UFC 135 Fight Card: Power Ranking Every Light Heavyweight Champ in UFC History

The UFC light heavyweight championship was long been considered the organization's most prestigious title and its corresponding division has always been the most heavily promoted. Thus, each fighter who captures the title is practically advertised as a living god.

But even amongst "immortals" there is inequality. Of all the light heavyweight champions in UFC history, some were far more accomplished than others.

Who were the most accomplished of all the UFC's "legendary" (in quotes because the term is used far too loosely by the UFC and fans alike) light heavyweight champions? Read and find out! But be warned that the No. 1 pick may surprise you.

11. Forrest Griffin

Forrest Griffin is a tough competitor with a diverse skill set (and a famously underrated ground game), but is easily the least accomplished of all the light heavyweight champions.

Griffin (like many of the fighters on this list) didn't successfully defend his title on his first outing. Aside from this fact, the fire seems to have faded from Griffin; he may not have much more of a future in fighting.

Aside from his controversial light heavyweight title victory over Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Griffin's biggest wins were over over-the-hill versions of Tito Ortiz and Rich Franklin and a post-surgery Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. The rest of Griffin's record is lined with lower level fighters like Hector Ramirez and Elvis Sinosic.

10. Vitor Belfort

Vitor Belfort may be "The Phenom" but he was considerably less phenomenal during his stint at light heavyweight in the UFC.

He managed to take the light heavyweight strap away from Randy Couture at UFC 46 by means of opening up a freak cut, but was dominated by Couture in the instant rematch at UFC 49–a title reign that ended almost as soon as it began.

Since then, Belfort has beaten some good fighters but nobody that was truly great. He doesn't even fight at light heavyweight anymore so the odds of him recapturing the title are slim to none.

9. Rashad Evans

Rashad Evans is a skilled fighter and has established a good training camp amongst the "Blackzilians" at Imperial Athletics, but his reign as light heavyweight champion was short-lived.

He defeated Forrest Griffin at UFC 92 to earn the title. Then immediately lost the belt to Lyoto Machida in one of the most infamous knockouts in MMA history of UFC 98.

He was and is a skilled competitor, but didn't do much as a champion.

8. Lyoto Machida

When Lyoto Machida defeated Rashad Evans for the title at UFC 98, the "Machida Era" was proclaimed by fanboys all over the Internet.

That "era" came crashing down when Machida met Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. Their first fight was an extremely controversial decision which saw the Karate stylist get the victory, but the second fight left no doubt.

At UFC 113, Machida was crushed by Rua and his title was lost. His reign as champion ended (although some would say it ended after the first fight with Rua) quite unceremoniously. What a short "era" it was.

7. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua is yet another fighter in a long-string of light heavyweight champions who weren't able to defend their title for a single fight.

However, many would argue that Mauricio "Shogun" Rua was the true winner of the title fight between him and Lyoto Machida at UFC 104, which would therefore make the rematch against Machida at UFC 113 be his first defense.

Which ever way you look at it, Rua was more skilled a champion than Machida but his reign was just as inconsequential; Rua lost the championship to a very impressive Jon Jones at UFC 128.

6. Jon Jones

Putting current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones so low on the list will probably ruffle a few feathers, but there really is no other option.

The fact of the matter is that Jones hasn't had one title defense yet. How could anyone justify putting an unproven champion at the No. 1 or No.two spot on the list?

He no doubt looked impressive in his dismantling of Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, but what if he loses to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at UFC 135, is Jones the next big thing then?

Such doubt is more than enough of a reason to put Jones at the number six slot.

5. Randy Couture

Randy Couture has the distinction of being the only light heavyweight champion to have captured the belt after losing it.

Couture defeated Chuck Liddell for the interim light heavyweight championship at UFC 43 and then captured the "real" light heavyweight crown from Tito Ortiz at UFC 44.

Couture would lose the title to Vitor Belfort at UFC 46 but then regain it at UFC 49.

Finally, he would lose the belt and forever be cast from the light heavyweight title picture at UFC 52 when he lost the champion to Liddell.

While Couture didn't have a successful defense of the belt, he managed to capture it after losing it and he did beat the better fighters the organization had to offer, this increases his ranking as a champion over other fighters who got the title, lost it, and never got it again.

4. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson was a great champion because he ushered in a new era in the light heavyweight division with his devastating knockout of the then thought to be unbreakable Chuck Liddell (at least by UFC fans who were unaware of what happened in Pride) .

In addition, Jackson even defended his belt and unified it with the Pride Middleweight (the name for their corresponding weight class) title.

However, he only managed to defend his title once and has since failed to regain it. He is therefore only at the No. 4 spot, but should he defeat Jon Jones at UFC 135–he may well move up the rankings.

3. Tito Ortiz

Tito Ortiz has the most successful title defenses of any light heavyweight champion in UFC history at five, but the truth is that he was fighting subpar competition.

He won the title at UFC 25 over Wanderlei Silva, an impressive win, but then fought the likes of Elvis Sinosic, Vlad Matyushenko, and Ken Shamrock towards the end of his title reign—hardly the best of competition.

Nevertheless, Ortiz was one of the most consistent and dominant light heavyweight champions, and that feat earns him a higher spot on the list than the other champions who couldn't hold on to their belts.

2. Chuck Liddell

Chuck Liddell as light heavyweight champion helped put the UFC on the map. "The Iceman" had the "fighter" look, attitude, and fighting style down cold (please forgive the pun).

Liddell's name and image were synonymous with fighting and fighting was synonymous with the UFC.  He also had the second most successful title defenses in UFC history at four.

So what keeps him from getting the No. 1 spot?

While Liddell did dominate the UFC, he couldn't do the same in Pride. He was fighting lesser (although not outright low-level) competition in the UFC; he wasn't fighting the best in the world and when he did, even though it wasn't for the UFC light heavyweight title, he lost.

Who then can boast that he fought and beat everybody? The answer is a character that has sadly been stricken from UFC lore.

1. Frank Shamrock

Even though Frank Shamrock was technically UFC "middleweight" champion, the middleweight division of the pre-Zuffa days corresponds to the modern-day light heavyweight division.

Why is Frank Shamrock the greatest light heavyweight champion in UFC history then?

He beat the best fighters from all over the world throughout his career. Shamrock was light years ahead of the rest of the UFC light heavyweight division when he retired after his fourth successful title defense at UFC 22 after defeating Tito Ortiz.

Why did he retire? Not enough competition.

Within the wider context of the MMA world, Frank Shamrock was the single greatest UFC light heavyweight champion. No other fighter on this list was what Shamrock was to the division—its true master.