List of current mixed martial arts champions

A mixed martial artist and his championship belt

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

Super Heavyweight (over 265 lb, 120 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Tony Lopez	KOTC	Sep 17, 2011	1

Heavyweight (265 lb, 120 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Stipe Miocic	UFC	May 15, 2016	1
N/A	Vacant	Bellator	N/A	N/A
Bulgarian	Blagoy Ivanov	WSOF	June 5, 2015	2
American	Brandon Vera	One	December 11, 2015	0
N/A	Vacant	Legacy FC	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	M-1 Global	N/A	N/A
Indian	Singh Jaideep (Megatonweight: over 205 lb, 93 kg)	Deep	October 17, 2015	0
American	Tony Lopez	KOTC	September 25, 2015	1
N/A	Vacant	CWFC	N/A	N/A
English	John Demmel	UCMMA	November 7, 2015	1
Polish	Karol Bedorf	KSW	September 28, 2013[6]	3
Brazilian	João Almeida	Jungle Fight	September 3, 2016	0
English	Oli Thompson	IGF	December 31, 2015	0
American	Mighty Mo (Openweight: no weight limit)	Road FC	September 24, 2016	0
N/A	Vacant	BAMMA	N/A	N/A

Cruiserweight (220 lb, 100 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Wes Combs (230 lb, 104 kg)	KOTC	July 23, 2011	1
Brazilian	Bruno Cappelozza	Jungle Fight	October 24, 2015	0

Light Heavyweight (205 lb, 93 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Daniel Cormier	UFC	May 23, 2015	1
American	Phil Davis	Bellator	November 4, 2016	0
American	David Branch	WSOF	September 18, 2015	1
Brazilian	Roger Gracie	One	May 6, 2016	0
N/A	Vacant	Titan FC	N/A	N/A
American	Robert Drysdale	Legacy FC	July 22, 2016	0
Russian	Rashid Yusupov	M-1 Global	May 27, 2016	0
Japanese	Yoshiyuki Nakanishi	Deep	April 17, 2010[7]	3
American	Tony Lopez	KOTC	August 6, 2016	0
N/A	Vacant	Pancrase	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	CWFC	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	MFC	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	BAMMA	N/A	N/A
Czech Republic	Karlos Vemola	UCMMA	May 2, 2015	0
Polish	Tomasz Narkun	KSW	October 31, 2015	2
Brazilian	Bruno Cappelozza	Jungle Fight	May 21, 2016	0

Middleweight (185 lb, 84 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
English	Michael Bisping	UFC	June 4, 2016	1
Brazilian	Rafael Carvalho	Bellator	October 23, 2015	1
American	David Branch	WSOF	June 21, 2014	2
Russian	Vitaly Bigdash	One	October 9, 2015	0
N/A	Vacant	RFA	N/A	N/A
American	Rafael Lovato Jr.	Legacy FC	April 22, 2016	1
Russian	Ramazan Emeev	M-1 Global	April 10, 2015	1
N/A	Vacant	Shooto	N/A	N/A
South Korean	Young Choi	Deep	October 11, 2015	0
American	Sidiah Parker	KOTC	October 8, 2016	0
N/A	Vacant	Pancrase	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	CWFC	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	MFC	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	BAMMA	N/A	N/A
English	Mike Shipman	UCMMA	November 7, 2015	0
Polish	Mamed Khalidov	KSW	November 28, 2015	1
Brazilian	Paulo Henrique Costa	Jungle Fight	May 21, 2016	1
American	David Mitchell	TPF	February 15, 2015	0
South Korean	Jung Hwan Cha	Road FC	January 31, 2016	0

Welterweight (170 lb, 77 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Tyron Woodley	UFC	July 30, 2016	1
Brazil	Douglas Lima	Bellator	November 10, 2016	0
American	Jon Fitch	WSOF	April 2, 2016	0
American	Ben Askren	One	August 29, 2014	1
N/A	Vacant	RFA	N/A	N/A
Brazilian	Dhiego Lima	Titan	June 10, 2016	0
N/A	Vacant	Legacy FC	N/A	N/A
Russian	Alexey Kunchenko	M-1 Global	April 9, 2016	0
N/A	Vacant	Shooto	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	Deep	N/A	N/A
American	Ben Egli	KOTC	October 1, 2016	0
Japanese	Akihiro Murayama	Pancrase	March 13, 2016	0
N/A	Vacant	CWFC	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	MFC	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	BAMMA	N/A	N/A
English	Bill Beaumont	UCMMA	February 7, 2015	0
Polish	Borys Mankowski	KSW	May 17, 2014	1
Brazilian	Handesson Ferreira	Jungle Fight	December 5, 2015	0

