Mixed style fighting is gaining more and more popularity, and fight ratings best fighters gather a huge audience of spectators. There are many different promotional organizations, each with their own rules and their own stars. However, today most of the strongest athletes compete under the auspices of the UFC, which has absorbed its most serious competitors and has great financial resources.

Ukrainian kickboxer in MMA

Igor Vovchanchin started his big sports career before the heyday of the UFC and was marked by fights in the Pride promotion. As a child, he worked athletics, boxing, then seriously took up kickboxing, having managed to become a world champion by the age of twenty. Not tall for this sport, Igor Vovchanchin compensated for this lack of speed and sharpness, crushing his competitors. In 1995, he first began participating in mixed martial arts.

In 1998, the Ukrainian signed a contract with Pride, and in two years of playing in the cage he became one of the best MMA fighters.

In 2000, he was invited to participate in the Grand Prix, where he managed to reach the final. Here the strongest American Mark Coleman was waiting for him. Vovchanchyn was exhausted after a tough semi-final fight, while Coleman finished off his opponent in the first seconds of the fight, so he lost in a close fight.

The following years, the Ukrainian alternated successful fights with failures. The fight with the legendary Mirko Filippovich stands apart. The meeting of two kickboxers ended with the strongest blow of the Croat with his left foot, which knocked out Vovchanchyn. Having completed his career, Igor did not leave MMA and opened his own fight club.

In mixed style fights people come from completely different types sports. For example, the former Greco-Roman wrestler can be safely attributed to the best MMA fighters of the zero years.

Dan Henderson successfully competed as a classic wrestler and even represented the United States on two occasions. Olympic Games. Having improved his boxing training, he began to compete in mixed style fights.

The American was one of the first stars UFC fighters, winning the UFC 17 tournament in 1998, then performed extensively in other promotions. special success he has achieved in Pride and Strikeforce, repeatedly collecting the world titles of these organizations.

However, main fight Dan spent his career in 2011 at the age of 40, when he knocked out the previously undefeated Fedor Emelianenko, becoming one of the best mixed martial artists of all time.

Few people are capable of becoming a world champion at the age of 43. Randy Couture was born back in 1963, and during his youth, no one had heard of mixed martial arts. At this time he was engaged Greco-Roman wrestling achieving excellent results in international tournaments. In the mid-nineties, the already aged athlete made a daring decision to take up MMA and quickly broke into the ranks of the best fighters, becoming the champion of UFC 13 in 1997.

The star fighter has repeatedly clashed with the leadership of the promotion, now and then moving to other organizations. Despite this, he managed to win the UFC world title five times by the age of 43 and entered the hall of fame as the oldest champion.

On account of Randy Couture victory over such the strongest fighters like Kevin Randleman, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Lidel. He fought his last fight at the age of 46 in 2009.

Connor McGregor

Among the best fighters in the world, the magnificent Irish athlete stands apart. Connor McGregor performs in the lightweight category, but many authoritative publications are included in the top five UFC fighters, regardless of weight.

The Irishman holds the world title, and another star athlete, Khabib Nurmagomedov, is eager to meet him.

Connor McGregor has a very spectacular and non-standard manner of fighting. Specialist in martial arts, he has excellent footwork, crushing many opponents with his "turntables". At the same time, his combat range is very wide, he hits hard with both hands and works great in a boxing stance.

He is especially hard at work on wrestling and has already achieved the right to a brown belt in jiu-jitsu.

The spectacular style of fighting, as well as eccentric behavior outside the cage, make McGregor one of the most popular fighters, his fights are sold by viewers of pay-per-view cable channels like hot cakes.

Khabib Nurmagomedov

Dagestan is famous for its freestyle wrestling school and is becoming the birthplace of the best mixed martial arts fighters. Among them is Khabib Nurmagomedov, who occupies 13th place in UFC ranking regardless of category. In his lightweight he is considered the best after the legendary McGregor, a duel with whom he diligently seeks.

Unlike the Irishman, Khabib is a wrestling specialist, he twice became the world champion in combat sambo, grepling, pankration. In 2012, he began performing in the UFC.

He was inactive for two years due to an injury, however, despite this, he managed to hold 30 fights, all of which he won.

