UFC champions history: Heavyweight
UFC heavyweight champions include, clockwise from top left, Randy Couture, Cain Velasquez, Daniel Cormier, Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic Credit: Getty Images
The oldest championship in the UFC, the heavyweight title was created at UFC 12 when Superfight Champion Dan Severn faced UFC 11 tournament winner Mark Coleman to unify the titles. Follow the path of the UFC heavyweight championship belt through the years.
Mark Coleman
Successful title defenses: 0
In the first UFC heavyweight championship, Mark "The Hammer" Coleman submitted a bare-knuckled Dan Severn with a choke 2:57 into the fight at UFC 12 on Feb. 7, 1997.
Maurice Smith
Successful title defenses: 1
In the first UFC title defense, Coleman battled Maurice Smith in a 21-minute epic at UFC 14 on July 27, 1997. The bout was later named Fight of the Year as Smith, a kickboxer, neutralized Coleman’s world-class ground game to score the upset via unanimous decision. Smith successfully defended the title once against Tank Abbott, winning via submission due to exhaustion.
Randy Couture
Successful title defenses: 0
While Smith was able to stop Coleman’s ground game, he could not solve the wrestling of Randy Couture at UFC Japan on Dec. 21, 1997. Couture won the bout via majority decision to take the title, but his reign was short-lived as he vacated shortly after because of a contract dispute.
Bas Rutten
Successful title defenses: 0
After Couture was stripped, Pancrase legend Bas Rutten defeated Kevin Randleman for the vacant title at UFC 20 on May 7, 1999, winning a close split decision. Rutten chose to vacate the title in order to drop to the 205-pound division, then known as middleweight, but was forced to retire after suffering multiple injuries in training.
Kevin Randleman
Successful title defenses: 1
In the first heavyweight title fight to use the five five-minute round format, Kevin Randleman defeated Pete Williams via unanimous decision. Randleman held the title for almost a year, defending against Pedro Rizzo. The former Division I wrestler passed away in 2016 at age 44.
Randy Couture
Successful title defenses: 2
Couture became the first two-time champion in UFC history when he defeated Randleman via TKO at UFC 28 on Nov. 17, 2000. This time, Couture was able to defend the title, winning a pair of bouts against Pedro Rizzo.
Josh Barnett
Successful title defenses: 0
At UFC 36 on March 22, 2002, Josh Barnett was able to out-wrestle Couture in the second round of their title bout and finish the champion with strikes for the TKO. Barnett was named champion, but he failed a post-fight drug test for anabolic steroids and was stripped of the belt in July of that year before leaving the UFC to fight in Japan.
Ricco Rodriguez
Successful title defenses: 0
In the defining moment of his career, Ricco Rodriguez captured the vacant title with a submission win over Randy Couture in the fifth round at UFC 39 on Sept. 27, 2002.
Tim Sylvia
Successful title defenses: 1
Tim Sylvia took the title from Rodriguez via knockout at 3:09 of the first round at UFC 41 on Feb. 28, 2003. Sylvia beat Gan McGee in his first title defense but was stripped of the title for failing a post-fight drug test.
Frank Mir
Successful title defenses: 0
On June 19, 2004, at UFC 48, fan favorite and jiu-jitsu expert Frank Mir broke Tim Sylvia’s forearm with an armbar to take the vacant heavyweight title. Mir was forced to vacate the title after a motorcycle accident left him unable to compete for more than a year.
Andrei Arlovski
Successful title defenses: 1
With Mir unable to compete, Andrei Arlovski fought and defeated Tim Sylvia for the interim title on Feb. 4, 2005, at UFC 51. After one interim title defense, he was promoted to undisputed champion in August and defended the real belt once more.
Tim Sylvia
Successful title defenses: 2
Sylvia became the second two-time heavyweight champion when he avenged his earlier loss to Arlovski on April 15, 2006, at UFC 59. Sylvia later won the rubber match between the two in his first title defense.
Randy Couture
Successful title defenses: 1
After a stint at light heavyweight in which he twice won the 205-pound belt, Couture returned to heavyweight and defeated Sylvia by unanimous decision at UFC 68 on March 3, 2007.
