UFC Champions 2022

Division	Champion	Date Since	Defenses
Heavyweight	Francis Ngannou	27-Mar-2021	1
Light Heavyweight	Glover Teixeira	30-Oct-2021	0
Middleweight	Israel Adesanya	06-Oct-2019	3
Welterweight	Kamaru Usman	02-Mar-2019	4
Lightweight	Vacant	06-May-2022	-
Featherweight	Alexander Volkanovski	14-Dec-2019	2
Bantamweight	Aljamain Sterling	6-Mar-2021	1
Flyweight	Deiveson Figueiredo	22-Jan-2022	0
Women's Featherweight	Amanda Nunes	29-Dec-2018	2
Women's Bantamweight	Julianna Peña	11-Dec-2021	0
Women's Flyweight	Valentina Shevchenko	08-Dec-2018	6
Women's Strawweight	Carla Esparza	07-May-2022	0

Above is the list of all current UFC Champions with respect to their weight classes.

Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) champions are fighters who have won and held UFC Championships in respect to their weight classes and divisions. At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, MMA was unsanctioned in the US and did not include any weight classes. However, in 1997, UFC finally began introducing weight-specific titles, starting with UFC 12.

1. UFC Heavyweight Champion 2022
2. UFC Middleweight Champion 2022
3. UFC Lightweight Champion 2021
4. UFC Welterweight Champion 2022
5. UFC Featherweight Champion 2022
6. UFC Light Heavyweight Champion 2022
7. UFC Bantamweight Champion 2021
8. UFC Flyweight Champion 2022
9. UFC Women's Featherweight Champion 2021
10. UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion 2021
11. UFC Women's Flyweight Champion 2021
12. UFC Strawweight Champion 2021
13. FAQ

By the time of UFC 31, the Ultimate Fighting Championship came up with a total number of five active weight divisions in the promotion: Lightweight, Welterweight, Middleweight, Light Heavyweight, and Heavyweight.

In 2010, the UFC would expand their lower weight classes and the first addition came in late 2010 when the UFC merged with their sister organization World Extreme Cagefighting and the Featherweight and Bantamweight Divisions were introduced in the UFC.

In 2012, the dissolution of UFC’s sister promotion Strikeforce allowed the UFC to add female fighters to their roster for the first time in the promotion's history.

There are currently a total of 12 UFC weight classes. 8 divisions for the men and 4 divisions for the women.

See here: Latest UFC Schedule from 2022

UFC Heavyweight Champion 2022

Francis Ngannou

Since	March 27, 2021
Defenses	1

Francis Ngannou won the UFC heavyweight championship after knocking out Stipe Miocic during the second round of their rematch at UFC 260 in Las Vegas. As champion Ngannou has had one title defense against Ciryl Gane.

Prior to this, from UFC 198 up until UFC 226 the heavyweight championship was held by Stipe Miocic. During his reign as the heavyweight champion he even broke the record for the most consecutive title defenses. After losing to Daniel Cormier and eventually reclaiming the title, Miocic's reign as the UFC Heavyweight Champion finally came to an end at UFC 260 while going up against Francis Ngannou.

UFC Middleweight Champion 2022

Israel Adesanya

Since	6th October, 2019
Defenses	3

Israel Adesanya was crowned the new UFC middleweight champion after knocking out Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC 243 in the Marvel Stadium at Melbourne, Australia. Adesanya, who remains undefeated in MMA, defended his title twice this year.

The first occasion was against Yoel Romero at UFC 248 and the second saw Adesanya best Paulo Costa at UFC 253. Israel Adesanya remains the UFC middleweight champion.

UFC Lightweight Champion 2022

Vacant

Since	6th May 2022
Defenses	-

Charles Oliveira defeated Michael Chandler at UFC 262 in Houston, Texas, to become the UFC Lightweight Champion.

Previously Khabib Nurmagomedov had won the vacant UFC lightweight championship at UFC 223 when he defeated Al laquinta by unanimous decision. Thereafter Khabib defended his title thrice, all of them being submission victories.

He defeated Conor McGregor by neck crank, Dustin Poirier by a rear-naked choke, and Justin Gaethje by a triangle choke. Khabib's retirement from the UFC led to the title being left vacant, which eventually led to the title fight between Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler.

However, in the run-up to UFC 274, Oliveira did not make the weight cut which led to him being stripped of the title. As a result, the UFC Lightweight Title remains vacant.

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UFC Welterweight Champion 2022

Kamaru Usman

Since	2nd March, 2019
Defenses	4

At UFC 201, Tyron Woodley defeated Robbie Lawler to win the welterweight championship. At UFC 235, Kamaru Usman became the first-ever Nigerian-born champion in UFC history by beating Woodley by unanimous decision.

Kamaru Usman faced Colby Covington in his first title defence at UFC 245 and won the fight by TKO. Usman then faced Jorge Masvidal at UFC 251, winning the contest by unanimous decision.

On February 13 2021, Usman faced Gilbert Burns at UFC 258 and defended his title by winning the fight via TKO in the third round. Kamaru Usman remains the UFC Welterweight Champion.