Nevertheless, Khabib also has weaknesses. Apparently, he is not quite comfortable with the frames. light weight, which makes it hard to lose weight before fights. Just after such preparation, he recently felt ill before the fight with Tony Ferguson, and the fight was postponed.

Stipe Miocic

The American fighter of Croatian origin firmly holds the UFC world heavyweight title. By many analysts, he is recognized as the absolute best fighter, regardless of the weight category. Before joining mixed martial arts, he was successful in boxing and wrestling, in particular, winning the prestigious Golden Gloves tournament, and was also a member of the first division of NCAA wrestlers. This explains his invulnerability both in the standing position and in the stalls. Fighter without weaknesses rarely gives his opponent a chance to show his strengths.

On account of the formidable Croat victory over Fabio Maldonado, Andrei Orlovsky, Fabricio Werdum. In 2015, Stipe Miocic set a unique record against Mark Hunt with 361 punches. This fight was recognized as the "Beating of the Year" according to the UFC.

Misha Tate

Another American beauty belongs to the best MMA fighters among women. For several years, fans watched with admiration the confrontation between Ronda Rousey and Mischa Tate in the bantamweight division. Just like her main rival, Misha was especially good at choking and painful techniques. At the youth level, she was engaged in freestyle wrestling, won regional competitions, after which she began to compete in mixed martial arts, immediately becoming one of the best fighters. Over and over again, overturning rivals with her lightning-fast passes to the legs, the American even earned the nickname "Takedown" among fans and specialists.

Especially epic was her confrontation with Ronda Rousey. Twice she met with her in the fight for the championship belt and lost twice.

Finally, Misha Tate performed her cherished dream, having defeated Collie Holm in the title fight, but did not hold the title for long, losing to the dangerous Brazilian Amanda Nunez.

Ronda Rousey

The list of the best MMA fighters in the world would be incomplete without the fair sex. A special place here is occupied by the former world bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. She trained professionally in judo and was on the US Olympic team at the age of seventeen.

In 2008, Ronda Rousey won the Beijing Olympics in brilliant style. Winning everything you can amateur sports, a strong girl decided to test herself in mixed martial arts. In the octagon, she made full use of her judo skills, and for many years none of her rivals could oppose her deadly painful holds.

In her 12 UFC victories, she used the armbar nine times, which was her signature move. She held the world bantamweight title from 2012 to 2015. The real sensation was her defeat in 2015 by Collie Holm, who managed to keep a dangerous opponent at a distance and knocked out Rhonda in boxing style.

A year later, she tried to regain the title of world champion, but again she ran into an uncompromising opponent with strong shock training. Amanda Nunes managed to break the legendary American and won by technical knockout.

Fabricio Werdum is one of the many representatives of the Brazilian MMA school. His nickname Vai Cavalo translates from Portuguese as "forward, horse." He was born on July 30, 1977 in Porto Allegri in Brazil, but in this moment lives in San Jose, USA, where he trains in Kings MMA. The fighting basis of Fabricio is Brazilian jiu-jitsu and muay thai.

Werdum earned the championship belt in the summer of 2015. On June 13, as part of the UFC 188 tournament, he met with Cain Velasquez, who at that time owned the title. The Brazilian dominated throughout the fight and eventually caught his opponent in a guillotine in the third round. In February 2016, he was supposed to meet with Velasquez in a rematch, but the opponent withdrew from the fight due to injury. Werdum's next entry into the octagon is scheduled for May 14, 2016 as part of the UFC 198 show. During the first defense, Fabriciou's opponent will be top contender Stipe Miocic.

UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier

Daniel Cormier was born on March 20, 1979 in the American city of Lafayette. He currently resides in San Jose and trains at the American Kickboxing Academy. His background is freestyle wrestling and kickboxing. In addition, Daniel boasts a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Cormier's main problem at the moment is that many do not consider him a true champion. The best UFC fighter, regardless of weight categories, Jon Jones, in the rank of title holder, met with Daniel and got the victory. Later, Jones got in trouble with the law, causing the promotion to take the belt from him. The latter was soon played by Cormier and Anthony Johnson. On May 23, 2015, at UFC 187, Cormier defeated Johnson and sat on the light heavyweight throne, after which he made his first title defense in a battle with Alexander Gustafsson. The long-awaited rematch with Jon Jones will take place on April 23, 2016 as part of the UFC 197 tournament.

UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold

Luke Rockhold was born October 17, 1984 in the California city of Santa Cruz, is a citizen of the United States of America and trains with Daniel Cormier at the American Kickboxing Academy. He has a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but besides this type of martial arts, he is well acquainted with kickboxing and freestyle wrestling.

Rockhold won the UFC belt relatively recently, when he won a victory over the previously undefeated Chris Weidman in a dominant style. Initially, the battle, which took place as part of the co-main event of the UFC 194 show, proceeded to the accompaniment of the attacks of the current champion, but later Rockhold managed to seize the initiative due to the fact that he retained more strength. He pinned Weidman to the ground and began beating the helpless opponent until the match was stopped by the referee. Despite the fact that Rochkold had a serious advantage during the fight, the promotion bosses appointed an immediate rematch, which will take place on June 4, 2016 at UFC 199.

UFC Welterweight Champion Robbie Lawler

Robbie Lawler is one of the most daring UFC champions. This guy was born in San Diego on March 20, 1982, and currently lives in Coconut Creek and trains at the American Top Team fight club. The fighter came to mixed martial arts from karate, and often his fights are held in a stance and are nominated for the title of the best fights of the year.

He earned the UFC welterweight title on December 6, 2014 in a confrontation with Johny Hendrix. Ruthless (Lawler's nickname) got the victory in it according to the results of a separate decision of the judges. Robbie has since made two defenses of his title. First, at UFC 189, he defeated Rory McDonald by technical knockout, after which he will meet with Carlos Condit as part of UFC 195, held on January 2, 2016. Who will be Lawler's next opponent is still unknown.

UFC Lightweight Champion Rafael dos Anjos

Rafael Dos Anjos was born on October 26, 1984 in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Here he currently resides, training under the guidance of Rafael Cordeiro in Kings MMA. The basis of the combat operations of a fighter is Thai boxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Rafael dos Anjos became the champion after the title battle with Anthony Pettis. On March 15, 2015, as part of UFC 185, Rafael won the victory thanks to a unanimous decision of the judges. In December 2015, he made his first belt defense against Donald Cerrone. While many expected a competitive battle from this meeting, dos Anjos already in the first seconds of the debut round showed that he would not give Cowboy a chance, destroying him by technical knockout. The next outing of the fighter in the cage was scheduled for March 5, 2016. Rafal had to defend his belt from the encroachments of UFC Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor. However, the Brazilian broke his leg and withdrew from the fight.

UFC Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor

Conor McGregor is one of the most popular figures in the world of mixed martial arts. In addition, he brings the UFC the greatest income, and therefore enjoys the indulgence of the promotion management. The fighter was born on July 14, 1988 in Dublin, Ireland, where he lives at the moment. His background is diverse: karate, taekwondo, boxing and even capoeira. In addition, Conor has a brown belt in jiu-jitsu, but has not yet proven that he can be called successful in this type of martial arts.

McGregor has long attracted the attention of the whole world to his person, although he has taken possession of the championship belt relatively recently. It took only 13 seconds for him to overthrow the former title holder, the Brazilian Jose Aldo, from the throne. The exact gift of the jaw lifted the Irishman's glory to even greater heights, and dishonored the former champion. In his next fight, McGregor was scheduled to fight for the second belt against lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos, but the latter was injured and pulled out of the fight. His replacement, Nate Diaz, caught Dana White's golden boy in the second round with a submission. With whom Notorius will now fight is still unknown, but it says a lot that Jose Aldo will be his opponent again.

UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominic Cruz

Dominic Cruz is another representative of the American school of mixed martial arts. Dominator was born on September 3, 1985 in Tucson, Orizona. Currently, his place of residence is the California city of Chula Vista. This guy trains with the Alliance MMA team, and his basic techniques in MMA are boxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and wrestling.

