Power Ranking Every Champ in UFC History by Division

The UFC is the Broadway of mixed martial arts; if you can make it there you can make it anywhere.

UFC is the big leagues and any fighter who makes it into the promotion should feel proud, but to become a UFC champion, that's incredible.

Very few people get to say that they are the best of the best at what they do and so to become a UFC champion for any amount of time is nothing short of remarkable.

However, there are different levels of UFC champs.

There are dominant champions who clean out there divisions and cement their legacy in the history of the sport, there's one-and-done champs who's time at the top of the heap is a flair of success in an otherwise underwhelming career, and everything in between.

Let's take a look at every UFC champion in the history of the promotion, from the worst to the best, in every weight class.

The Criteria

I'll be taking a number of different things into consideration when I rank the champions.

The number of title defenses will obviously be a huge factor, as well as the quality of opposition faced.

Fighters who have held a championship more than once will receive special consideration because that means they have been defeated and come back better than ever.

To an extent, I'll take into account fighters' journeys to their championship fights, as I feel that is a relevant factor.

I will not, however, take into account fighters' careers after their championship reigns as it would mess with the rankings too much. For example, Chuck Liddell is clearly one of the greatest light heavyweight champions of all time, but if I were to take into consideration all of his losses after being champ, it would slide him down the rankings considerably.

Bantamweight and featherweight divisions will be excluded because they each only have one champion.

Okay, let's do this...

Lightweight Division

146 to 155 lbs (66 to 70 kg)

No. 4: Jens Pulver

Jens Pulver shouldn't feel bad about being ranked lowest out of all the UFC's lightweight champions. There have only been four of them and they have all been pretty successful.

Pulver gets the lowest spot because he didn't face much significant competition leading up to his title reign.

Jens became champion at a time when the lightweight division was just being established and lacking in depth.

Give the man some credit, though. He defended the belt two times, winning hard fought battles against Dennis Hallman and B.J Penn.

No. 3: Sean Sherk

Sean Sherk has only one title defense, to Pulver's two, but he had a much more successful career leading up to his first title shot.

Sherk was 32-2 going into his championship bout with Kenny Florian, his only losses coming to Matt Hughes and Georges St-Pierre.

Sean would defeat Florian in that fight to win the championship and then defend it once against Hermes Franca.

Unfortunately, Sean was stripped of the title after that fight when he tested positive for banned substances.

No. 2: Frankie Edgar

Frankie Edgar is the current UFC lightweight champion. He won the belt from BJ Penn back at UFC 112.

The fight went all five rounds and the decision was somewhat controversial. Many believed that Edgar didn't do enough to get the win, but the fact that he made it all five rounds in a competitive fight with Penn is impressive on it's own, given that this was at a time when B.J was dominating the division.

The two men fought again at UFC 118 and Frankie won again, but this time decisively.

The champ has since defended his belt one for time against Gray Maynard. The fight went to a draw, with some feeling that Edgar won and some feeling that Gray won.

In the first round of his fight win Maynard, Frankie was hurt badly by a big left hand and spent much of the round trying the regain consciousness. Edgar showed the heart of a champion by weathering the early storm and rallying back.

No. 1: BJ Penn

BJ Penn is unequivocally the greatest UFC lightweight champion ever.

He has more title defenses than any of the other champions and all of them were against very tough competition.

It's not just the number of defenses, or the quality of opposition that made him a great champion, however. It's also how he performed against those opponents.

Before meeting Frankie Edgar, Penn absolutely dominated the competitors he faced.

Most people thought his championship reign would last for years longer than it did. That's how mediocre he made his competition seem before losing the belt.

Welterweight Division

156 to 170 lbs (70 to 77 kg)

No. 6: Carlos Newtown

Carlos Newton was given his welterweight title shot coming off a loss to Dave Menne; not a great start.

Newton did manage to cash in on this relatively undeserved opportunity, defeating Pat Miletich by third round submission to capture to the title.

In his first title defense, Carlos failed to hold on to his belt, losing to Matt Hughes by second round KO.

Many fans believe that the fight should have been ruled a no contest because Hughes may have gone unconscious while slamming Newton to the canvas (Matt was caught in a triangle choke at the time).

However, controversial or not, a loss is a loss and I have to treat it as such.

Newton had a chance to reclaim the title from Matt at UFC 38, but lost by fourth round TKO.

No. 5: Matt Serra

Matt Serra earned his title shot by winning The Ultimate Fighter 4. The theme for the season was "The Comebacks". They put a bunch of fighters who were struggling with their careers together and promised the winner of the season a crack at the belt.

This means that, while Matt's victories on the show were impressive, they were not against the elite of the division.