UFC Featherweight Champion 2022

Alexander Volkanovski

Since	14th December, 2019
Defenses	2

At UFC 245, Alexander Volkanovski dethroned Max Holloway and became the first Australian-born UFC featherweight champion.

Volkanovski then defeated Max Holloway again via split decision at UFC 251. Alexander Volkanovski remains the current UFC featherweight champion.

UFC Light Heavyweight Champion 2022

Glover Teixeira

Since	30th October, 2021
Defenses	0

After the two-time UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones vacated the title on 17th August 2020, Jan Blachowicz faced the former title challenger Dominick Reyes for the vacant belt. Blachowicz won the fight by TKO.

Later on, Glover Teixeira became the current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion after defeating Jan Blachowicz at UFC 267.

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UFC Bantamweight Champion 2021

Aljamain Sterling

Since	6th Mar, 2021
Defenses	1

Henry Cejudo defeated Marlon Moraes to win the vacant UFC bantamweight championship. He defended it against former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz at UFC 249, later vacating the title on May 24, 2020, after announcing his retirement.

Petr Yan faced former featherweight champion Jose Aldo for the vacant UFC bantamweight championship. Yan knocked out Aldo and became the UFC bantamweight champion.

In his first title defence, Yan faced Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259 on March 6, 2021 and lost the title by disqualification due to an intentional illegal knee landed by him in the fourth round to Sterling.

Sterling couldn't continue the fight any further due to concussion and the doctor recommended to stop the fight thus making him the new UFC Bantamweight champion. This is the first ever title change caused by a disqualification in UFC history.

At UFC 273 Sterling would go on to defend his title for the second time against Petr Yan, winning via split decision.

UFC Flyweight Champion 2022

Deiveson Figueiredo

Since	22nd Jan, 2022
Defenses	0

Initially Deiveson Figueiredo was defeated by Brandon Moreno at UFC 263. However

Figueiredo won the flyweight title after defeating the erstwhile champion Brandon Moreno during their rematch at UFC 270.

Prior to this Figueiredo defeated Joseph Benavidez in their rematch for the vacant UFC flyweight championship by a rear-naked choke.

Deiveson then defended his belt twice. He faced Alex Perez at UFC 255 and submitted him with a guillotine choke in the first round. He then fought three weeks later and retained the belt after a five-round majority draw against Brandon Moreno at UFC 256.

UFC Women's Featherweight Champion 2021

Amanda Nunes

Since	29th Dec, 2018
Defenses	2

Amanda Nunes defeated Cris Cyborg via KO for the Women's UFC featherweight championship at UFC 232 and became the first woman to become a two-division UFC champion. She is also the third fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two weight classes simultaneously (bantamweight and featherweight).

She defended her title against Felicia Spencer at UFC 250 and became the first and only fighter in UFC history to defend two titles while actively holding them. Amanda Nunes remains the current UFC Women's featherweight champion.

UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion 2021

Julianna Peña

Since	11th December, 2021
Defenses	0

Julianna Peña defeated Amanda Nunes through submission and became the UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion at UFC 269.

Previous champion Amanda Nunes had defeated Miesha Tate with a submission via a rear-naked choke at UFC 200 to win the UFC bantamweight championship.

Amanda had defended the title against Ronda Rousey, Valentina Shevchenko, Raquel Pennington, Holly Holm and Germaine De Randamie.

UFC Women's Flyweight Champion 2021

Valentina Shevchenko

Since	8th December, 2018
Defenses	6

Valentina Shevchenko won the vacant UFC women's flyweight championship after defeating Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 231 in Toronto, Canada. Shevchenko has since defended her title four times against Jessica Eye, Liz Carmouche, Katlyn Chookagian and Jennifer Maia. With a title reign of 734 days and counting, Shevchenko remains the current UFC women's flyweight champion.

UFC Strawweight Champion 2021

Carla Esparza

Since	07 May, 2022
Defenses	0

Jessica Andrade defeated Rose Namajunas at UFC 237 to win the title but lost it to Zhang Weili at UFC Fight Night: Shenzhen, China. Weili went on to face Joanna Jedrzejczyk in her first title defense and won via split decision at UFC 248. At UFC 261, Rose Namajunas went on to reclaim the strawweight title for the second time.

Namajunas defended her title against Weili during their rematch at UFC 268. In her second title defense, Namajunas lost the strawweight title to Carla Esparza at UFC 274. After seven years, Carla Esparza has begun her second reign as the UFC Women's Strawweight Champion.

FAQ

Q. Who are the current UFC Champions?

A. The current UFC Champions are :- Francis Ngannou (Heavyweight), Jan Blachowicz (Light Heavyweight), Israel Adesanya (Middleweight), Kamaru Usman (Welterweight), Charles Oliveira (Lightweight) Alexander Volkanovski (Featherweight), Aljamain Sterling (Bantamweight), Deiveson Figueiredo (Flyweight), Julianna Peña (Women's Bantamweight) Amanda Nunes (Women's Featherweight), Valentina Shevchenko (Women's Flyweight) and Carla Esparza (Women's Strawweight).

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Last Updated May 7th, 2022.