Dominick Cruz has lost only once in his long career and is one of the two men who defeated reigning flyweight title holder Demetrius Johnson. However, injuries prevented Dominka from fully revealing his talents. On July 7, 2012, Cruz was supposed to fight Juraj Faber, but this fight did not take place, because Dominik suffered a cruciate ligament injury. A series of injuries kept him out of the octagon until the fall of 2014, when he met with Takeya Mizugaki and got the victory, and then again went into idle time due to yet another health problem. On January 7, 2016, the fighter made a triumphant return to the UFC, taking the belt from then-champion TJ Dillashaw. Mine next fight Cruz will face Juraj Faber again at UFC 199 on June 4, 2016.

UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrius Johnson

mixed martial arts(MMA) is arguably the fastest growing sport in the world and continues to attract new fans every day. Despite the fact that this sport is only 25 years old, during this time it has had many great champions who have become known to the whole world. It is quite possible that such a list in another 25 years will look completely different, but it is still quite interesting to consider and pay tribute to 10 the greatest fighters at the moment.

10. Georges St. Pierre

With Anderson Silva's recent loss, St-Pierre has become the most undefeated MMA champion ever. Georges is still in his prime and it seems no one can stop him any time soon. He is without a doubt the best welterweight fighter and he fights like no other - he overwhelms his opponents with a great physical training and fighting skills. He has been participating in the most difficult tournaments of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) for many years and has 24 wins and only 2 losses on his account, and for those he subsequently took revenge. He has won the UFC welterweight tournament twice and currently holds the record for most wins by decision with 11. He is also tied with Matt Hughes for the most wins in UFC history with 18.

Both of these records are likely to be broken by Georges himself soon, and most fans are looking forward to this moment. Considering how strong Georges looks and his young age, it's hard to even imagine what other records he will set.

Important victories: Sean Sherk, B.J. Penn (x2), Matt Hughes (x2), Josh Koscheck (x2), Matt Serra, Jon Fitch, Dan Hardy (Dan Hardy), Jake Shields (Jake Shields), Carlos Condit (Carlos Condit), Nick Diaz (Nick Diaz).

9. Anderson Silva


The Spider recently lost his title to the younger and stronger Chris Weidman, but he remains one of the best fighters in the octagonal ring. The Brazilian fighter holds the record for the most fights in which he defended his championship - 10 fights in a row. For every fan that Silva has won, there is also a person who will remind that the fighter lost in five fights to lesser known opponents and accuse Anderson of actually starving himself in order to remain in one of the weakest UFC divisions - middleweight. Despite all his opponents, the facts speak for themselves - this is a really good fighter.

Important victories: Rich Franklin (x2), Dan Henderson, Forrest Griffin, Chael Sonnen (x2), Vitor Belfort.

8 Randy Couture


Randy Couture is called "Captain America" ​​and "Natural" for a reason. If anyone can compete with Chuck Liddell for the most popular fighter in UFC history, it's Randy. During his illustrious career, he became a three-time heavyweight champion UFC categories. Randy also became the first fighter to hold two different UFC division titles when he won the light heavyweight division. He is also the most decorated fighter in UFC history - a five-time champion. For all his astounding accomplishments, he will forever be remembered for defeating boxer James Toney, who said he would show everyone that couture and MMA in general is a sport for soft-bodied, untalented boys. If anyone looked mediocre and bland after their fight, it's James Toney.

Important victories: Vitor Belfort (x2), Maurice Smith, Kevin Randleman, Pedro Rizzo (x2), Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Tim Sylvia, Gabriel Gonzaga ( Gabriel Gonzaga), Mark Coleman, James Toney.

7. Chuck Liddell


Chuck was to MMA what Babe Ruth was to baseball, Michael Jordan to basketball, Tom Brady to American football, and David Beckham to football - MEGA STAR. Without exaggeration, we can say that at the moment he is the most popular UFC fighter of all time and, perhaps, one of the best fighters in general. He became the light heavyweight champion by defeating Tito Ortiz and defended his title four times in 2 years. Unfortunately, his prime was short-lived, and towards the end of his career, he suffered several disappointing defeats. However, Liddell's heyday was one of the most impressive periods for MMA. According to some, he was the most famous fighter in the history of the UFC and helped draw the attention of the American public to MMA.

Important victories: Jeff Monson, Kevin Randleman, Guy Mezger, Vitor Belfort, Renato Sobral (x2), Alistair Overeem, Tito Ortiz (x2), Randy Couture (x2), Vernon White (Vernon White), Wanderlei Silva (Wanderlei Silva).

