Breakdown of UFC Weight Classes

UFC fighters compete in nine of the weight divisions outlined by the Unified Rules, including eight in the men’s circuit and three for the women.

Conor McGregor MSG UFC 2016
USA Today Sports

Conor McGregor (blue gloves) celebrates with his two championship belts after defeating Eddie Alvarez (red gloves) in their lightweight title bout during UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden.

Conor McGregor MSG UFC 2016

From humble beginnings in 1993, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (better known as UFC) has surged in popularity to become one of the fastest-growing sports in the world. UFC on Fox pulls in millions of viewers per broadcast. The promotion has held fights in 22 countries on six continents (not Antarctica—yet). Everyone knows Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey, the sport's most prominent household names.

But did you know that weight classes didn’t exist in UFC throughout its early history? Seriously, up until the late-1990’s, any fighter could fight any other fighter. It was anarchy. It was chaos.

At UFC 3, in 1994, 5’11”, 200 lb Keith Hackney defeated 6’8”, 600 lb sumo wrestler Emmanuel Yarborough with a TKO less than two minutes in, after he punched Yarborough in the back of the head about 500 times and forced the referee to stop the fight. Go check out the video. It looked like the weirdest episode of Maury you’ve ever seen. Clearly, the sport has come a long way.

While a huge size advantage did not always determine the outcome of a fight, weight classes nonetheless debuted in 1997, when fighters at UFC 12 in Dothan, Alabama were separated into lightweight and heavyweight divisions. That’s right—Dothan, Alabama, where all the magic happens. Back in ‘97, when kids weren’t starving their Tamagotchis to death, they were getting hopped up on Surge and beating the shit out of each other, inspired by the lawless mixed martial arts they saw on TV. So, politicians like John McCain worked hard to get UFC widely banned, forcing it into venues like the 3,000-seat Dothan Civic Center.

UFC 16, a year later, saw the modern system take further shape with the introduction of a third weight class. Since 2000, UFC has adhered to the “Unified Rules” of MMA as established by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board—because New Jersey is the official state of both sanctioned violence and making rules about stuff without anyone asking.

Today, UFC fighters compete in nine of the weight divisions outlined by the Unified Rules, including eight in the men’s circuit and three for the women. Let’s run through a breakdown of UFC weight classes.

Strawweight

ufc weight classes stawweight

Strawweight is a women’s-only weight division, one of the three divisions in which female UFC fighters compete. The division debuted during an all-female 20th season of The Ultimate Fighter in 2013, which ended with Carla Esparza crowned the inaugural Women’s Strawweight Champion. She held the title for a grand total of three months before losing it to Joanna Jędrzejczyk, who enjoyed a much longer reign, from 2014 through press time in 2017. The title is now being held by the first-ever Chinese and East Asian champion in UFC history, Zhang Weili. If you weigh in between 106 and 115 lb (48 to 52 kg), that’s where you’ll be competing. 

Flyweight

ufc weight classes flyweight

Bantamweight

ufc weight classes flyweight bantamweight

Featherweight

Carl Frampton Leo Santa Cruz Barclays Center 2016

At 136 to 145 lbs, Featherweight was Conor McGregor’s weight class until he also won the Lightweight championship at UFC 205, becoming the first UFC fighter in history to simultaneously hold two separate titles. Before McGregor, the division was dominated by Jose Aldo, who held the title from 2010 to 2014 and again in 2016. Alexander Volkanovski is the current titleholder in this weight class. He defended the title on 11 July 2020 and won in a controversial win, or, as Tito Ortiz would say:

A women’s Featherweight division was added in 2017, with Dutch kickboxer Germaine de Randamie its inaugural champion. Amanda Nunes is currently the titleholder, but with her retirement talk, Dana White has mentioned that ending UFC women’s featherweight is a possibility. 

Lightweight

ufc weight classes lightweight

Welterweight

ufc weight classes welterweight

Middleweight

ufc weight classes middleweight

Light Heavyweight

ufc weight classes kight heavyweight

Heavyweight

ufc weight classes heavyweight

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