Junior Welterweight (160 lb, 73 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Alex Reyes	KOTC	March 15, 2015	1

Lightweight (155 lb, 70 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Irish	Conor McGregor	UFC	November 12, 2016	0
American	Michael Chandler	Bellator	June 24, 2016	0
American	Justin Gaethje	WSOF	January 18, 2014	4
Japanese	Shinya Aoki (170 lb, 77 kg)	One	April 5, 2013	2
Brazilian	Thiago Moises	RFA	February 19, 2016	0
Brazilian	Gesias Cavalcante	Titan	June 10, 2016	0
American	Mike Bronzoulis	Legacy FC	May 8, 2015	0
French	Mansour Barnaoui	M-1 Global	May 2, 2015	0
Japanese	Koshi Matsumoto (Welterweight: 155 lb, 70 kg)	Shooto	April 23, 2016	0
Japanese	Keita Nakamura	Deep	July 20, 2015	0
American	Alex Reyes	KOTC	December 4, 2014	2
Japanese	Takasuke Kume	Pancrase	September 11, 2016	0
N/A	Vacant	CWFC	N/A	N/A
Tunisian	Mansour Barnaoui	BAMMA	September 14, 2013	1
Ukrainian	Maksym Matus	UCMMA	May 3, 2014	1
N/A	Vacant	KSW	N/A	N/A
Brazilian	Erick Barbosa	Jungle Fight	October 24, 2015	0
South Korean	A Sol Kwon	Road FC	August 17, 2014	1

Featherweight (145 lb, 66 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Brazilian	Jose Aldo	UFC	November 26, 2016	0
American	Daniel Mason-Straus	Bellator	November 6, 2015	0
American	Lance Palmer	WSOF	July 30, 2016	0
Russian	Marat Gafurov (155 lb, 70 kg)	One	November 21, 2015	1
Brazilian	Raoni Barcelos	RFA	August 22, 2015[8]	0
American	Andre Harrison	Titan	July 18, 2015	3
Slovak	Ivan Buchinger	M-1 Global	October 17, 2014	0
Japanese	Yutaka Saito (Lightweight: 145 lb, 66 kg)	Shooto	January 11, 2016	0
Japanese	Kazunori Yokota	Deep	February 18, 2012[9]	1
American	Jordan Griffin (Bantamweight: 145 lb, 66 kg)	KOTC	August 8, 2015	1
American	Andy Main	Pancrase	October 4, 2015	1
Canadian	Paddy Pimblett	CWFC	September 10, 2016	1
French	Tom DuQuesnoy	BAMMA	April 5, 2014	1
English	Ashleigh Grimshaw	UCMMA	May 26, 2012[10]	1
Brazilian	Valdines Silva	Jungle Fight	April 30, 2016	0
South Korean	Mu Gyeom Choi	Road FC	February 9, 2014	2

Bantamweight (135 lb, 61 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Dominick Cruz	UFC	January 17, 2016	1
Brazilian	Eduardo Dantas	Bellator	June 17, 2016	0
Brazilian	Marlon Moraes	WSOF	March 29, 2014	4
Brazilian	Bibiano Fernandes (145 lb, 66 kg)	One	October 18, 2013[11]	4
Brazilian	Leandro Higo	RFA	August 21, 2015 (RFA 29)	1
N/A	Vacant (Featherweight: 135 lb, 61 kg)	Shooto	N/A	N/A
Japanese	Takafumi Otsuka	Deep	April 29, 2014	2
American	Randy Steinke (Flyweight: 135 lb, 61 kg)	KOTC	August 2014	0
Japanese	Shintaro Ishiwatari	Pancrase	December 3, 2011[12]	4
N/A	Vacant	CWFC	N/A	N/A
Brazilian	Luiz Henrique Tosta	UCMMA	February 7, 2015	1
Brazilian	Josenaldo Silva	Jungle Fight	April 30, 2016	0
N/A	Vacant	Road FC	N/A	N/A

Flyweight (125 lb, 57 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Demetrious Johnson	UFC	September 22, 2012[13]	8
Russian	Magomed Bibulatov	WSOF	October 17, 2015	0
Kazakhstani	Kairat Akhmetov (135 lb, 61 kg)	One	November 21, 2015	0
Brazilian	Alexandre Pantoja	RFA	September 12, 2014	1
American	Damacio Page	Legacy FC	October 17, 2014	1
Brazilian	Bruno Azevedo	XFC	March 14, 2015	0
American	Louis Gaudinot	CFFC	September 12, 2015	0
Japanese	Hiromasa Ogikubo (Bantamweight: 125 lb, 57 kg)	Shooto	April 23, 2016[14]	0
Japanese	Tatsumitsu Wada	Deep	June 26, 2016	0
N/A	Vacant	Pancrase	N/A	N/A
American	John DeVall (Jr. Flyweight: 125 lb, 57 kg)	KOTC	August 1, 2015	0
German	Rany Saadeh	BAMMA	August 2, 2014	2
English	Giorgio Andrews	UCMMA	August 18, 2012[15]	0
Brazilian	Bruno Menezes	Jungle Fight	May 9, 2015	1
South Korean	Min Jong Song	Road FC	October 9, 2015	0