6. Bas Rutten (Bas Rutten)


"Handsome" is another fighter who made his invaluable contribution in the development of sports at the time of its inception. The Dutchman Bass was a black belt in karate and was a professional kickboxer who made his way into the MMA world with great success. He was the right size appearance and possessed good style- all this helped him become one of the most formidable champions of all time. He became UFC heavyweight champion and ended his career with an impressive 22 fights undefeated. During his time in the UFC, he became widely known for his favorite tactic, the liver attack, which usually paralyzed his opponents. Rutten's charisma both in and out of the ring helped him become one of the sport's early stars. Although he still takes part in the sport (albeit now as a commentator), he also starred in several films and became a character in the game.

Important victories: Vernon White, Maurice Smith (x2), Frank Shamrock (x2), Guy Mezger, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, Kevin Randleman.

5. Royce Gracie


Could the "King of submissions" compete with modern UFC fighters? Probably not, but that doesn't change the fact that Royce was a real beast in his day when MMA was just taking its first timid steps towards fans, and Gracie will forever be one of the pioneers of the sport. Fans will never forget the endless hypothetical questions and dialogues in which Royce was always one of the options: "Royce Gracie vs. Mike Tyson" or "Royce Gracie vs. Alexander Karelin."

In fact, since Royce was at the peak of his career, and now he would hardly have succeeded, but this does not mean that his role in the history of the sport should be downplayed. Royce is the first in the UFC Hall of Fame and the winner of the first, second and fourth UFC tournaments and it was he who popularized Brazilian jiu-jitsu in the US and Europe. He will forever remain in the annals of sports history.

Important victories: Art Jimmerson, Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, Kazushi Sakuraba.

4. Matt Hughes


Hughes was one of the sport's first superstars and the strongest welterweight champion until the advent of Georges St-Pierre. He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame and won the UFC welterweight title twice. He successfully defended his title seven times, which was a record at the time, and he still holds the record for the most wins in the UFC, on par with GSP.

At the peak of his career, Matt was considered the best fighter regardless of weight class, and he was literally unbeatable. Along with GSP and Anderson Silva, he is one of the best champions in UFC history.

Important victories: Carlos Newton (x2), Sean Sherk, Royce Gracie, BJ Penn, Georges St-Pierre

3. Dan Henderson


Words cannot describe the greatness of Dan Henderson. He is without a doubt one of the best and most resilient fighters of all time and what is even more impressive is that he is still fighting today's younger fighters.

Henderson is one of the few men who have become superstars in both the UFC and the Pride Fighting Championships. Former Olympic wrestler fought in the welterweight and middleweight divisions for most of his career, but won titles in three different divisions. He won at 17 UFC tournament in the middleweight division, and became the first fighter to win the Pride Championship in two weight divisions (welterweight and middleweight). He also has a Strikeforce light heavyweight title and a victory in the 1999 RINGS King of Kings tournament. He has won more titles from various organizations than any other fighter in the world.

Important victories: Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, Renato Sobral, Vitor Belfort, Wanderlei Silva, Maurício Rua and Fedor Emelianenko.

2. Igor Vovchanchin


Igor is the best example of the word "underestimated". He is the man with the longest winning streak of all time (37) and at the peak of his career he was one of the best fighters ever. Igor was also one of the shortest heavyweight champions (174 cm), which makes his records and achievements even more impressive.

Important victories: Kazushi Sakuraba, Mark Kerr, Valentijn Overeem, Adilson Lima (x2).

1. Fedor Emelianenko


"The Last Emperor", "Terminator", "Russian Experiment": simply put, Emelianenko is the best mixed martial arts fighter ever. The peak of Fedor Emelianenko's career cannot be compared with anyone else, and if anyone who participated in combat sports can compare with him, then this is only another Russian - Alexander Karelin.

Fedor remained undefeated for ten years and 32 fights, and was defeated only when he became relatively old and was not in his prime, and the opponents to whom he lost would certainly have suffered crushing defeats if the fight had taken place a couple of years earlier. He was the heavyweight champion for 10 amazing years and nearly killed several Pride and UFC champions along the way. He probably won over a large number champions than anyone else in the world, and he is considered by most experts to be the king of MMA.

