List of current mixed martial arts champions

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a form of competitive combat sport, akin to boxing, muay thai, or kick boxing. MMA titles, or championship belts, are given to those fighters deemed by a promotional organization to have met a certain standard of athletic accomplishment in a specific weight class (most often by means of a championship fight). Championship belts are fought for at each weight class under a promotion, with only one belt awarded per class. Each belt is usually contested every time the belt holder fights, and passed to the victor of that fight (see the List of UFC champions for a chronology of UFC title belts). A belt may be vacated when a fighter leaves a promotion, or is suspended. At such times an interim champion may be crowned, or the belt may be awarded to the winner of a fight between top contenders.

This list displays all title holders for the major, certified MMA promoting and sanctioning bodies. There is no clear industry definition within the MMA community to determine which organizations are considered major promoting bodies.^[1] Due to a lack of clear guidelines, this list is limited to those organizations that are either highly regarded (such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Strikeforce), long standing (such as King of the Cage (KOTC) and Pancrase), or the dominant organizations of a country or region of the world (such as England's Ultimate Challenge MMA (UCMMA) and Canada's Maximum Fighting Championship (MFC)).

Because there is no international unified MMA weight class system in use,^[2] the Nevada State Athletic Commission's (NSAC) weight classes have been adopted for this article as they are most common across major promotions. Some organizations have created titles in weight classes outside the NSAC guidelines. Those titles have been and will be recognized as subdivisions under their common weight class.^[3]

Though unofficial, Fight Matrix considered the first MMA lineal champions as follows:^[4]

Heavyweight – Ken Shamrock beginning October 14, 1993 at Pancrase: Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers 2
Light heavyweight – Frank Shamrock beginning December 21, 1997 at UFC Japan: Ultimate Japan.
Middleweight – Kenji Kawaguchi beginning May 18, 1989 at Shooto: Shooto.
Welterweight – Yasuto Sekishima beginning January 13, 1990 at Shooto: Shooto.
Lightweight – Yuichi Watanabe beginning January 13, 1990 at Shooto: Shooto.
Featherweight – Noboru Asahi beginning March 27, 1992 at Shooto: Shooto.
Bantamweight – Kazuhiro Sakamoto beginning October 19, 1989 at Shooto: Shooto.
Flyweight – Kenji Ogusu beginning March 27, 1992 at Shooto: Shooto.

Although the inaugural lineal champions are sometimes contested, especially at heavyweight; the consensus view, is that all the lineal titles have been unified with their respective weight class UFC titles.

Organizations are listed by a combination of their size (number of fighters, events per year, etc.) and their history (years in existence, title lineage, etc.). Title holders from other organizations, who are now fighting in the UFC, are not included in this list as the UFC does not cross promote and these belts are often vacated.^[5]

Men

Heavyweight (265 lb, 120 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Cameroonian	Francis Ngannou	UFC	March 27, 2021	1
American	Ryan Bader	Bellator	January 26, 2019	2
Canadian	Arjan Bhullar	One	May 15, 2021	0
Russian	Alikhan Vakhaev	ACA	August 27, 2022	0
English	Phil De Fries	KSW	April 14, 2018	7
N/A	Vacant	CWFC	N/A	N/A
Russian	Grigoriy Ponomarev	FNG	October 14, 2022	0
N/A	Vacant	LFA	N/A	N/A
Guam	Roque Martinez (Known as Megatonweight / over 205 lb, 93 kg)	Deep	July 15, 2017	2
N/A	Vacant	Jungle Fight	N/A	N/A
American	Greg Velasco	CFFC	October 8, 2022	0
Congolese	Matunga Djikasa	EFC	October 6, 2022	0
N/A	Vacant	Road FC	N/A	N/A
Russian	Rizvan Kuniev	Eagle FC	December 20, 2020	2
American	Tony Lopez	KOTC	September 25, 2015	5
American	Greg Rebello	CES	February 2, 2018	2

Cruiserweight (225 lb, 102 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Dutch	Reinier de Ridder (Known as Light Heavyweight)	One	April 28, 2021	0
American	Tomar Washington (230 lb, 104 kg)	KOTC	May 11, 2019	0

