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, No Limit)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Brazilian	Ronny Markes	KOTC	February 4, 2017	0

Heavyweight (265 lb, 120 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Daniel Cormier	UFC	July 7, 2018	0
N/A	Vacant	Bellator	N/A	N/A
Serbian	Darko Stosic	FFC	September 23, 2016	2
American	Brandon Vera	One	December 11, 2015	1
American	Jeff Hughes	LFA	November 3, 2017	0
N/A	Vacant	M-1 Global	N/A	N/A
Guam	Roque Martinez (Megatonweight: over 205 lb, 93 kg)	Deep	July 15, 2017	0
American	Tony Lopez	KOTC	September 25, 2015	1
Italian	Mauro Cerilli	CWFC	November 25, 2017	1
English	John Demmel	UCMMA	November 7, 2015	1
English	Phil De Fries	KSW	April 14, 2018	1
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	2
N/A	Vacant	BAMMA	N/A	N/A

Cruiserweight (225 lb, 102 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Wes Combs	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	3
American	Ryan Bader	Bellator	June 24, 2017	1
N/A	Vacant	PFL	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	FFC	N/A	N/A
Myanmar	Aung La N Sang	One	February 23, 2018	0
N/A	Vacant	Titan FC	N/A	N/A
American	Ryan Spann	LFA	January 26, 2018	0
N/A	Vacant	M-1 Global	N/A	N/A
Japanese	Yoshiyuki Nakanishi	Deep	April 17, 2010[6]	3
American	Tony Lopez	KOTC	August 6, 2016	0
N/A	Vacant	Pancrase	N/A	N/A
Irish	Karl Moore	CWFC	March 4, 2017	0
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	3
Brazilian	Bruno Cappelozza	Jungle Fight	May 21, 2016	0

Middleweight (185 lb, 84 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Australian	Robert Whittaker	UFC	December 10, 2017	1
Netherlands	Gegard Mousasi	Bellator	May 25, 2018	1
N/A	Vacant	PFL	N/A	N/A
Myanmar	Aung La N Sang [7]	One	June 30, 2017	1
American	David Mitchell	FFC	December 17, 2016	0
American	Brendan Allen	LFA	September 21, 2018	0
Russian	Artem Frolov	M-1 Global	October 27, 2017	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
Japanese	Yuki Niimura	Pancrase	November 12, 2017	0
English	Lee Chadwick	CWFC	October 28, 2017	0
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	1

Welterweight (170 lb, 77 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Tyron Woodley	UFC	July 30, 2016	4
Canadian	Rory MacDonald	Bellator	January 20, 2018	0
N/A	Vacant	PFL	N/A	N/A
German	Roberto Soldic	FFC	December 17, 2016	0
American	Ben Askren	One	August 29, 2014	4
Slovenian	Uros Jurisic	Titan	July 1, 2018	0
American	James Nakshima	LFA	July 27, 2018	0
Russian	Alexey Kunchenko	M-1 Global	April 9, 2016	4
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	Stefano Paterno	CWFC	July 21, 2018	0
N/A	Vacant	MFC	N/A	N/A
N/A	Alex Lohore	BAMMA	September 15, 2017	N/A
English	Bill Beaumont	UCMMA	February 7, 2015	0
Bosnia	Roberto Soldic	KSW	October 6, 2018	0
Brazilian	Handesson Ferreira	Jungle Fight	December 5, 2015	0

Super Lightweight (165 lb, 75 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
N/A	Vacant	KOTC	N/A	N/A
Brazilian	Marcos Yoshio Souza	REAL FIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP	June 12, 2016	0

Lightweight (155 lb, 70 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Russian	Khabib Nurmagomedov	UFC	April 7, 2018	1
American	Brent Primus	Bellator	June 24, 2017	0
N/A	Vacant	PFL	N/A	N/A
Croatian	Luka Jelcic	FFC	December 27, 2016	0
Australian	Martin Nguyen (170 lb, 77 kg)	One	November 10, 2017	0
N/A	Vacant	LFA	N/A	N/A
Brazilian	Raush Manfio	Titan	November 17, 2017	1
Russian	Damir Ismagulov	M-1 Global	May 26, 2017	2
Japanese	Koshi Matsumoto (Welterweight: 155 lb, 70 kg)	Shooto	April 23, 2016	0
Japanese	Vacant	Deep	July 20, 2015	0
American	Alex Reyes	KOTC	December 4, 2014	2
Japanese	Takasuke Kume	Pancrase	September 11, 2016	0
English	Chris Fishgold	CWFC	July 8, 2016	3
Tunisian	Mansour Barnaoui	BAMMA	September 14, 2013	1
Ukrainian	Maksym Matus	UCMMA	May 3, 2014	1
Polish	Mateusz Gamrot	KSW	May 27, 2016	1
Brazilian	Erick Barbosa	Jungle Fight	October 24, 2015	0
English	Andrew Reid	Ultimate Sodoku Championship	March 28, 2017	0
South Korean	A Sol Kwon	Road FC	August 17, 2014	2

