that we were in the ‘Machida Era’, a statement that turned out to be a mistake. ‘The Dragon’ was knocked out in May 2010 by top contender Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, and was never able to regain UFC gold. He now plies his trade in Bellator after leaving the UFC in 2018.
Rua’s title reign was a short-lived one too, as he lost the belt to Jon Jones in March 2011. Since then, ‘Bones’ has largely dominated the division, putting together a divisional record of 8 successful defenses before being stripped of the title in 2015 due to some legal issues.
The vacant title was claimed by Daniel Cormier, but ‘DC’ was defeated by Jones in July 2017, only for Jones to be stripped again after testing positive for steroids. Cormier would later relinquish the title to focus on his career as a Heavyweight, and in December 2018 Jones re-captured the belt with a win over Alexander Gustafsson. We now head into the next decade with Jones still dominant at 205 lbs, and he’ll make his next defense against Dominick Reyes in early 2020.
Middleweight: Anderson Silva and Israel Adesanya
As 2010 began, Anderson Silva was going into his fourth year as UFC Middleweight champion, and the first quarter of the year saw him make his 6th successful defense against Demian Maia. Silva would go onto a further 4 defenses before his epic reign was finally ended by Chris Weidman in the summer of 2013.
The division went into flux after Silva was dethroned; Weidman managed 2 successful defenses before being beaten by Luke Rockhold, who in turn lost the title to Michael Bisping in his first defense. Bisping managed one before dropping to Georges St-Pierre, who retired and vacated the title before he made a single defense.
Interim champion Robert Whittaker was then upgraded to be considered the undisputed champion, becoming the UFC’s first Australian champion in the process, but despite beating Yoel Romero in a non-title bout, he dropped it to Israel Adesanya in his first official defense. Adesanya therefore will take the title into the new decade, where he’s expected to defend against either Romero or Paulo Costa in 2020.
Welterweight: Georges St. Pierre and Kamaru Usman
Arguably the greatest UFC champion of all time, Georges St. Pierre came into the decade already having made 3 defenses of his Welterweight title, and 2010 saw him put together 2 more, against Dan Hardy and Josh Koscheck. A further 4 followed before ‘GSP’ relinquished his title in late 2013 to take a leave of absence from the sport.
Johny Hendricks was the next champion, but his title reign was short-lived as his first defense saw him lose it to Robbie Lawler. Lawler then held the title for a year and half before dropping to Tyron Woodley, who put together 4 defenses before losing it to Kamaru Usman earlier in 2019.
The UFC’s first African champion, Usman defeated Colby Covington in his first title defense at UFC 245 and he looks set for a potentially dominant title reign going into the next decade – undoubtedly with St. Pierre’s divisional record of 9 successful title defenses in his sights.
Lightweight: BJ Penn and Khabib Nurmagomedov
BJ Penn went into 2010 with a reputation as perhaps the greatest Lightweight fighter ever seen in the sport, but his UFC title reign was surprisingly cut short just 4 months into the decade, as Frankie Edgar defeated him in a controversial decision. Edgar proved the win wasn’t a fluke by defeating Penn in a rematch, but just under two years later, he dropped the title to Benson Henderson.
Henderson managed 3 defenses before losing to Anthony Pettis, and from there the title was passed around like a hot potato, from Pettis to Rafael Dos Anjos, to Eddie Alvarez and to Conor McGregor. McGregor’s reign ended with him relinquishing the belt with no title defences, and some normality was finally restored to the division in 2018 when Khabib Nurmagomedov claimed the vacant title by defeating Al Iaquinta.
Nurmagomedov has since made 2 successful defences – over McGregor and Dustin Poirier – and going into the next decade, he holds a reputation similar to that of Penn going into 2010, as potentially the greatest 155lber ever seen in the sport. He will next defend against Tony Ferguson in early 2020.
Featherweight: Jose Aldo and Alexander Volkanovski
The UFC moved the WEC’s Featherweight division into the promotion at the start of 2011, and with it came reigning champion Jose Aldo, who’d held the title since late 2009 and started the decade widely recognized as the best 145 lber on the planet. Aldo would remain in that position until late 2015, when Conor McGregor dethroned him with a first round knockout.
That fight would be the last time we’d see the Irishman at 145 lbs, and Aldo regained the vacant title by defeating Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 in July 2016. In his next title defense however, he was defeated by Max Holloway, who then proved his superiority by stopping Aldo for a second time in a rematch.
After his first defense against Aldo, Holloway put together a further 2 defenses, beating Brian Ortega and Edgar before being dethroned earlier this month by Australia’s Alexander Volkanovski. The Australian's first title defense is expected to be a rematch against Holloway at some point in 2020.