Important victories: Renato Sobral, Semmy Schilt, Heath Herring, António Rodrigo Nogueira (x2), Gary Goodridge, Mark Coleman (x2), Kevin Randleman, Mirko Filipovic, Mark Hunt ( Mark Hunt), Matt Lindland, Tim Sylvia, Andrei Orlovsky, Choi Hong-man, Jeff Monson, Pedro Rizzu.

The history of the emergence and transformation of UFC weight categories

If you look back at the history of the development of mixed martial arts, you can see that initially MMA fights had practically no rules, and the first UFC show was started by the organizers as a kind of tournament designed to determine the best fighter and the best technique. That is, there were no established norms for fighting, no UFC weight categories, and the competitions themselves had little to do with sports and looked more like a bloodbath of gladiators destroying each other. In 1993, the debut UFC fight night in Denver took place, after which Nevada state officials urged the organizers to give such tournaments more sports content and, above all, limit violence.

This applies not only to the UFC, but also to mixed martial arts in general. Previously, this discipline of fighting sports was called fights without rules. As part of such competitions, a sumo wrestler weighing 120 kilograms could end up in a cage with a karate master who weighed 75 or even 70 kilograms. Gradually, this sport became more loyal to human body, the first rules appeared, and with them the divisions. Separate states of America opposed the legalization of mixed martial arts even when they acquired a modern form. The latest such example was the New York MMA ban, which only legalized MMA in 2016.

It's important to know! In the fall of 2016, the long-awaited UFC 205 tournament was held in New York, in which the promotion received the first champion of two weight categories - featherweight and lightweight. They were the phenomenal Irishman Conor McGregor, who knocked out Eddie Alvarez in the central fight of the show and took possession of his 155-pound championship belt.

True, later the featherweight title. In order not to derail the headless UFC 206 event, the organization's leaders announced that the 145-pound weight class belt, obtained by McGregor in a 13-second fight with Jose Aldo, returns to the Brazilian, who at that time owned the interim title in the same category. The remaining vacant interim title was played between Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis in the central fight of the UFC 206 tournament already mentioned above.

The only "one-time" featherweight and lightweight champion in UFC history UFC Conor McGregor

A lot has changed in the UFC's 20+ year history. It should be noted right away that it was this organization that became the locomotive that pulled all other promotions involved in organizing fights according to mixed rules. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the divisions that were introduced into the UFC are currently used by less status organizations. In this case, we are talking about Bellator, WSOF, regional American and Asian promotions.

At the moment, eight men's weight categories and three women's are represented in the leading promotion of the planet.

UFC men's weight classes

1. Heavy weight
2. light heavyweight
3. Average weight
4. Welterweight
5. A light weight
6. Semi a light weight
7. Bantamweight
8. Flyweight

UFC weight classes for women

1. Feather-weight
2. Bantamweight
3. Minimum weight

Below you can find a table detailing each UFC weight class.

Prerequisites for the development of UFC weight categories?

The need to divide fighters into weight categories was due to the global process of universalization of athletes, when each of them began to improve himself in all styles. Weight categories in the UFC initially had a completely different look than today. Back in 1997, the UFC 12 tournament was held, where only two weight echelons were presented - heavy and light. The first included all athletes whose weight exceeded 200 pounds, the second - those athletes who weighed less than 199 pounds.

The most dominant champion in UFC history Anderson Silva

Before the UFC 14 show, it was decided to call the lightweight middleweight, and the new lightweight division was already introduced as part of UFC 16. At that time, any fighter whose body weight did not exceed 170 pounds could call himself a lightweight, that is, today he would be a welterweight. A couple more years passed, and the bantamweight division appeared in the UFC, which included athletes with a body weight of up to 155 pounds.

By the time of the UFC 31 tournament, the promotion has changed its weight classes in accordance with the requirements of the New Jersey Athletic Commission. At the indicated tournament, the fighters already competed in five echelons: light, welterweight, medium, light heavy and heavy.

