List of UFC Middleweight Champions & Title History

UFC Middleweight Championship is the main title for the UFC middleweight division which ranges from 170 to 185 pounds or 77.1 kg to 83.9 kg.

Title History

The new middleweight division was introduced at UFC 31 when UFC realigned the weight classes with New York State Atheltic Control Board guidelines. The title for this division was introduced at UFC 33 on 28 September 2001, where Dave Menne defeated Gil Castillo to become the inaugural UFC Middleweight Champion.

Menne lost the title to Murilo Bustamante in his first defense. Bustamante remained the Middleweight champion for 267 days before being stripped of the title on 5 October 2002 when he left UFC. Evan Tanner became the next champion by defeating David Terrell in the title match at UFC 51. Tanner was unseated from the throne by Rich Franklin. Franklin later became the first UFC Middleweight Champion to defend the title twice successfully when he defeated David Loiseau at UFC 58 on 4 March 2006.

Anderson Silva ended Franklin’s 497 days title reign on 14 October 2006. Silva went on to become the longest-reigning UFC Middleweight champion with 2457 days title reign. This remains the UFC record for single longest title reign. Silva is second in terms of most successful title defenses with 10 defenses during that title reign.

Chris Weidman dethroned Silva from his 7-year-long title on 6 July 2013 at UFC 162. Weidman also had a title reign that lasted for more than two years. He is only the second fighter after Silva to successfully defend the middleweight title three times.

Michael Bisping won the title at UFC 199. After Bisping was sidelined due to a knee injury, UFC booked a fight between Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker for the interim champion. Whittaker became the interim champion at UFC 213 on 8 July 2017. Whittaker missed the rest of 2017 with a knee injury himself. As Bisping returned, he lost the title to Goerge St-Pierre at UFC 217. St-Pierre also had to vacate the title as he was suffering from ulcerative colitis. After this, Whittaker was promoted from interim champion to undisputed champion on 7 December 2017.

While Whittaker continued to recover from his injury, UFC booked another interim middleweight title fight between Israel Adesanya and Kelvin Gastelum. Adesanya defeated Gastelum at UFC 236 to become the interim champion on 13 April 2019. Adesanya would later defeat Whittaker in the title unification bout at UFC 243 on 6 October 2019. Alex Pereira beat Adesanya in his sixth title defense at UFC 281. Adesanya won the title back at UFC 287 by beating Pereira. Adesanya lost the title for the second time to Sean Strickland at UFC 293.

Current Champion

Dricus Du Plessis is the 15^th and current UFC Middleweight Champion. He defeated Sean Strickland at UFC 297 on January 20, 2024.

Title Reigns

15. Dricus Du Plessis

• Title Won Date: January 20, 2024
• Reigns Day: 86+ Days
• Event: UFC 297
• Defenses: 0
• Notes: Beat Sean Strickland at UFC 297

14. Sean Strickland

• Title Won Date: September 9, 2023
• Reigns Day: 133+ Days
• Event: UFC 293
• Defenses: 0
• Notes: Beat Israel Adesanya at UFC 293

13. Israel Adesanya

• Title Won Date: April 8, 2023
• Reigns Day: 142+ Days
• Event: UFC 287
• Defenses: 0
• Notes: Adesanya won the title back from Periera at UFC 287. the middleweight championship by defeating Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 on 6 October 2019.

12. Alex Pereira

• Title Won Date: Nov 12, 2022
• Reigns Day: 149+ Days
• Event: UFC 281
• Defenses: 0
• Notes: Pereira defeated Alex Pereira at UFC 281 on 12 November 2022.

11. Israel Adesanya

• Title Won Date: Oct 6, 2019
• Reigns Day: 1128 Days
• Event: UFC 243
• Defenses:
  • 1^st Defense: Yoel Romero at UFC 248 on Mar 7, 2020
  • 2^nd Defense: Paulo Costa at UFC 253 on Sep 27, 2020
  • 3^rd Defense: Marvin Vettori at UFC 263 on 12 June 2021
  • 4^th Defense: Robert Whittaker at UFC 271 on 12 February 2022
  • 5^th Defense: Jared Cannonier at UFC 276 on 2 July 2022
• Notes: Adesanya unified the middleweight championship by defeating Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 on 6 October 2019.

Interim – Israel Adesanya

• Title Won Date: Apr 13, 2019
• Defenses: –
• Reigns Day:
• Event: UFC 236
• Notes: With Whittaker out injured, Adesayna defeated Kelvin Gastelum to become the interim champion.