Light Heavyweight (205 lb, 93 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
N/A	Vacant	UFC	N/A	N/A
Russian	Vadim Nemkov	Bellator	August 21, 2020	3
Dutch	Reinier de Ridder (Known as Middleweight)	One	October 30, 2020	0
Russian	Muslim Magomedov	ACA	July 16, 2021	2
N/A	Vacant	Rizin FF	N/A	N/A
Turkish	Ibragim Chuzhigaev	KSW	January 15, 2022	0
N/A	Vacant	CWFC	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	Brave CF	N/A	N/A
Russian	Vagab Vagabov	FNG	October 16, 2021	1
Brazilian	Bruno Lopes	LFA	September 30, 2022	0
N/A	Vacant	Pancrase	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	Deep	N/A	N/A
American	Mike Rhodes	CFFC	November 22, 2019	0
N/A	Vacant	EFC	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	Titan FC	N/A	N/A
Kazakhstani	Diyar Nurgozhay	Eagle FC	August 21, 2022	0

Middleweight (185 lb, 84 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Brazilian	Alex Pereira	UFC	November 12, 2022	0
American	Johnny Eblen	Bellator	June 24, 2022	0
American	Christian Lee (Known as Welterweight)	One	November 19, 2022	0
Russian	Magomedrasul Gasanov	ACA	April 9, 2021	2
N/A	Vacant	KSW	N/A	N/A
English	Christian Leroy Duncan	CWFC	April 2, 2022	1
N/A	Vacant	Brave CF	N/A	N/A
Russian	Vladimir Mineev	FNG	September 9, 2020	1
American	Ozzy Diaz	LFA	March 25, 2022	0
Japanese	Yura Naito	Pancrase	March 21, 2022	0
Brazilian	Joao Batista Yoshimura	Deep	July 4, 2021	0
N/A	Vacant	Shooto	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	Jungle Fight	N/A	N/A
American	Donovan Beard	CFFC	July 29, 2022	0
South African	Luke Michael	EFC	March 5, 2022	0
South Korean	In Su Hwang	Road FC	July 3, 2021	0
Brazilian	Bruno Assis	Titan	July 2, 2021	0
Tajikistani	Faridun Odilov	Eagle FC	February 9, 2021	1
N/A	Vacant	CES	N/A	N/A
American	Matt Lagler	KOTC	June 22, 2019	0

Welterweight (170 lb, 77 kg or 175 lb, 79 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
English	Leon Edwards	UFC	August 20, 2022	0
Ukrainian	Yaroslav Amosov	Bellator	June 11, 2021	0
American	Christian Lee (Known as Lightweight)	One	August 26, 2022	2
Russian	Abubakar Vagaev	ACA	February 26, 2021	0
N/A	Vacant	KSW	N/A	N/A
Irish	Rhys McKee	CWFC	June 25, 2022	0
Polish	Marcin Bandel (175 lb, 79 kg)	Brave CF	October 19, 2022	0
Russian	Dmitry Bikrev	FNG	April 6, 2019	3
N/A	Vacant	LFA	N/A	N/A
Japanese	Masayuki Kikuiri	Pancrase	May 26, 2022	0
Japanese	Daichi Abe	Deep	May 25, 2022	0
Brazilian	Hernani Perpetuo (Known as Middleweight)	Shooto	August 25, 2013	0
N/A	Vacant	Jungle Fight	N/A	N/A
American	Raheam Forest	CFFC	November 18, 2022	0
South African	Ziko Makengele	EFC	April 9, 2022	0
American	Dilano Taylor	Titan	May 14, 2021	1
Tajikistani	Samandar Murodov (175 lb, 79 kg)	Eagle FC	September 17, 2021	0
N/A	Vacant	CES	N/A	N/A
American	Edson Gomez	KOTC	June 22, 2019	1

Light Welterweight (165 lb, 75 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Bahraini	Eldar Eldarov (Known as Super Lightweight)	Brave CF	April 19, 2019	1
American	Richie Palomino (Known as Junior Welterweight)	KOTC	September 7, 2019	0

