List of UFC Featherweight Champions, Title Lineage
UFC Featherweight Championship is the title for the featherweight division which is for fighters between 136 lbs or 61 kgs and 145 lbs or 66 kgs. Below you can find the complete list of UFC Featherweight Champions and title lineage from the first champion to the current champion.
Current Champion
Ilja Topuria is the current UFC Featherweight Champion. He won the title by defeating Alexander Volkanovski via knockout to end his 1526 days.
Title Reigns
1. Jose Aldo (Nov 20, 2010 – Dec 12, 2015) was the WEC Featherweight Champion and got promoted as the first UFC Featherweight Champion when WEC merged with UFC. He was officially listed as the champion at UFC 123. Aldo successfully defended the title 7 times from 2011 to 2014 against Mark Hominick, Kenny Florian, Chad Mendes (twice), Frankie Edgar, Chan Sung Jung, and Ricardo Lamas.
Interim: Conor McGregor(Jul 11, 2015 – Dec 12, 2015) defeated Chad Mendes at UFC 189 to win the interim title. McGregor was supposed to challenge Aldo at UFC 189, but Aldo had to pull out due to injury.
2. Conor McGregor(Dec 12, 2015 – Nov 26, 2016) defeated Aldo at UFC 194 to unify the featherweight title. McGregor was stripped off the title on November 26, 2016, after he won UFC Lightweight title.
Interim. Jose Aldo(Jul 9, 2016 – Nov 26, 2016) won the interim title at UFC 200 by beating Frankie Edgar after McGregor was looking for fights in other weight divisions.
3. Jose Aldo(Nov 26, 2016 – Jun 3, 2017) was promoted from interim champion to full-time champion on November 26, 2016, after Conor McGregor was stripped of the title as he became the lightweight champion.
Interim. Max Holloway(Dec 10, 2016 – Jun 3, 2017) won the interim title at UFC 206 by beating Anthony Pettis when full-time champion Jose Aldo was out of action.
4. Max Holloway(Jun 3, 2017 – Dec 14, 2019) defeated Aldo to unify the title at UFC 212. Holloway then defeated Aldo in the rematch while also beating Brian Ortega and Frankie Edgar in his successful title defenses.
5. Alexander Volkanovski(Dec 14, 2019 – Feb 17, 2024) dethroned Holloway as the champion at UFC 245. He also defended the title twice more against Holloway while also beating Brian Ortega and Chang Sung Jung to title defenses in between. He also beat interim champion Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290 to unify the titles.
Interim. Yair Rodriguez(Feb 12, 2023 – Jul 8, 2023) beat Josh Emmett for the interim title at UFC 284. The interim title was created as the reigning champion Volkanovski went to challenge for the lightweight title.
6. Ilja Topuria(Feb 17, 2024 – current) beat Volkavnoski at UFC 298 to win the title. He also defeated Max Holloway in his first title defense.