Featherweights

First, a run-down of the particulars:

  • Due to potential metric conversion issues and weight class changes, a limit of 148 pounds is observed for this list.
  • Inception of the championship occurred on 11/27/1992, the first known professional fight taking place at or below 148 pounds.  There was not an ideal, early entry point for this division’s lineal championship.
  • Only a period in the mid 2000s saw fighters leave the division without losing. These situations were easily resolved in quick fashion by “best available” match-ups featuring 1/2, 2/3 or 1/3 ranked fighters.

Your current lineal Featherweight champion is Ilia Topuria

The full history is below. Note, the colored backgrounds indicate a title change.

MMA Featherweight Lineal Championship History

Date Champion Outcome Challenger Notes
1992-11-27 Noboru Asahi WIN Takashi Ishizaki Asahi simultaneously holds two lineal titles (BW & FW).
1993-06-24 Noboru Asahi WIN Masato Suzuki
1993-11-25 Noboru Asahi WIN Yuki Nakai
1994-05-06 Noboru Asahi WIN Shinji Abe
1994-09-26 Noboru Asahi WIN Nozomu Matsumoto
1994-11-07 Noboru Asahi WIN Kyuhei Ueno
1995-07-29 Noboru Asahi WIN Leonid Zaslavsky
1996-01-20 Noboru Asahi WIN Ruud Alwart
1996-03-05 Noboru Asahi WIN Leandro Lima de Azevedo
1998-01-17 Noboru Asahi WIN Denis Hall 9th consecutive defense
1998-04-26 Alexandre Franca Nogueira WIN Noboru Asahi Nogueira’s pro debut!
1999-03-28 Alexandre Franca Nogueira WIN Masahiro Oishi
1999-09-05 Alexandre Franca Nogueira WIN Noboru Asahi
1999-12-11 Alexandre Franca Nogueira DRAW Uchu Tatsumi
2000-04-02 Alexandre Franca Nogueira WIN Mamoru Okochi
2000-08-27 Alexandre Franca Nogueira WIN Uchu Tatsumi
2000-12-17 Alexandre Franca Nogueira WIN Stephen Palling
2001-05-01 Tetsuo Katsuta WIN Alexandre Franca Nogueira
2001-09-02 Alexandre Franca Nogueira WIN Tetsuo Katsuta Nogueira’s 2nd reign
2001-12-16 Alexandre Franca Nogueira WIN Katsuya Toida
2002-07-19 Hiroyuki Abe WIN Alexandre Franca Nogueira
2002-12-14 Alexandre Franca Nogueira WIN Hiroyuki Abe Nogueira’s 3rd reign
2003-08-10 Alexandre Franca Nogueira DRAW Stephen Palling
2003-12-14 Alexandre Franca Nogueira WIN Rumina Sato
2004-12-14 Alexandre Franca Nogueira WIN Hideki Kadowaki
2005-03-11 Alexandre Franca Nogueira WIN Joao Roque Nogueira leaves division.
2007-02-09 Hatsu Hioki WIN Mark Hominick Vacant title. Top contenders.
2007-05-18 Antonio Carvalho WIN Hatsu Hioki
2007-11-08 Hiroyuki Takaya WIN Antonio Carvalho
2008-02-13 Leonard Garcia WIN Hiroyuki Takaya
2008-11-05 Leonard Garcia WIN Jens Pulver
2009-03-01 Mike Thomas Brown WIN Leonard Garcia
2009-06-07 Mike Thomas Brown WIN Urijah Faber
2009-11-18 Jose Aldo WIN Mike Thomas Brown
2010-04-24 Jose Aldo WIN Urijah Faber
2010-09-30 Jose Aldo WIN Manny Gamburyan
2011-04-30 Jose Aldo WIN Mark Hominick
2011-10-08 Jose Aldo WIN Kenny Florian
2012-01-04 Jose Aldo WIN Chad Mendes
2013-02-02 Jose Aldo WIN Frankie Edgar
2013-08-03 Jose Aldo WIN Chan Sung Jung
2014-02-01 Jose Aldo WIN Ricardo Lamas
2014-10-26 Jose Aldo WIN Chad Mendes
2015-12-12 Conor McGregor WIN Jose Aldo McGregor vacates, moves up in weight.
2016-07-09 Jose Aldo WIN Frankie Edgar Vacant title. Top contenders.
2017-06-03 Max Holloway WIN Jose Aldo
2017-12-02 Max Holloway WIN Jose Aldo
2018-12-08 Max Holloway WIN Brian Ortega
2019-07-27 Max Holloway WIN Frankie Edgar
2019-12-14 Alexander Volkanovski WIN Max Holloway
2020-07-11 Alexander Volkanovski WIN Max Holloway
2021-07-25 Alexander Volkanovski WIN Brian Ortega
2022-04-09 Alexander Volkanovski WIN Chan Sung Jung
2022-07-02 Alexander Volkanovski WIN Max Holloway
2023-07-08 Alexander Volkanovski WIN Yair Rodriguez
2024-02-17 Ilia Topuria WIN Alexander Volkanovski

 

16 Comments

  1. oleg February 18, 2024 at 6:57 pm Reply

    Corrected, thanks.

  2. Francesco February 18, 2024 at 5:11 pm Reply

    You miss the win of Volk against Rodriguez in the lineal FW history.

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