Bantamweight: Brian Bowles and Henry Cejudo
The Bantamweight division was still part of the WEC when the decade began, with Brian Bowles holding the title after dethroning longtime champion Miguel Torres in 2009. Bowles lost the title to Dominick Cruz in March 2010, and ‘The Dominator’ brought it into the UFC when the division transferred over at the start of 2011.
Cruz made 2 successful defenses – against Urijah Faber and Demetrious Johnson – before vacating the title due to injury, and from there Renan Barao claimed it before losing it to TJ Dillashaw in May 2014. Dillashaw was then dethroned by Cruz, who in turn, lost it to Cody Garbrandt at the end of 2016.
Dillashaw reclaimed his title by defeating Garbrandt in late 2017, but after making a successful defense against ‘No Love’ in a rematch, he was stripped of his crown following a positive test for EPO in 2019. Reigning Flyweight champion Henry Cejudo then claimed the vacant belt with a win over Marlon Moraes, and ‘The Messenger’ will now take it into the next decade.
Flyweight: Henry Cejudo
At the start of the decade, the Flyweight division didn’t even exist in the WEC, a promotion almost entirely focused around lighter weight classes. It was late 2011 when the idea of introducing a 125 lbs division was mooted, and eventually it became a reality in 2012.
Former Bantamweight title challenger Demetrious Johnson won the inaugural title fight, beating Joseph Benavidez to become the UFC’s first Flyweight champion, and he would hold the title for 6 years, making a UFC record of 11 successful defenses before losing to Henry Cejudo in 2018.
Cejudo thus far has made one defense of his title – a quick knockout of then-Bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw – and going into 2020, question marks surround his reign, as he has since claimed the Bantamweight title too, and seems more focused on that division going forward.
Women’s Featherweight: Amanda Nunes
The Women’s Featherweight division in the UFC was essentially created for one fighter, Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Justino. Although she didn’t fight in the inaugural title fight – that honour instead went to Holly Holm and Germaine De Randamie – she soon claimed the title by defeating Tonya Evinger in 2017 following De Randamie’s vacating of the belt.
‘Cyborg’ made 2 successful title defences before being upset by reigning Women’s Bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes in late 2018, and since then the title has been on ice as Nunes has instead defended her 135lbs crown. Going into the new decade, the future for the UFC’s thinnest division is somewhat up in the air.
Women’s Bantamweight: Amanda Nunes
Women fighting in the UFC still seemed like a pipe dream at the start of 2010, and indeed, a Bantamweight champion hadn’t even been crowned in the UFC’s biggest rival promotion – later its sister promotion – StrikeForce at the start of the decade. That changed in February 2010 when Sarah Kaufman was crowned the inaugural titleholder, and from there the title changed hands twice before Ronda Rousey submitted Miesha Tate to win it in early 2012.
The star power of Rousey was the key to the UFC opening its doors to female fighters in early 2013, and ‘Rowdy Ronda’ was declared the UFC’s first Women’s Bantamweight champion upon her arrival. She made 6 title defenses before being upset by Holly Holm, and from there the title bounced from Holm to Tate and finally to Amanda Nunes.
Since winning the title in 2016, Nunes has been as dominant a champion as the division has ever seen, putting together 5 defenses thus far, and going into the new decade it seems doubtful that she’ll be dethroned any time soon. She’s widely considered the greatest female fighter in MMA history.
Women’s Flyweight: Valentina Shevchenko
The UFC’s newest division, Women’s Flyweight saw its inaugural champion crowned in late 2017 when Nicco Montano won a tournament that played out during a season of The Ultimate Fighter. Due to injuries and issues making the 125 lbs weight limit, Montano failed to make any defenses of her crown, and was stripped of the title in 2018.
Former Bantamweight title challenger Valentina Shevchenko won the title in late 2018 by defeating former Flyweight queen Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and since then she’s put together 2 successful defences, with a third, against top contender Katlyn Chookagian, scheduled for early 2020. Based on her previous performances, she could be a dominant champion in the division for a long time into the next decade, and it’s hard to see any potential challenger dethroning her.
Women’s Strawweight: Weili Zhang
The Women’s Strawweight division was introduced into the UFC in late 2014, with its first champion decided by a tournament that played out during the 20th season of The Ultimate Fighter. Carla Esparza won the inaugural title by submitting Rose Namajunas, but was quickly beaten in her first title defense by Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
The Polish kickboxer then put together 5 successful defences before being upset by Rose Namajunas in late 2017, her first loss in professional MMA. Namajunas managed to hold onto the title in a rematch with Jedrzejczyk, but was then beaten by top contender Jessica Andrade in her second defense earlier in 2019.
In turn, Andrade was knocked out by Weili Zhang, who claimed the title and became the UFC’s first Chinese champion in the process. Zhang’s first defense is now scheduled for 2020 against former champion Jedrzejczyk, and the winner of that fight will probably have a fair claim on being the greatest Strawweight fighter in UFC history.