The next stage of expansion had to wait about ten years. In 2010, the promotion announced the creation of the UFC featherweight and bantamweight divisions. Two years later, the lightest weight class appeared, and a little later, women's divisions were also introduced - first the lightest, and then the minimum. The weight categories have acquired their final form, which you can accurately and in detail see in the table below.

Table of modern men's and women's UFC categories

Weight category name (Russian)	Weight class name	weight in pounds	weight in kilograms
Heavy weight	heavyweight	206-265	93-120
light heavyweight	Lightweight	186-205	84-93
Average weight	Middleweight	171-185	77-84
Welterweight	Welterweight	156-170	70-77
A light weight	lightweight	146-155	66-70
Feather-weight	Featherweight	136-145	61-66
Bantamweight	bantamweight	126-135	57-61
Flyweight	Flyweight	116-125	53-57
Women's Bantamweight	bantamweight	126-135	57-61
Women's minimum weight	Strawweight	106-115	48-52
Women's Featherweight	bantamweight	136-145	61-66

Recently champions of weight categories change regularly. So, in 2016, TJ Dillashaw, Fabricio Werdum, Holly Holm, Misha Tate, Luke Rockhold, Robbie Lawler, Rafael dos Anjos, Eddie Alvarez, Dominic Cruz resigned royal powers. The most interesting and long-awaited confrontation of the end of the year was the bantamweight clash, where former division queen Ronda Ruosi acted as a contender. Unfortunately, there was no intrigue in this clash: Rhodey limply lost to the Brazilian Lioness at the very beginning of the first round. This year, two division champions have changed in the UFC. So, the featherweight title was again given to Jose Aldo, but as part of the show, the Brazilian lost it to Max Holloway. In addition, the promotion bosses took away the belt from the women's featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie, citing the fact that the Dutch athlete refuses to sign a contract to fight Christiana Justino.

List of current UFC champions and champions by category

• heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic;
• light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier;
• middleweight champion Michael Bisping;
• welterweight champion Tyron Woodley;
• lightweight champion Conor McGregor;
• featherweight champion Max Holloway;
• bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt;
• flyweight champion Demetrius Johnson;
• the champion of the women's featherweight category will be determined by the result of the meeting between Christiane Justino and Megan Anderson at UFC 214 (07/29/2017).
• women's bantamweight champion Amanda Nunez;
• champion of the women's minimum category Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

UFC women's featherweight division. Cyborg name category

UFC leaders can't create divisions just like that: in order for a weight class to exist, you need stars who can compete in it and bring good money on PPV sales. The latest experience of the company has shown that fighters filling the division are not even needed to make money.

The success of Ronda Rousey inspired the owners of the promotion to search for new celebrities in women's mixed martial arts. After all, in fact, we can say that due to its popularity, Rowdy kept many other fighters not only of the female, but also of the male roster.

In 2016, his famous Brazilian Cristiana Justino, nicknamed Cyborg. She is still considered the featherweight queen of the all-female fighting organization Invicta FC, where the 145-pound class is available. However, due to the too large dimensions of Christian, she never competed in the largest UFC 135-pound echelon at that time. On the contrary, athletes who wanted to fight her gained weight and fought in the intermediate 140 pounds, and invariably lost.

The popularity of Justino and her financial potential prompted the bosses of the organization to establish a new weight category. As part of the UFC 208 tournament in February this year ( full results tournament, see) the corresponding belt was played by the Dutch striker Germaine de Randamie and former champion Holly Holm 135-pound division. Ironically, Cristina Justino didn't fight in the first title fight the category that was actually created specifically for her. The reasons are called different. Representatives of the promotion claim that they offered such a fight to the Brazilian, and the latter says that her body could not recover from weight loss in preparation for the previous fight. If we add to the above the fact that Justino, then this whole story becomes even more confusing.

One way or another, the result of the main UFC fight 208 was the victory of Germaine de Randamie by unanimous decision. It was the Dutch athlete who became the first title holder in the women's 145-pound weight class. However, there are no women's featherweights in the official rankings, because, with the exception of two or three girls, there are no fighters in it.

Later, the promotion bosses took away the belt from Randami due to the latter's unwillingness to defend in the battle with Christiana Justino. New champion category will be determined in the fight between Justino and Megan Anderson on July 29, 2017 at the UFC 214 tournament.