Lightweight (155 lb, 70 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Russian	Islam Makhachev	UFC	October 22, 2022	0
Russian	Usman Nurmagomedov	Bellator	November 18, 2022	0
Chinese	Tang Kai (Known as Featherweight)	One	August 26, 2022	0
Russian	Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov	ACA	September 19, 2020	1
Brazilian	Roberto Satoshi de Souza	Rizin FF	June 13, 2021	2
Polish	Marian Ziółkowski	KSW	December 19, 2020	3
English	George Hardwick	CWFC	July 22, 2022	1
Egyptian	Ahmed Amir	Brave CF	September 25, 2021	0
Azerbaijani	Nariman Abbasov	FNG	April 26, 2019	4
American	Aaron McKenzie	LFA	April 8, 2022	0
Japanese	Takasuke Kume	Pancrase	September 11, 2016	3
Japanese	Juri Ohara	Deep	March 15, 2022	1
N/A	Vacant (Known as Welterweight)	Shooto	N/A	N/A
Brazilian	John David	Jungle Fight	July 31, 2022	0
American	Kendly St. Louis	CFFC	November 10, 2022	0
N/A	Vacant	EFC	N/A	N/A
Korean	Si Won Park	Road FC	July 23, 2022	0
N/A	Vacant	Combate Global	N/A	N/A
American	Landon Quinones	Titan	April 10, 2022	1
Russian	Mehdi Dakaev	Eagle FC	December 4, 2020	2
American	Blaze Gill	KOTC	January 13, 2018	0
American	Nathan Ghareeb	CES	November 17, 2021	0

Featherweight (145 lb, 66 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Australian	Alexander Volkanovski	UFC	December 14, 2019	4
Brazilian	Patrício Pitbull	Bellator	April 15, 2022	1
N/A	Vacant (Known as Bantamweight)	ONE	October 20, 2022	–
Russian	Magomedrasul Khasbulaev	ACA	March 26, 2021	1
Japanese	Kleber Koike Erbst	Rizin FF	October 23, 2022	0
French	Salahdine Parnasse	KSW	December 18, 2021	1
Irish	Paul Hughes	CWFC	November 4, 2022	0
Russian	Roman Bogatov	Brave CF	October 22, 2022	0
Russian	Gleb Khabibulin	FNG	October 14, 2022	0
N/A	Vacant	LFA	N/A	N/A
Japanese	Isao Kobayashi	Pancrase	May 26, 2019	2
Japanese	Juntaro Ushiku	Deep	September 20, 2020	2
Japanese	Keisuke Sasu (Known as Lightweight)	Shooto	July 25, 2021	0
Brazilian	Bruno Fontes	Jungle Fight	September 18, 2022	0
N/A	Vacant	CFFC	N/A	N/A
Congolese	Igeu Kabesa	EFC	November 3, 2022	0
Jordanian	Ali Al-Qaisi	Titan	August 6, 2021	0
N/A	Vacant	Combate Global	N/A	N/A
South Korean	Soo Chul Kim	Road FC	May 14, 2022	0
Russian	Rasul Magomedov	Eagle FC	August 10, 2022	0
American	Juan Beltran (Known as Bantamweight)	KOTC	December 5, 2021	0
American	Matt Bessette	CES	January 24, 2020	0

Bantamweight (135 lb, 61 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Aljamain Sterling	UFC	March 6, 2021	2
American	Sergio Pettis	Bellator	May 8, 2021	1
American	Demetrious Johnson (Known as Flyweight)	One	August 27, 2022	0
Russian	Oleg Borisov	ACA	March 26, 2022	0
Japanese	Kyoji Horiguchi	Rizin FF	December 31, 2020	0
Polish	Sebastian Przybysz	KSW	March 20, 2021	2
Italian	Michele Martignoni	CWFC	October 7, 2022	0
Canadian	Brad Katona	Brave CF	March 11, 2022	1
Kazakhstani	Sabit Zhusupov	FNG	October 14, 2022	0
N/A	Vacant	LFA	N/A	N/A
Japanese	Taichi Nakajima	Pancrase	December 11, 2021	0
N/A	Vacant	Deep	N/A	N/A
Japanese	Tatsuya Ando (Known as Featherweight)	Shooto	March 21, 2022	0
Brazilian	Willian Souza	Jungle Fight	March 27, 2022	0
American	Da'Mon Blackshear	CFFC	November 19, 2021	1
N/A	Vacant	EFC	N/A	N/A
American	Ira Lukowsky	Titan	December 17, 2021	0
South Korea	Min Woo Kim	Road FC	February 23, 2019	1
Mexican	David Martinez	Combate Global	May 29, 2021	1
Russian	Renat Khavalov	Eagle FC	March 19, 2021	2
American	Ashiek Ajim	CES	June 17, 2022	0

