Light Heavyweight Championship
186 to 205 lb (84 to 93 kg) The Light Heavyweight Title was known as the Middleweight Title prior to UFC 31 (May 4, 2001). The Pride World Middleweight Title (204.6 lb) was unified with the UFC Light Heavyweight Title on September 8, 2007, when Quinton Jackson defeated Dan Henderson at UFC 75.[4]
| No. | Name | Event | Date | Reign (Total) |
Defenses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Frank Shamrockdef. Kevin Jackson |
UFC Japan Yokohama, Japan |
Dec 21, 1997 | 703 days | 1. def. Igor Zinoviev at UFC 16 on Mar 13, 1998 2. def. Jeremy Horn at UFC 17 on May 15, 1998 3. def. John Lober at UFC Brazil on Oct 16, 1998 4. def. Tito Ortiz at UFC 22 on Sep 24, 1999 |
| Shamrock vacated the title on November 24, 1999, when he retired from the UFC, citing a lack of competition.[1] | |||||
| 2 | Tito Ortiz def. Wanderlei Silva |
UFC 25 Tokyo, Japan |
Apr 14, 2000 | 1,260 days | 1. def. Yuki Kondo at UFC 29 on Dec 16, 2000 2. def. Evan Tanner at UFC 30 on Feb 23, 2001 3. def. Elvis Sinosic at UFC 32 on Jun 29, 2001 4. def. Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC 33 on Sep 28, 2001 5. def. Ken Shamrock at UFC 40 on Nov 22, 2002 |
| – | Randy Couture def. Chuck Liddell for interim title |
UFC 43 Las Vegas, NV, USA |
Jun 6, 2003 | — | |
| 3 | Randy Couture |
UFC 44 Las Vegas, NV, USA |
Sep 26, 2003 | 127 days | |
| 4 |  Vitor Belfort |
UFC 46 Las Vegas, NV, USA |
Jan 31, 2004 | 203 days | |
| 5 | Randy Couture (2) |
UFC 49 Las Vegas, NV, USA |
Aug 21, 2004 | 238 days (365 days) |
|
| 6 | Chuck Liddell |
UFC 52 Las Vegas, NV, USA |
Apr 16, 2005 | 770 days | 1. def. Jeremy Horn at UFC 54 on Aug 20, 2005 2. def. Randy Couture at UFC 57 on Feb 4, 2006 3. def. Renato Sobral at UFC 62 on Aug 26, 2006 4. def. Tito Ortiz at UFC 66 on Dec 30, 2006 |
| 7 | Quinton Jackson |
UFC 71 Las Vegas, NV, USA |
May 26, 2007 | 406 days | 1. def. Dan Henderson at UFC 75 on Sep 8, 2007 |
| 8 | Forrest Griffin |
UFC 86 Las Vegas, NV, USA |
Jul 5, 2008 | 175 days | |
| 9 | Rashad Evans |
UFC 92 Las Vegas, NV, USA |
Dec 27, 2008 | 147 days | |
| 10 | Lyoto Machida |
UFC 98 Las Vegas, NV, USA |
May 23, 2009 | 350 days | 1. def. Maurício Rua at UFC 104 on Oct 24, 2009 |
| 11 | Maurício Rua |
UFC 113 Montreal, QC, Canada |
May 8, 2010 | 315 days | |
| 12 | Jon Jones |
UFC 128 Newark, NJ, USA |
Mar 19, 2011 | 1,501 days | 1. def. Quinton Jackson at UFC 135 on Sep 24, 2011 2. def. Lyoto Machida at UFC 140 on Dec 10, 2011 3. def. Rashad Evans at UFC 145 on Apr 21, 2012 4. def. Vitor Belfort at UFC 152 on Sep 22, 2012 5. def. Chael Sonnen at UFC 159 on Apr 27, 2013 6. def. Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165 on Sep 21, 2013 7. def. Glover Teixeira at UFC 172 on Apr 26, 2014 8. def. Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 on Jan 3, 2015 |
| Jones was stripped of the title on April 28, 2015, due to his involvement and arrest in a felony hit-and-run.[18] | |||||
| 13 | Daniel Cormier def. Anthony Johnson |
UFC 187 Las Vegas, NV, USA |
May 23, 2015 | 799 days | 1. def. Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 192 on Oct 3, 2015 2. def. Anthony Johnson at UFC 210 on Apr 8, 2017 |
| – | Jon Jones def. Ovince Saint Preux for interim title |
UFC 197 Las Vegas, NV, USA |
Apr 23, 2016 | — | |
| Jones was stripped of the interim title on November 9, 2016, due to his 1-year suspension related to a failed pre-fight drug test.[19] | |||||
| 14 | Jon Jones (2) |
UFC 214 Anaheim, CA, USA |
Jul 29, 2017 | 35 days (incumbent) |
|