Junior Flyweight (120 lb, 54 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Japanese	Kent Kambe (Light Flyweight: 120 lb, 54 kg)	Pancrase	December 13, 2015	0

Strawweight (115 lb, 52 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Japanese	Yoshitaka Naito (125 lb, 57 kg)	One	May 27, 2016	0
Japanese	Mitsuhisa Sunabe	Pancrase	November 1, 2015	0
Japanese	Ryohei Kurosawa (Flyweight: 115 lb, 52 kg)	Shooto	July 17, 2016	0

Women

Women athletes are generally smaller than, and compete at lower weights than their male counterparts.^[16]

Featherweight (145 lb, 66 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Brazilian	Cristiane Justino	Invicta FC	July 13, 2013[17]	3

Bantamweight (135 lb, 61 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Brazilian	Amanda Nunes	UFC	July 9, 2016	0
American	Tonya Evinger	Invicta FC	July 9, 2015	1
South Korean	Ji Yeon Kim	Deep Jewels	August 29, 2015	0
Japanese	Rin Nakai	Pancrase	December 1, 2012	0
Brazilian	Amanda Lemos	Jungle Fight	October 24, 2015	1
American	Shanna Young (Flyweight: 135 lb, 61 kg)	KOTC	November 21, 2015	0

Flyweight (125 lb, 57 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Barb Honchak	Invicta FC	April 5, 2013[18]	2
American	Brenda Gonzales (Jr. Flyweight: 125 lb, 57 kg)	KOTC	October 6, 2012[19]	1

Strawweight (115 lb, 52 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Polish	Joanna Jędrzejczyk	UFC	March 14, 2015	4
American	Angela Hill	Invicta FC	May 7, 2016	0
Japanese	Mizuki Inoue	Deep Jewels	August 9, 2014	1
Brazilian	Polyana Viana	Jungle Fight	November 28, 2015	0
American	Jamie Colleen	KOTC	August 29, 2015	0

Atomweight (105 lb, 48 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Japanese	Ayaka Hamasaki	Invicta FC	July 9, 2015	2
Japanese	Naho Sugiyama	Deep Jewels	June 5, 2016	0
Singaporean	Angela Lee (115 lb, 52 kg)	One	May 6, 2016	0
American	Andy Nguyen	KOTC	April 9, 2016	0

See also

• List of current boxing champions
• List of current female boxing champions

References

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. Samson szymson. "KSW 24 results". mmafighting.com. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
7. EKP (April 17, 2010). "Deep 47 Impact Results". headkicklegend.com.
8. staffn (August 22, 2015). "Raoni Barcelos claims belt at RFA 29". MMAJunkie.com.
9. Toni Loiseleur & Taro Irei (February 18, 2012). "Lightweight King Mizuto Hirota Defends Crown Against Seiichi Ikemoto at Deep 57". Sherdog.com.
10. Tapology.com Staff. "UCMMA 28". Tapology.com. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
11. Luke Thomas (October 18, 2013). "One FC 11 results: Shinya Aoki successful in featherweight debut, Bibiano Fernandes retains title". MMAFighting.com.
12. "Sunabe and Ishiwatari Crowned at Pancrase Impressive Tour Final". Sherdog.com. 2011-12-03.
13. Geno Mrosko (September 22, 2012). "UFC 152 results: Mohamed Hassan wins flyweight title with split decision victory over Joseph Benavidez". MMAMania.com.
14. http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Hiromasa-Ogikubo-Koshi-Matsumoto-Take-Shooto-World-Titles-at-FinishFilled-Fight-Mosh-103813
15. Tapology.com Staff. "UCMMA 29". Tapology.com. Retrieved September 19, 2012.
16. Hyde & Gengenbach. "Anatomical and Physiological Considerations when comparing Male and Female Athletes". San Diego Center for Health. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
17. Dave Meltzer (July 14, 2013). "Invicta FC 6 results: Cris Cyborg captures first Invicta featherweight title". MMAfighting.com.
18. Dave Doyle (April 6, 2013). "Invicta FC 5 results". MMAFighting.com.
19. KOTC.com Staff. "KOTC Stranglehold Results". KOTC.com. Retrieved December 2, 2012.