Welterweight Championship
156 to 170 lb (70 to 77 kg) The Welterweight Title was known as the Lightweight Title prior to UFC 31 (May 4, 2001).
| No. | Name | Event | Date | Reign (Total) |
Defenses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Pat Miletichdef. Mikey Burnett |
UFC Brazil São Paulo, Brazil |
Oct 16, 1998 | 931 days | 1. def. Jorge Patino at UFC 18 on Jan 8, 1999 2. def. André Pederneiras at UFC 21 on Jul 16, 1999 3. def. John Alessio at UFC 26 on Jun 9, 2000 4. def. Kenichi Yamamoto at UFC 29 on Dec 16, 2000 |
| 2 |  Carlos Newton |
UFC 31 Atlantic City, NJ, USA |
May 4, 2001 | 183 days | |
| 3 | Matt Hughes |
UFC 34 Las Vegas, NV, USA |
Nov 2, 2001 | 820 days | 1. def. Hayato Sakurai at UFC 36 on Mar 22, 2002 2. def. Carlos Newton at UFC 38 on Jul 13, 2002 3. def. Gil Castillo at UFC 40 on Nov 22, 2002 4. def. Sean Sherk at UFC 42 on Apr 25, 2003 5. def. Frank Trigg at UFC 45 on Nov 21, 2003 |
| 4 | B.J. Penn |
UFC 46 Las Vegas, NV, USA |
Jan 31, 2004 | 107 days | |
| Penn was stripped of the title on May 17, 2004, when he left the UFC for K-1.[21] | |||||
| 5 | Matt Hughes (2) def. Georges St-Pierre |
UFC 50 Atlantic City, NJ, USA |
Oct 22, 2004 | 757 days (1,577 days) |
1. def. Frank Trigg at UFC 52 on Apr 16, 2005 2. def. B.J. Penn at UFC 63 on Sep 23, 2006 |
| 6 | Georges St-Pierre |
UFC 65 Sacramento, CA, USA |
Nov 18, 2006 | 140 days | |
| 7 | Matt Serra |
UFC 69 Houston, TX, USA |
Apr 7, 2007 | 378 days | |
| – | Georges St-Pierre def. Matt Hughes for interim title |
UFC 79 Las Vegas, NV, USA |
Dec 29, 2007 | — | |
| 8 | Georges St-Pierre (2) |
UFC 83 Montreal, QC, Canada |
Apr 19, 2008 | 2,064 days (2,204 days) |
1. def. Jon Fitch at UFC 87 on Aug 9, 2008 2. def. B.J. Penn at UFC 94 on Jan 31, 2009 3. def. Thiago Alves at UFC 100 on Jul 11, 2009 4. def. Dan Hardy at UFC 111 on Mar 27, 2010 5. def. Josh Koscheck at UFC 124 on Dec 11, 2010 6. def. Jake Shields at UFC 129 on Apr 30, 2011 7. def. interim champion Carlos Condit at UFC 154 on Nov 17, 2012 8. def. Nick Diaz at UFC 158 on Mar 16, 2013 9. def. Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 on Nov 16, 2013 |
| – | Carlos Condit def. Nick Diaz for interim title |
UFC 143 Las Vegas, NV, USA |
Feb 4, 2012 | — | |
| St-Pierre vacated the title on December 13, 2013, when he decided to take time off from the sport.[22] | |||||
| 9 | Johny Hendricks def. Robbie Lawler |
UFC 171 Dallas, TX, USA |
Mar 15, 2014 | 266 days | |
| 10 | Robbie Lawler |
UFC 181 Las Vegas, NV, USA |
Dec 6, 2014 | 602 days | 1. def. Rory MacDonald at UFC 189 on Jul 11, 2015 2. def. Carlos Condit at UFC 195 on Jan 2, 2016 |
| 11 | Tyron Woodley |
UFC 201 Atlanta, GA, USA |
Jul 30, 2016 | 399 days (incumbent) |
1. drew with Stephen Thompson at UFC 205 on Nov 12, 2016 2. def. Stephen Thompson at UFC 209 on Mar 4, 2017 3. def. Demian Maia at UFC 214 on Jul 29, 2017 |
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