10. Robert Whittaker

• Title Won Date: Dec 7, 2017
• Defenses: 0
• Reigns Day: 660 days
• Event: –
• Notes: Whittaker was promoted as the undisputed champion after Goerge St-Pierre vacated the title.

9. Georges St-Pierre

• Title Won Date: Nov 4, 2017
• Defenses: 0
• Reigns Day: 33 days
• Event: UFC 217
• Notes: Georges St-Pierre becomes the 4th person to win a UFC title in two different divisions when he defeated Michael Bisping to win the middleweight title. St-Pierre had to vacate the title just 33 days later due to ulcerative colitis.

Interim – Robert Whittaker

• Title Won Date: Jul 8, 2017
• Defenses: –
• Reigns Day:
• Event: UFC 213
• Notes: After Bisping got injured, Whittaker defeated Yoel Romero to become an interim champion. However, Whittaker’s own injury left him out of contention for title unification bout.

8. Michael Bisping

• Title Won Date: Jun 4, 2016
• Defenses: 1
  • 1^st Defense: Dan Henderson at UFC 204 on Oct 8, 2016
• Reigns Day: 518 Days
• Event: UFC 199
• Notes: Bisping defeated Rockhold his first title defense to win the title at UFC 199.

7. Luke Rockhold

• Title Won Date: Dec 12, 2015
• Defenses: 0
• Reigns Day: 175 Days
• Event: UFC 194
• Notes: Luke Rockhold won the Middleweight title from Chris Weidman at UFC 194.

6. Chris Weidman

• Title Won Date: Jul 6, 2013
• Defenses: 3
  •  3^rd Defense: Anderson Silva at UFC 168 on Dec 28, 2013
  • 2nd Defense: Lyoto Machida at UFC 175 on Jul 5, 2014
  • 1^st Defense: Anderson Silva at UFC 168 on Dec 28, 2013
• Reigns Day: 889 Days
• Event: UFC 162
• Notes: Middleweight Champion was changed for the first time in seven years when Weidman defeated Anderson Silva at UFC 162. Wiedman is only the second fighter to defend UFC Middleweight Championship three times successfully.

5. Anderson Silva

• Title Won Date: Oct 14, 2006
• Reigns Day: 2457 days
• Event: UFC 64
• Defenses: 10
  • 10^th Defense: Nate Marquardt at UFC 73 on Jul 7, 2007
  • 9^th Defense: Rich Franklin at UFC 77 on Oct 20, 2007
  • 8^th Defense: Dan Henderson at UFC 82 on Mar 1, 2008
  • 7^th Defense: Patrick Côté at UFC 90 on Oct 25, 2008
  • 6^th Defense: Thales Leites at UFC 97 on Apr 18, 2009
  • 5^th Defense: Demian Maia at UFC 112 on Apr 10, 2010
  • 4^th Defense: Chael Sonnen at UFC 117 on Aug 7, 2010
  • 3^rd Defense: Vitor Belfort at UFC 126 on Feb 5, 2011
  • 2^nd Defense: Yushin Okami at UFC 134 on Aug 27, 2011
  • 1^st Defense: Chael Sonnen at UFC 148 on Jul 7, 2012
• Notes: Silva is the longest-reigning UFC Champion of all weight division in a single title reign(2457 days). He also holds the record for the most number of title defenses in the middleweight division(10) and second-most consecutive title defenses for any division.

4. Rich Franklin

• Title Won Date: Jun 4, 2005
• Defenses: 2
  • 2^nd Defense: David Loiseau at UFC 58 on Mar 4, 2006
  • 1^st Defense: Nate Quarry at UFC 56 on Nov 19, 2005
• Reigns Day: 497 days
• Event: UFC 53
• Notes: Franklin won the title from Evan Tanner at UFC 53. Franklin became the first Middleweight champion to successfully defend the title twice.

3. Evan Tanner

• Title Won Date: Feb 5, 2005
• Defenses:
• Reigns Day: 119 days
• Event: UFC 51
• Notes: Tanner defeated David Tenner to win the vacant Middleweight title.

2. Murilo Bustamante

• Title Won Date: Jan 11, 2002
• Defenses: 1
  • 1^st Defense: Matt Lindland at UFC 37 on May 10, 2002
• Reigns Day: 267 days
• Event: UFC 35
• Notes: Bustamante defeated Menne to win the Middleweight title in the second title bout. He was stripped of the title after he left UFC.

1. Dave Menne

• Title Won Date: Sep 28, 2001
• Defenses: 0
• Reigns Day: 105 days
• Event: UFC 33
• Notes: Menne became the first UFC Middleweight Champion by defeating Gil Castillo at UFC 33.