Light Heavyweights

First, a run-down of the particulars:
  • Due to potential metric conversion issues and weight class changes, a limit of 206 pounds is observed for this list.
  • Inception of the championship occurred in UFC, at the first “Under 200lb” Finals. The late start was due to the lack of guidance by an organization, with no semblance of matchmaking. Before the UFC, the Light Heavyweight division was used a “stop gap” between Middleweight and Heavyweight.  Some argument could be made to start the lineage with Jorge Patino in 1995
  • Only one period of inactivity was seen in this lineage.
  • The lineage is retroactively restarted with Daniel Cormier vs Anthony Johnson II due to Jon Jones’ USADA violation at UFC 214.
Your current lineal Light Heavyweight champion is Alex Pereira
 
The full history is below. Note, the colored backgrounds indicate a title change.
 
MMA Light Heavyweight Lineal Championship History

Date Champion Outcome Challenger Notes
1996-09-20 Jerry Bohlander WIN Fabio Gurgel
1997-02-07 Jerry Bohlander WIN Rainy Martinez
1997-02-07 Jerry Bohlander WIN Nick Sanzo
1997-09-27 Murilo Bustamante WIN Jerry Bohlander
2000-04-14 Murilo Bustamante WIN Yoji Ando One could argue this inactivity was significant and that we should restart with Shamrock?
2001-09-28 Chuck Liddell WIN Murilo Bustamante
2002-01-11 Chuck Liddell WIN Amar Suloev
2002-06-22 Chuck Liddell WIN Vitor Belfort
2002-11-22 Chuck Liddell WIN Renato Sobral
2003-06-06 Randy Couture WIN Chuck Liddell
2003-09-26 Randy Couture WIN Tito Ortiz Top contender match
2004-01-31 Vitor Belfort WIN Randy Couture
2004-08-21 Randy Couture WIN Vitor Belfort
2005-04-16 Chuck Liddell WIN Randy Couture
2005-08-20 Chuck Liddell WIN Jeremy Horn
2006-02-04 Chuck Liddell WIN Randy Couture
2006-08-26 Chuck Liddell WIN Renato Sobral
2006-12-30 Chuck Liddell WIN Tito Ortiz
2007-05-26 Quinton Jackson WIN Chuck Liddell
2007-09-08 Quinton Jackson WIN Dan Henderson
2008-07-05 Forrest Griffin WIN Quinton Jackson
2008-12-27 Rashad Evans WIN Forrest Griffin
2009-05-23 Lyoto Machida WIN Rashad Evans
2009-10-24 Lyoto Machida WIN Mauricio Rua
2010-05-08 Mauricio Rua WIN Lyoto Machida
2011-03-19 Jon Jones WIN Mauricio Rua
2011-09-24 Jon Jones WIN Quinton Jackson
2011-12-11 Jon Jones WIN Lyoto Machida
2012-04-21 Jon Jones WIN Rashad Evans
2012-09-22 Jon Jones WIN Vitor Belfort
2013-04-27 Jon Jones WIN Chael Sonnen
2013-09-21 Jon Jones WIN Alexander Gustafsson
2014-04-26 Jon Jones WIN Glover Teixeira
2015-01-03 Jon Jones WIN Daniel Cormier Jones stripped of the UFC title and faced a potentially long hiatus.

Lineage temporarily restarted with the top contender bout of Cormier vs Johnson.

2016-04-24 Jon Jones WIN Ovince St. Preux Jones lineage is resumed as he makes a successful return to MMA.

Cormier’s wins over Johnson and Gustafsson are erased from the lineage.

2017-04-08 Daniel Cormier WIN Anthony Johnson After Jones’ tests positive for performance enhancing drugs after UFC 214, Jones vs Cormier II is declared a No Contest.

Lineage retroactively restarted with Cormier vs Johnson II as a top contender bout.

2018-01-20 Daniel Cormier WIN Volkan Oezdemir Cormier moves up to heavyweight then retires.
2021-10-30 Glover Teixeira WIN Jan Blachowicz Top contender match
2022-06-12 Jiri Prochazka WIN Glover Teixeira
2023-11-11 Alex Pereira WIN Jiri Prochazka

 

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