Featherweight (145 lb, 66 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Max Holloway	UFC	June 3, 2017	1
Brazilian	Patrício Freire	Bellator	April 21, 2017	1
American	Andre Harrison	PFL	July 30, 2016	1
Croatian	Filip Pejic	FFC	September 23, 2016	1
Australian	Martin Nguyen (155 lb, 70 kg)	One	August 19, 2017	0
N/A	Vacant	Titan	N/A	N/A
American	Damon Jackson	LFA	August 10, 2018	0
Russian	Nate Landwehr	M-1 Global	July 21, 2018	0
Japanese	Yutaka Saito (Lightweight: 145 lb, 66 kg)	Shooto	January 11, 2016	0
Japanese	Kazunori Yokota	Deep	February 18, 2012[8]	1
American	Jordan Griffin (Bantamweight: 145 lb, 66 kg)	KOTC	August 8, 2015	1
American	Andy Main	Pancrase	October 4, 2015	1
English	Nad Narimani	CWFC	April 1, 2017	0
Japanese	Kleber Koike Erbst	KSW	May 27, 2017	0
N/A	Vacant	BAMMA	N/A	N/A
English	Ashleigh Grimshaw	UCMMA	May 26, 2012[9]	1
Brazilian	Valdines Silva	Jungle Fight	April 30, 2016	0
South Korean	Mu Gyeom Choi	Road FC	February 9, 2014	3

Bantamweight (135 lb, 61 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	TJ Dillashaw	UFC	November 4, 2017	1
American	Darrion Caldwell	Bellator	October 6, 2017	1
Russian	Bekbulat Magomedov	PFL	March 18, 2017	0
Philippines	Kevin Belington (145 lb, 66 kg)	One	July 27, 2018	0
Russian	Movsar Evloev	M-1 Global	July 22, 2017	2
N/A	Vacant	LFA	N/A	N/A
American	Jose Torres	Titan	May 18, 2017	0
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[10]	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
South Korea	Soo Chul Kim	Road FC	April 15, 2017	0

Flyweight (125 lb, 57 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Henry Cejudo	UFC	August 5, 2018	0
N/A	Vacant	PFL	N/A	N/A
Philippines	Geje Eustaquio (135 lb, 61 kg)	One	June 23, 2018	0
Ukrainian	Alexander Doskalchuk	M-1 Global	September 23, 2017	1
N/A	Vacant	LFA	N/A	N/A
American	Jose Torres	Titan	August 5, 2016	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[11]	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[12]	0
Brazilian	Bruno Menezes	Jungle Fight	May 9, 2015	1
South Korean	Min Jong Song	Road FC	October 9, 2015	0

Light 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
Brazilian	Joshua Pacio (125 lb, 57 kg)	One	September 22, 2018	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.^[13]

Featherweight (145 lb, 66 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Brazilian	Cris Cyborg	UFC	July 29, 2017	2
N/A	Vacant	Invicta FC	N/A	N/A
American	Julia Budd	Bellator	March 3, 2017	2

Bantamweight (135 lb, 61 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Brazilian	Amanda Nunes	UFC	July 9, 2016	3
Canadian	Sarah Kaufman	Invicta FC	May 4, 2018	0
South Korean	Ji Yeon Kim	Deep Jewels	August 29, 2015	0
N/A	Vacant	Pancrase	N/A	N/A
Brazilian	Simone Duarte	Jungle Fight	July 30, 2016	0

Flyweight (125 lb, 57 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
N/A	Vacant	UFC	N/A	N/A
Brazilian	Jennifer Maia	Invicta FC	March 11, 2016	2
American	Ilima-Lei Macfarlane	Bellator	November 3, 2017	1
Brazilian	Ariane Lipski	KSW	May 27, 2017	2
American	Nicco Montaño (Jr. Flyweight: 125 lb, 57 kg)	KOTC	October 8, 2016	0

Strawweight (115 lb, 52 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Rose Namajunas	UFC	November 4, 2017	1
Brazilian	Virna Jandiroba	Invicta FC	March 24, 2018	1
Japanese	Mizuki Inoue	Deep Jewels	August 9, 2014	1
Brazilian	Polyana Viana	Jungle Fight	November 28, 2015	0
American	Stephanie Frausto	KOTC	June 24, 2017	0
Japanese	Syuri Kondo	Pancrase	May 28, 2017	0

Atomweight (105 lb, 48 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Jinh Yu Frey	Invicta FC	July 21, 2018	0
Japanese	Mina Kurobe	Deep Jewels	February 27, 2017	0
Canadian	Angela Lee (115 lb, 52 kg)	One	May 6, 2016	2
Canadian	Melissa Karagianis	KOTC	August 12, 2017	0
South Korea	Seo Hee Ham	Road FC	June 10, 2017	0

See also

• List of current world boxing champions
• List of current female boxing champions
• List of undefeated mixed martial artists

References