Serra shocked the world by winning the championship from Georges St-Pierre via first round knockout, but then was completed dominated by GSP in a rematch and lost the belt back to him.

No. 4: BJ Penn

BJ Penn getting a title shot in the welterweight division was surprising, given that before his championship bout he was fighting at lightweight.

In fact, most believed that Penn would be absolutely dominated by Matt Hughes because BJ was just too small to possibly with the champion.

Penn would prove his doubters wrong, submitting Hughes with a rear-naked choke, after rocking him with a huge right hand.

BJ was later stripped of the belt because he went to compete in another MMA organization,a big no-no as far as UFC president Dana White is concerned.

Who knows how long Penn could have held the belt, had he not been stripped of it.

No. 3: Pat Miletich

Pat Miletich is the first ever UFC welterweight champion and one of the most successful.

He won the belt by defeating Mikey Burnett way back in 1998 and defended the belt four times over the course of three years.

His title defenses weren't against the highest level of competition, necessarily, but he has does have four defenses and all the men behind him on this list have none.

No. 2: Matt Hughes

Matt Hughes is a two-time welterweight champion and one of the most dominant figures in the history of mixed martial arts.

Matt won the belt from Carlos Newton in 2001 and defended it five times before losing it to BJ Penn in 2004.

Later that very same year, Hughes would reclaim the belt by submitting Georges St-Pierre in the first round.

He defended it two more times before losing it GSP in 2006. It would have been three more defenses, but Joe Riggs didn't make weight at UFC 56.

No. 1: Georges St-Pierre

Some people might disagree with the decision to rank Georges St-Pierre ahead of Matt Hughes, but I think the current UFC welterweight champion has earned it.

He is also a two-time champion and has surpassed Hughes' previous record for consecutive title defenses (5), with six.

St-Pierre has also faced a higher level of competition than Matt did when defending the belt and, while Hughes had more finishes as champion, GSP has looked more dominant than Matt when defending the belt.

Middleweight Division

171 to 185 lbs (77 to 84 kg)

No. 5: Dave Menne

Dave Menne was the UFC's first middleweight champion and was given the title shot coming off a loss.

He won the belt by defeating Gil Castillo by unanimous decision.

Menne failed to defend his belt, losing his first title defense to Murilo Bustamante by second-round TKO.

Got his title shot coming off a loss, won the belt by decision, and lost it in his first defense. It's hard to make much of a case for this guy.

No. 4: Murilo Bustamante

Murilo Bustamante, like Dave Menne, was given his title shot coming off a loss.

He made good on the opportunity, defeating Menne to earn the belt and he defended it one time, submitting Matt Lindland with a guillotine choke.

Murilo was then stripped of the title when he made the decision to move to Pride. He would never return to the UFC.

No. 3: Evan Tanner

Some may disagree with Evan Tanner being ahead of Murilo Bustamante, being that Murilo defended the title once and Tanner did not.

However, Evan won the championship three years after Bustamante was stripped of the title and the division had a much deeper talent pool when Tanner won the belt.

Evan went into his title fight riding a three-fight win streak over stiff competition and won the belt by defeating David Terrell by first round TKO.

No. 2: Rich Franklin

At the time that Rich Franklin won the UFC middleweight champion, he was one of the most dominant figures in the sport.

Franklin went into his championship match with a record of 19-1-0-1, with his only loss coming to Lyoto Machida.

Rich won the belt by beating Evan Tanner via fourth round TKO (doctor stoppage) and defended the title twice against Nate Quarry and David Loiseau.

Many thought that Franklin would dominate the middleweight division for a long time, but his reign was cut short by...

No. 1: Anderson Silva

Anderson Silva is, by a significant margin, the greatest middleweight champion the UFC has ever seen.

Before Anderson, the record for middleweight title defenses was two. Silva has eight, so far, and is still compiling wins.

At UFC 134, Silva will look to make it nine title defenses and fourteen straight victories in the UFC when he takes on Yushin Okami.

He has four times more title defenses than any other champ in his division, the record for most consecutive wins inside the UFC and a plethora of highlight reel knockouts.

Anderson is not only the best middleweight champion, he is the greatest champion in the history of the UFC.

Light Heavyweight

186 to 205 lbs (84 to 93 kg)

No. 11: Vitor Belfort

No offense to Vitor Belfort, but him becoming the UFC light heavyweight champion was more of a fluke than anything else.

He won the fight by stopping Randy Couture, but he didn't knock Randy out, Couture got a cut on his eyelid and was deemed unable to continue.

Belfort would then lose his first title defense, which was a rematch with Couture, by fourth round doctor stoppage.