Brock Lesnar
Successful title defenses: 2
In just his fourth MMA bout, pro wrestling star Brock Lesnar smothered Couture with his grappling and finished the fight with punches to win via TKO in the second round at UFC 91 on Nov. 15, 2008. The biggest pay-per-view draw in the company’s history at the time, Lesnar twice defended and unified the title, beating interim champs Frank Mir at UFC 100 and Shane Carwin at UFC 116.
Cain Velasquez
Successful title defenses: 0
A former All-American wrestler at Arizona State, Cain Velasquez was able to out-grapple and control the larger Lesnar on the ground, winning the title with a first-round TKO at UFC 121 on Oct. 23, 2010.
Junior Dos Santos
Successful title defenses: 1
In the first UFC fight on network television, Junior dos Santos floored Velasquez with an overhand right, finishing with strikes on the ground to become champion in 64 seconds on Nov. 12, 2011. He successfully defended the belt against former champion Frank Mir the following year.
Cain Velasquez
Successful title defenses: 2
Velasquez earned a rematch against dos Santos at UFC 155 on Dec. 29, 2012, avenging his loss with a unanimous decision victory that included a 50-43 score on one judge’s card. He successfully defended the title twice, including a rubber match with dos Santos that ended with a TKO in the fifth round.
Fabricio Werdum
Successful title defenses: 0
After winning an interim title bout against Mark Hunt, Fabricio Werdum submitted Velasquez to win the title at UFC 188 on June 13, 2015. Werdum citied his acclimation to the high altitude of Mexico City, where he also fought Hunt, as a reason he’d succeed ahead of the fight. That prediction proved correct as Velasquez tired faster than usual, allowing Werdum to apply a third-round choke.
Stipe Miocic
Successful title defenses: 3
In front of 45,000 fans at UFC 198 on May 14, 2016, Stipe Miocic knocked out Werdum to take the belt. Miocic, a firefighter from Ohio, stunned the crowd in Curitiba, Brazil, with a one-punch KO while moving backward against a charging Werdum midway through the first-round. Miocic set the UFC record for most successful title defenses in division history with first-round knockouts of Alistair Overeem and Junior dos Santos and a five-round dominant performance over Francis Ngannou.
Daniel Cormier
Successful title defenses: 1
At UFC 226 on July 7, 2018, Daniel Cormier knocked out Stipe Miocic to become the heavyweight champion. Cormier entered the bout as the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion as well, making him the second fighter to hold UFC titles in multiple weight classes at the same time. Cormier defended his heavyweight title with relative ease the first time, submitting Derrick Lewis in the second round.
Stipe Miocic
Successful title defenses: 1
Miocic reclaimed his title at UFC 241 on Aug. 17, 2019, by becoming the first person to beat Daniel Cormier at heavyweight. After losing the first two rounds on the judges' cards, Miocic turned it around in the third, then landed the knockout blows in the fourth, forcing the referee to stop the fight with 51 seconds left. At UFC 252 a year later, Miocic and Cormier fought a five-round battle, with the champion Miocic earning the unanimous decision, 49-46, 48-47, 48-47.
Francis Ngannou
Successful title defenses: 1
The first knockdown came 22 seconds into the second round. The knockout followed 30 seconds later as Francis Ngannou stopped Miocic to win the heavyweight title at UFC 260 on March 27, 2021. Ngannou became the first UFC champion from Cameroon and the third from Africa, joining reigning welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and reiging middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, both from Nigeria. Ngannou defended his title against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 on Jan. 22, 2022, showcasing his ground game for the unanimous decision. A year later, he was given his release by the UFC and the title was vacated.
Jon Jones
Considered the greatest MMA fighter ever, Jones added to his legacy by claiming the heavyweight title in his first fight in the division and coming off a three-year layoff as he moved up from light heavyweight. Jones submitted Ciryl Gane in just over two minutes at UFC 285 on March 4, 2023. It was Jones' 16th title fight, and he has won all of them.
Mark La Monica is a deputy sports editor at Newsday. He also covers mixed martial arts.