Flyweight (125 lb, 57 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Brazilian	Deiveson Figueiredo	UFC	January 22, 2022	0
Philippines	Joshua Pacio (Known as Strawweight)	One	April 12, 2019	3
Russian	Imran Bukuev	ACA	February 26, 2022	0
English	Sam Creasey	CWFC	October 2, 2021	1
Russian	Vartan Asatryan	FNG	February 23, 2022	0
Brazilian	Carlos Mota	LFA	August 26, 2022	0
Japanese	Makoto Takahashi	Deep	May 8, 2022	0
Japanese	Satoru Enomoto	Pancrase	March 21, 2022	0
Japanese	Tatsuro Taira (Known as Bantamweight)	Shooto	July 3, 2021	0
Brazilian	Igor Severino	Jungle Fight	August 27, 2022	0
Japanese	Makoto Takahashi	CFFC	November 10, 2022	0
South African	Luthando Biko	EFC	December 4, 2021	1
Brazilian	Victor Dias	Titan	March 26, 2021	1
N/A	Vacant	Road FC	N/A	N/A
Russian	Irgit Oveenchi	Eagle FC	August 10, 2022	0
American	Mitch Raposo	CES	November 17, 2020	0

Strawweight (115 lb, 52 kg)

riaz		Organization	Date
Japanese	Keito Yamakita	Pancrase	July 18, 2022
Japanese	Namiki Kawahara	Deep	August 23, 2020
Japanese	Jo Arai (Known as Flyweight)	Shooto	September 19, 2022

Women

Women athletes are generally smaller than, and compete at lower weights than their male counterparts.^[6]

Featherweight (145 lb, 66 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Brazilian	Amanda Nunes	UFC	December 29, 2018	2
Brazilian	Cris Cyborg	Bellator	January 25, 2020	3
N/A	Vacant	Invicta FC	N/A	N/A
Japanese	Yoko Higashi	Deep Jewels	May 8, 2022	0

Bantamweight (135 lb, 61 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Brazilian	Amanda Nunes	UFC	July 30, 2022	0
American	Taneisha Tennant	Invicta FC	August 27, 2021	1
N/A	Vacant	FNG	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	LFA	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	Deep Jewels	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	Pancrase	N/A	N/A
Brazilian	Kelly Ottoni	Jungle Fight	July 31, 2022	0
N/A	Vacant	CFFC	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	EFC	N/A	N/A

Flyweight (125 lb, 57 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Kyrgyz	Valentina Shevchenko	UFC	December 8, 2018	7
American	Liz Carmouche	Bellator	April 22, 2022	0
Chinese	Xiong Jing Nan (Known as Strawweight)	One	January 20, 2018	7
N/A	Vacant	Invicta FC	N/A	N/A
Canadian	Jamey-Lyn Horth	LFA	December 10, 2021	0
Japanese	Rin Nakai	Deep Jewels	May 8, 2022	0
Brazilian	Sidy Rocha	Pancrase	April 14, 2019	0
N/A	Vacant	Jungle Fight	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	CFFC	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	EFC	N/A	N/A

Strawweight (115 lb, 52 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Chinese	Zhang Weili	UFC	November 12, 2022	0
American	Angela Lee (Known as Atomweight)	One	May 6, 2016	5
Brazilian	Valesca Machado	Invicta FC	November 16, 2022	0
N/A	Vacant	LFA	N/A	N/A
Japanese	Karen Pravajra	Pancrase	March 21, 2022	0
Japanese	Seika Izawa	Deep Jewels	March 15, 2022	0
Brazilian	Stephanie Luciano	Jungle Fight	November 13, 2022	0
N/A	Vacant	CFFC	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	EFC	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	Combate Global	N/A	N/A

