Winning a title is perhaps the hardest thing you can do in mixed martial arts, only rivaled in difficulty by defending it. Of the UFC’s 114 unique interim and undisputed champions, 52 (46%) never saw a successful defense of their belt. Although retaining a belt is hard work, breaking down defense statistics paints a better picture as to which weight classes are harder than others to stay at the top of.
Before we begin, it is worth noting the decision to omit interim champions from the conversation was almost had with how much they skewed the stats in one direction. With the interim belt’s purpose to have a placeholder champion during circumstances that keep the undisputed champion out of the cage, it was initially expected none of the UFC’s 23 interim champions would have seen a defense. However, Renan Barao and Andrei Arlovski both succeeded in defending their interim titles, with Barao doing it twice over.
Still, it is worth noting how the stats skew when including interim champs, with 21 of the 52 champions to never defend being interim champions. Focusing on undisputed champions, over one-third of them failed to defend their belt once, and that number increases when tallying champs that didn’t defend twice or more.
With that said, let’s dive into the meat of the data to decide how each weight class fares in difficulty when it comes to retaining champ status.
HEAVYWEIGHT
Perhaps the hardest land to lead, the heavyweight division chews champions up and spits them out unlike any division in the UFC. It is the only weight class with more champions than total defenses and the only division averaging less than one defense per champion. Twelve of the division’s 22 champions never saw a successful defense of their belt. It has not gotten any easier in the modern era, with Francis Ngannou the only champion to defend since Stipe Miocic’s division-best reign.
Top defenders:
- Stipe Miocic – 4
- Randy Couture – 3
- Tim Sylvia – 3
- Other 19 champions: 9
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
The defense history of light heavyweight is quite front-loaded, with almost half of the division’s total defenses coming between the trio of Frank Shamrock, Tito Ortiz, and Chuck Liddell. Years of belt shuffling transpired before Daniel Cormier, and to a much greater extent, Jon Jones brought stability to the division with a generational reign. Since Jones’ exit from LHW, the division has seen just one defense in the last five champions.
Top defenders:
- Jon Jones – 11
- Tito Ortiz – 5
- Chuck Liddell & Frank Shamrock – 4
- Other 13 champions: 6
MIDDLEWEIGHT
The top heaviness in LHW is felt even greater here in middleweight, with Anderson Silva and Israel Adesanya accounting for nearly 70% of the division’s title defenses. With the other seven defenses spread across eleven different champs, Silva and Adesanya offered cornerstones of stability across an otherwise difficult division to dominate.
Top defenders:
- Anderson Silva – 10
- Israel Adesanya – 5
- Chris Weidman – 3
- Other 10 champions: 4
WELTERWEIGHT
Welterweight enters the fray with the same amount of unique champions as middleweight but with eleven more title defenses. Spread across this title’s rich history is a slate of healthy reigns, with five different champions defending the belt four times or more. Although six never successfully defended, the other seven defended at least twice. So far, welterweight champions either end their reign with a goose egg or multiple defenses.
Top defenders:
- Georges St-Pierre – 9
- Matt Hughes – 7
- Kamaru Usman – 5
- Other 10 champions – 12
LIGHTWEIGHT
The lightweight division is interesting given how frequent title defenses happened in the beginning versus how rare they are now. All of the first seven champs defended their belt at least once, with four of the first five defending multiple times over. After a string of instability, Khabib Nurmagomedov brought stability with his three-title defenses before retiring, with Islam Makachev looking to carry the legacy. At this weight class, it has been hard to have a legacy, as it is second-lowest across men’s divisions in average defenses per champion at 1.3.
Top defenders:
- Khabib Nurmagomedov, Benson Henderson, Frankie Edgar, & B.J. Penn – 3
- Other 11 champions – 8
FEATHERWEIGHT
Since its inception in 2010, the UFC featherweight division has been blessed with a slate of worthwhile champions largely successful in their defense attempts. Even without a defense, Conor McGregor’s belt win had an immense impact. Historically speaking, Yair Rodriguez is the first non-impactful champion in the division after winning the interim title but failing to unify over Alexander Volkanovski. All-in-all, four of the five champions being future or current hall of famers is quite the lineage.
Top defenders:
- Jose Aldo – 7
- Alexander Volkanowski – 5
- Max Holloway – 3
- Conor McGregor & Yair Rodriguez – 0
BANTAMWEIGHT
Like light heavyweight, the bantamweight division has had a slate of sound champions carry strong legacies with multiple title defenses, with four of the eight champs defending their belts three times each. Those four champs account for all but one of the division’s thirteen total title defenses, making way for a few one-and-done or worse champions.
Top defenders:
- Aljamain Sterling, T.J. Dillashaw, Dominick Cruz, & Renan Barao – 3
- Other 4 champions – 1
FLYWEIGHT
The total champion and total defense numbers are the same as featherweight but the story is told much differently at flyweight, with Demetrius Johnson doing almost all of the work with eleven of the division’s fifteen title defenses. As expected, the division has yet to see a champion even half as dominant and its modern history has been largely upheld by a four-part rivalry between Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo. With Alexandre Pantoja looking to move the division forward, time will tell if he is successful in that venture.
Top defenders:
- Demetrius Johnson – 11
- Deiveson Figueiredo – 2
- Henry Cejudo & Alexandre Pantoja – 1
- Brandon Moreno – 0