No. 10: Forrest Griffin

Forrest Griffin earned his title shot by upsetting Mauricio Rua at UFC 76, winning the fight by third round submission.

Griffin took that momentum and carried it over into his title match up with Quinton Jackson, defeating the champion by unanimous decision in what was another upset victory.

His first title defense was against Rashad Evans and, while Forrest looked good in the early going of the fight, he was knocked out in the third round and lost the belt.

No. 9: Rashad Evans

Rashad Evans is in the same boat as Forrest Griffin; they are one-and-done champions.

I have Evans a head of Forrest because his win streak leading up to his title shot was more impressive and his championship victory was more decisive.

Rashad won the belt from Griffin and lost it to Lyoto Machida. Both fights ended in knockouts.

No. 8: Mauricio Rua

Mauricio Rua is another champion who didn't accumulate any title defenses.

He's ranked ahead of Rashad and Forrest because Rua lost his initial championship match with Lyoto Machida, but it was a fight that most thought he should have won.

Apparently Dana White was one of the people that believed Mauricio won the fight because he granted him an immediate rematch.

Rua made sure not to let the fight go to judges scorecards, knocking Machida out in the first round.

Mauricio would lose his first title defense to Jon Jones by third round TKO.

No. 7: Jon Jones

Ranking Jones on this list is tricky.

He is currently the UFC's light heavyweight champion, but as not defended his belt yet.

Based on that, I cannot rightfully put him ahead of any of the champions that did defend their belts.

Jones may very well go on to become the most dominant champion in UFC history, but for now this is where he sits.

Jon is ranked ahead of the other title holders with no defenses because he looked the most impressive out of any them leading up to his title shot.

No. 6: Lyoto Machida

Lyoto Machida went into his championship scrap with a perfect 14-0 and stayed undefeated, knocking out Rashad Evans in the second round of their fight.

When Lyoto won the belt, UFC commentator Joe Rogan said "Welcome to the Machida era", indicating that he though the new champion would hold the belt for a long time.

However, Machida's first challenger, Mauricio Rua, was able to strip the champ of his superman status.

Rua lost his first fight to Lyoto, but had much more offensive success than anyone else had managed and many believed that Mauricio had actually done enough to win the fight.

The two would meet again a few months later, with Mauricio winning the fight in the first round.

No. 5: Quinton Jackson

Quinton Jackson won his UFC championship by defeating Chuck Liddell, who was thought to be unstoppable at the time.

From there, Jackson would successfully defend his belt one time against Dan Henderson, winning a decisive decision.

Quinton failed to defend his belt a second time, losing a close fight to Forrest Griffin at UFC 86.

No. 4: Randy Couture

Randy Couture is the only man to ever win the UFC light heavyweight championship twice.

Couture won the belt for the first time by defeating Tito Ortiz, having already defeated Chuck Liddell to earn the interim belt.

He would then lose the belt to Vitor Beflort, but win it back in a rematch, only to lose it to Liddell after that.

Randy's time in the light heavyweight division was like a roller coaster, constantly going up and down, but during that time he won the title twice and the interim title once and that's enough to earn him the No. 4 spot.

No. 3: Frank Shamrock

Frank Shamrock is the UFC's first ever light heavyweight champion.

He won the title by defeating Kevin Jackson via armbar just 16 seconds into round one.

Frank would go on to defend the title four times against Igor Zinoviev, Jeremy Horn, John Lober and Tito Ortiz.

After defeating Ortiz, Shamrock vacated the title and retired, citing a lack of competition as the reasoning.

No. 2: Tito Ortiz

After Frank Shamrock retired, Tito Ortiz became the new king of the light heavyweight division.

Ortiz was able to use his unique ability to deliver devastating ground and pound from his opponents' guard to rack up five straight title defenses, after initially beating Wanderlei Silva to win the belt.

To this day, Tito still holds the record for most consecutive title defenses in the heavyweight division.

No. 1: Chuck Liddell

Chuck Liddell is one of the most recognizable and important figures in UFC history.

He won the belt from Randy Couture at UFC 52 and defended it four times before losing it to Quinton Jackson.

Liddell has one less title defense that Tito Ortiz, but he is ranked above him because he faced a higher quality of opposition during his title reign.

Heavyweight Division

206 to 265 lbs (93 to 120 kg)

No. 12: Josh Barnett

Josh Barnett defeated Randy Couture at UFC 36 to win the heavyweight championship.

After the fight, he tested positive for banned substances and was stripped of the title.

Barnett is last on this list because he never defended his belt and he cheated to earn it.

No. 11: Mark Coleman

Mark Coleman is a legend of the sport and the godfather of ground and pound, but he wasn't much of a heavyweight champion (though he was the first)

Coleman won the title at UFC by defeating fellow MMA legend Dan Severn

Mark would fail to retain the belt, losing his first title defense to Maurice Smith by unanimous decision.