Super Atomweight (108 lb, 49 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Japanese	Seika Izawa	Rizin FF	April 17, 2022	0
Japanese	Satomi Takano	Shooto	November 5, 2021	0

Atomweight (105 lb, 47,5 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Jillian DeCoursey	Invicta FC	September 28, 2022	0
Japanese	Saori Oshima	Deep Jewels	June 20, 2021	1
Japanese	Chihiro Sawada	Shooto	November 27, 2022	0
South Korean	Yu Ri Shim	Road FC	September 4, 2021	0

Microweight (95 lb, 43 kg)

riaz		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Japanese	Saori Oshima	Deep	September 20, 2020	1
Thai	Suwanan Boonsorn	Deep Jewels	November 5, 2020	0

References

^ The Canadian Press Staff (August 14, 2010). "Ontario to allow mixed martial arts starting in 2011". Bell Media.
^ Robert Rousseau. "MMA Doesn't Need 14 Weight Classes". SubmitToMMA.com. Retrieved February 24, 2011.
^ Michael David Smith (June 7, 2010). "Frank Mir Moving Down? Maybe MMA Needs Cruiserweight Division". AOL Inc.
^ "Fight Matrix - Lineal Championship Histories". fightmatrix.com.
^ Sammy Perez (November 8, 2010). ""Slammin' Sammy" on MMA Cross Promotion & Risks!". ringtalk.com.
^ Hyde & Gengenbach. "Anatomical and Physiological Considerations when comparing Male and Female Athletes". San Diego Center for Health. Retrieved July 26, 2011.

[1] The Canadian Press Staff (August 14, 2010). "Ontario to allow mixed martial arts starting in 2011". Bell Media.

[2] Robert Rousseau. "MMA Doesn't Need 14 Weight Classes". SubmitToMMA.com. Retrieved February 24, 2011.

[3] Michael David Smith (June 7, 2010). "Frank Mir Moving Down? Maybe MMA Needs Cruiserweight Division". AOL Inc.

[4] "Fight Matrix - Lineal Championship Histories". fightmatrix.com.

[5] Sammy Perez (November 8, 2010). ""Slammin' Sammy" on MMA Cross Promotion & Risks!". ringtalk.com.

[6] Hyde & Gengenbach. "Anatomical and Physiological Considerations when comparing Male and Female Athletes". San Diego Center for Health. Retrieved July 26, 2011.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

v t e Mixed martial arts champions
Current champions for active organizations	UFC Bellator MMA ACA AMC MMA-1 ONE KSW PFL Rizin BRAVE Cage Warriors LFA Pancrase Shooto KOTC Deep FFC Invicta FC UAE Warriors
Legacy champions for defunct organizations	Pride FC Strikeforce IFL EliteXC Cage Rage Dream Hero's WEC SRC SFL
Miscellaneous	UFC Men's Pound for Pound rankings UFC Women's Pound for Pound rankings MMA records List of undefeated mixed martial artists List of mixed martial artists with the most sanctioned fights

Men

Heavyweight (265 lb, 120 kg)

Cruiserweight (225 lb, 102 kg)

Light Heavyweight (205 lb, 93 kg)

Middleweight (185 lb, 84 kg)

Welterweight (170 lb, 77 kg or 175 lb, 79 kg)

Light Welterweight (165 lb, 75 kg)

Lightweight (155 lb, 70 kg)

Featherweight (145 lb, 66 kg)

Bantamweight (135 lb, 61 kg)

Flyweight (125 lb, 57 kg)

Strawweight (115 lb, 52 kg)

Women

Featherweight (145 lb, 66 kg)

Bantamweight (135 lb, 61 kg)

Flyweight (125 lb, 57 kg)

Strawweight (115 lb, 52 kg)

Super Atomweight (108 lb, 49 kg)

Atomweight (105 lb, 47,5 kg)

Microweight (95 lb, 43 kg)

See also

References