UFC Middleweight Champion History: Every Reign Since 2001

The UFC’s 185-pound championship history begins with Dave Menne, who defeated Gil Castillo at UFC 33 in September 2001. Counting the lineage below through November 5, 2026 gives 15 different undisputed champions across 17 reigns. Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland account for the two repeat reigns. The starting point is documented in UFC’s middleweight title lineage.

Strickland is the current champion on UFC’s rankings page, having regained the belt from Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328 on May 9, 2026. This page tracks the complete lineage; see the current middleweight title and recent results for the recent-bout view.

Complete UFC middleweight championship lineage

Each row below is one undisputed reign. Interim championships are explained separately, and the bout that captures a belt does not count as a successful defense. UFC’s championship history documents the title changes through Du Plessis’s title-winning bout; the linked fighter and bout records document later entries, defense totals and key counting exceptions.

Reign periods are shown by month rather than exact elapsed days. Unless a vacancy is identified below, a completed reign ended when the next champion won the belt.

Reign	Champion	Undisputed reign period	How the reign began	Successful defenses
1	Dave Menne	Sep. 2001–Jan. 2002	Defeated Gil Castillo, UFC 33; inaugural title	0
2	Murilo Bustamante	Jan.–Oct. 2002	Defeated Menne, UFC 35	1
3	Evan Tanner	Feb.–Jun. 2005	Defeated David Terrell, UFC 51; vacant title	0
4	Rich Franklin	Jun. 2005–Oct. 2006	Defeated Tanner, UFC 53	2
5	Anderson Silva	Oct. 2006–Jul. 2013	Defeated Franklin, UFC 64	10
6	Chris Weidman	Jul. 2013–Dec. 2015	Defeated Silva, UFC 162	3
7	Luke Rockhold	Dec. 2015–Jun. 2016	Defeated Weidman, UFC 194	0
8	Michael Bisping	Jun. 2016–Nov. 2017	Defeated Rockhold, UFC 199	1
9	Georges St-Pierre	Nov.–Dec. 2017	Defeated Bisping, UFC 217	0
10	Robert Whittaker	Dec. 2017–Oct. 2019	Promoted from interim champion after St-Pierre vacated	0
11	Israel Adesanya	Oct. 2019–Nov. 2022	Defeated Whittaker, UFC 243; unified titles	5
12	Alex Pereira	Nov. 2022–Apr. 2023	Defeated Adesanya, UFC 281	0
13	Israel Adesanya, second reign	Apr.–Sep. 2023	Defeated Pereira, UFC 287	0
14	Sean Strickland	Sep. 2023–Jan. 2024	Defeated Adesanya, UFC 293	0
15	Dricus Du Plessis	Jan. 2024–Aug. 2025	Defeated Strickland, UFC 297	2
16	Khamzat Chimaev	Aug. 2025–May 2026	Defeated Du Plessis, UFC 319	0
17	Sean Strickland, second reign	May 2026–present	Defeated Chimaev, UFC 328	0

“Present” and the ongoing reign’s defense total are as of November 5, 2026.

Vacancies and interim belts: where the lineage needs explanation

The 2002–2005 vacancy. Bustamante defended against Matt Lindland, then left the UFC for PRIDE in October 2002. The division had no champion until Tanner defeated Terrell for the vacant belt in February 2005. That gap is part of the title’s history—not an extension of Bustamante’s reign. Sherdog’s historical account identifies the vacancy period.

Whittaker’s interim title and promotion. Whittaker defeated Yoel Romero at UFC 213 on July 8, 2017, to become interim champion. His undisputed reign began on December 7, when St-Pierre vacated because of health issues and UFC elevated Whittaker. Those are two different starting points, not two undisputed reigns. The sequence is documented by Whittaker’s UFC record and the contemporaneous report of St-Pierre’s vacancy.

Adesanya’s interim title and unification. Adesanya won the interim belt against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236 on April 13, 2019. His first undisputed reign began later that year when he defeated Whittaker at UFC 243. UFC’s Adesanya record explicitly distinguishes the interim win from the unification win.

Neither interim championship adds another fighter to the 15-champion total: both holders subsequently became undisputed champion.

What the reign totals show—and what they do not

Counting the table’s 16 completed undisputed reigns, seven included at least one successful defense and nine ended without one. Strickland’s ongoing second reign is excluded from that comparison. Winning the championship and sustaining a reign are therefore distinct achievements in this division’s record.

But zero defenses does not always mean a champion lost his next fight. St-Pierre vacated without defending. Whittaker beat Romero again at UFC 225, but Romero missed weight, making it a non-title fight; UFC’s official fighter record says Whittaker would have retained the belt regardless of the result.

The same distinction keeps Silva’s total at 10: his win over Travis Lutter was not a defense because Lutter missed weight, as UFC’s lineage account records. For the broader counting rule, see UFC title-fight wins versus title defenses.