No. 10: Bas Rutten

Bas Rutten won the UFC heavyweight championship at UFC 20, by defeating Kevin Randleman via split decision.

The decision was highly controversial, as Randleman spent most of the fight in top position, but Rutten was more active from the bottom. In today's MMA, the fight definitely would have been given the Kevin.

Bas never defended his title, as he was forced into retirement before he had the chance to.

No. 9: Ricco Rodriguez

Ricco Rodriguez went into his championship fight riding a ten fight win streak, with his last four victories coming by knockout.

Ricco would make it 11 straight wins when he defeated Randy Couture to win the title, but he would lose the championship and have his winning streak ended in his next fight with Tim Sylvia. Sylvia won the fight by first round TKO.

No. 8: Kevin Randleman

After Bas Rutten relinquished the UFC heavyweight strap, Kevin Randleman took on Pete Williams for the vacated belt.

Randleman would win the belt, defeating Williams by unanimous decision.

Kevin had one successful title defense, a unanimous decision victory over Pedro Rizzo, before losing the belt to Randy Couture.

No. 7: Cain Velasquez

Cain Velasquez presents a problem similar to the one Jon Jones posed. He is currently the UFC heavyweight champion, but has not yet defended his belt.

Usually I'm hesitant to rank someone with no defenses against some who did defend their belt, but Cain is an exception.

He's a little higher up than he maybe should be because of the dominant fashion in which he won the title, the tough competition he had to face to get a title shot, and because he is undefeated.

No. 6: Maurice Smith

Maurice Smith won the UFC heavyweight championship by defeating Mark Coleman via unanimous decision.

In his first title defense, he defeated Tank Abbott by submission due to strikes.

Smith failed to retain his belt a second time, losing to Randy Couture at UFC Japan.

No. 5: Frank Mir

Frank Mir won his title by pulling off one of the most memorable submission victories in UFC history.

In the first round of his title fight, Mir caught Tim Sylvia in an armbar and Tim refused to tap.

When Sylvia would not submit, Frank pulled harder on the arm and broke Time's forearm. You can actually see the bone in Sylvia's arm break when you watch the fight footage.

After winning the belt, Frank was forced to vacate it. He was in a motorcycle accident and, as a result, was unable to defend his title.

Two years later, Mir would return to the UFC and eventually prove he was still a top contender by beating Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the interim belt.

Frank didn't manage to win back the actual heavyweight championship, however. He lost to Brock Lesnar in a fight to unify the interim belt with the real heavyweight belt.

No. 4: Andrei Arlovski

After Frank Mir was injured, Andrei Arlovski won the UFC interim heavyweight championship by defeating Tim Sylvia with an Achilles lock in round one.

He defended his interim belt once against Justin Eilers, defeating Justin by first round KO, before being promoted to the undisputed heavyweight champ.

As the official champ, Andrei had once successful title defense against Paul Buentello before losing the belt to Tim Sylvia at UFC 59.

No. 3: Brock Lesnar

Many of you may be surprised to see Brock Lesnar, a man with seven professional fights, this high up the rankings.

Well, I'm surprised too, but the heavyweight division has been historically weak and the title has been passed around many times.

The most times any fighter has ever defended the belt is two and Lesnar ties that record.

Brock won the belt at UFC 91 when he defeated Randy Couture by second round TKO. He defended the belt two times against Frank Mir and Shane Carwin, before losing the title to Cain Velasquez.

No. 2: Tim Sylvia

Tim Sylvia is a two-time UFC heavyweight champion and one of the most dominant figures the division has ever seen.

Sylvia won the belt for the first time from Ricco Rodriguez and defended it once against Gan McGee.

Tim would lose the belt to Frank Mir, but over the next two years he worked his way back to a title shot.

The shot was against Andrei Arlovski and Tim won the fight via first round TKO. He defended the title two times. The first fight was a rematch with Arlovski, which Sylvia won by unanimous decision, and the second fight was against Jeff Monson, also a unanimous decision victory for the champ.

No. 1: Randy Couture

Randy Couture is a three time heavyweight champion and the only fighter in UFC history to win the same championship three times.

None of Randy's title defenses are that impressive by themselves, but put together they are extremely impressive.

The most impressive thing about it is how long Couture stayed relevant among the best in the sport.

He won the belt for the first time way back in 1997 and then won it for the third time in 2007, a full decade later. That is unheard of.

Three separate title reigns and being able to compete with the elite of the sport for more than a decade makes Randy Couture the greatest heavyweight that to ever step foot in the Octagon.