The Shortest Title Reigns in UFC History

Sometimes, things just don’t go your way. Such is life.

The UFC is no exception. One minute, you’re on top of the world. You’re The Champ. Next minute, you’re back in the pack. The bee's knees no longer.

The guys in this list could tell you all about that. They are the shortest-reigning beltholders, by weight class and overall, in UFC history. Read through this article, then sit back and watch all that sweet, sweet bar bet revenue come a-rolling in.

Joking aside, I’m making no value judgments about the “quality” of these individuals’ time atop the mountain. (As you'll see, it's a mixed bag in any event.)  After all, there’s probably a semi-decent chance their title runs will last longer than mine.

Featherweight and bantamweight, being new divisions with their inaugural champions still firmly in place, are of course excepted. The list is also restricted to fighters who lost the title in the cage or were stripped of the belt against their will. No vacations or other voluntary relinquishments need apply.

Without further ado, here they are in descending order by weight class, concluded by your grand champion of title-reign brevity.

Heavyweight: Josh Barnett

Barely four months after defeating Randy Couture at UFC 36, a positive drug test left Barnett beltless in July 2002. Total reign time: 126 days.

It was Barnett’s first and only UFC title stint. But on the bright side, it was his first of two steroid busts.

Runner-up: Maurice Smith held the belt for 147 days before losing to Couture.

Light Heavyweight: Randy Couture

Who is this Couture guy? Someone should do some research on him.

In the meantime, back in 2003, Couture won the title at UFC 44, but lost it 127 days later in extremely controversial fashion to Vitor Belfort, when a seam from Belfort's glove caused a freak eye injury.

Don’t cry for The Natural, though; he got his revenge against Belfort the following summer, and in the process won his belt back.


Dishonorable mention: In a display of brevity for the ages, light heavyweights Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans held the belt back-to-back for 322 days of glory in 2008.

Other longevity-challenged titlist tandems include Mark Coleman and Maurice Smith (317 days) and Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez, who hold the record with a paltry 280 combined days as champs.

Middleweight: Dave Menne

After only 105 days, Menne lost his title to Murilo Bustamante at UFC 25, thereby edging out the late Evan Tanner by a mere 14 days to capture this lofty honor at 185.

By the way: Anderson Silva’s title reign? 1,758 and counting. That’s gotta be some kind of a record.

Welterweight: Georges St-Pierre

That memorable head-kick knockout of Matt Hughes at UFC 65 made GSP’s dreams come true. One hundred and forty days later on April 7, 2007, Matt Serra pummeled that dream into tatters.

St-Pierre would be a great subject for a where-are-they-now kind of piece. Anyone know what became of that guy?


Dishonorable mention:  B.J. Penn’s welterweight title reign was only 107 days old when he voluntarily left the UFC to compete in K-1.

Lightweight: Sean Sherk

Interestingly, the 155-pound division has the fewest number of (and thus longest-reigning) champions of the UFC's five long-standing weight classes.

Only four fighters have worn the lightweight gold. For comparison’s sake, five fighters have held the middleweight title, six have held welterweight, 11 held light heavyweight and 15 held heavyweight.

Thus, Sherk is the granddaddy of this list, having possessed the strap for 420 days from 2006 to 2007. In the continuation of a theme, Sherk lost the belt following a positive steroids test.


Dishonorable mention: Jens Pulver was the champion for 393 days before vacating the belt following a contract dispute.

Grand Champion: Dave Menne

Ladies and gentlemen, your grand titleholder for shortest championship reign in UFC history. He's the Tony Tucker of the Octagon.

Even if one were to include champions who voluntarily vacated their belts, Menne would still claim the shortest title stint.

Take a bow, Dave!  Better to be known for something quirky than not to be known at all.