List of All UFC Heavyweight Champions & Championship History

UFC Heavyweight Championship is the title for the Heavyweight division which is for fighters more than 205 lbs or 93 kgs. We will cover the complete list of UFC Heavyweight Champions, the current Heavyweight champion, and title history in this article.

Title History

UFC Heavyweight Championship was introduced on 7 February 1997 at UFC 12 by uniting the UFC Superfight Championship and UFC Tournament Championship. Mark Coleman(Tournament Champion) defeated Dan Severn(Superfight Champion) via submission to become the inaugural UFC Heavyweight Champion. Maurice Smith dethroned Coleman in his first title defense at UFC 14 by decision in a fight that went into two overtimes.

Smith later became the first fighter to defend the Heavyweight title successfully at UFC 15 against Tank Abbott. Randy Couture won the title next at UFC Japan in December 1997. Couture was stripped of the title when he left UFC after a contract dispute. Bas Rutten defeated Kevin Randleman for the vacant title at UFC 20. Rutten also vacated the title as he decided to drop down to the Light Heavyweight division.

Kevin Randleman won the title in his second attempt as he defeated Pete Williams at UFC 23. Couture won the title for the second time as he defeated Randleman via TKO in the third round at UFC 28. Couture defended the title against Pedro Rizzo successfully before losing it to Josh Barnett by TKO. Barnett was found positive for anabolic steroids in a post-fight drug test and was stripped of the title on 26 July 2002.

Ricco Rodriguez defeated Couture via submission to win the title at UFC 39. Tim Sylvia won the title from Rodriguez at UFC 41 with a TKO. After his successful first defense, Sylvia was stripped off the title after being found positive for Stanozolol. Frank Mir defeated Sylvia for the vacant title at UFC 48. Mir was involved in a motorcycle accident on 17 September 2004 and left with injuries in his femur and knee ligaments. Andre Arlovski became the interim Heavyweight Champion by defeating Tim Sylvia. Arlovski was later promoted as the undisputed champion after Mir failed to recover from injuries.

Arlovski had defended against Justin Eller as the interim champion. He also defended the title against Paul Buentello before dropping it to Tim Slyvia in a TKO loss at UFC 59. Sylvia became the second fighter to win the heavyweight title twice. Randy Couture defeated Sylvia in his third title defense to win the UFC Heavyweight title at UFC 68, becoming the first fighter to win the title thrice. Another dispute between Couture and UFC resulted in UFC booking another interim championship fight. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira defeated Tim Slyvia via submission to become the interim Heavyweight Champion at UFC 81.

After a long dispute, Couture returned to UFC but lost the Heavyweight title to Brock Lesnar at  UFC 91 via TKO. On the other side, Frank Mir defeated Nogueria for the interim championship. Lesnar became the undisputed champion by defeating Mir with TKO at UFC 100. Lesnar went on a spell of illness and was later diagnosed with mononucleosis and diverticulitis. Another interim champion was crowned as Shane Carwin defeated Frank Mir at UFC 111. Then, Lesnar once again united the Heavyweight title by defeating Carwin at 116.

Cain Velasquez dethroned Lesnar at UFC 121 with a TKO win. He lost the title to Junior Dos Santos in what was his first UFC loss. After a successful defense against Frank Mir, Dos Santos lost the title back to Velasquez. Velasquez had successful defenses against Antonio Silva and Dos Santos in their trilogy fight. With Velasquez dealing with injuries, Fabricio Werdum faced Mark Hunt and became interim champion with a TKO win. Werdum became the undisputed champion by defeating Velasquez.

Stipe Miocic dominated the Heavyweight scene after winning the title at UFC 198. Over the next two years, Miocic defended the title against Alistair Overeem(first-round KO), Junior Dos Santon(TKO) and Francis Ngannou(unanimous decision). Miocic lost the title to Daniel Cormier in a shocking fashion with a first-round KO after a debilitating eye poke from Cormier. Cormier defended the title against Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 220.

Miocic defeated Cormier in their rematch at UFC 241 with a TKO in the fourth round. Miocic also won their trilogy fight with a unanimous decision at UFC 251. Miocic dropped the title to Francis Ngannou at UFC 260 after getting knocked out in the second round. Ciryl Gane became the interim champion by defeating Derrick Lewis at UFC 265. Ngannou won the title unification bout at UFC 270. He was removed as the champion in January 2023 after becoming a free agent. Jon Jones defeated Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 to win the vacant heavyweight title.

Current Champion

Jon Jones is the current UFC Heavyweight Champion after he beat Ciryl Gane at UFC 285. The title was earlier vacated when Francis Ngannou was removed as a champion. Jones has now become a two-division champion.

When Jones got injured before his fights at UFC 295, Tom Aspinall defeated Sergei Pavlovich at the event for interim title.

Title Reigns