^ 2: Silva next faced Season Nine tournament winner Joe Warren for the Interim Bantamweight title.
Tournament runners-up are not included. The fact that he's been able to stick around this long with that approach speaks to how great he truly is. Though there were plenty of ups and downs over the years, Overeem stands as one of the most enduring names in the heavyweight division, one of its most well-rounded talents and someone who owns wins over a long list of former champions. Bellator MMA (formerly known as "Bellator Fighting Championships") is an American mixed martial arts promotion, and the following is a history of its champions in each weight class. He debuted in the UFC in 2008 with a stunning first-round knockout of Pride import and future UFC champion Fabricio Werdum. [3] Though originally stated to return to the eight-man only tournaments afterwards, officials instead decided to add two additional four-man tournaments to the existing tournament lineup in an effort to provide a more consistent flow of title challengers for their champions to face. All-time UFC welterweight champions. Bellator Fighting Championships: Season One, Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Two, Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Three, Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Four, Bellator Fighting Championships: 2011 Summer Series, Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Five, Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Six, Bellator Fighting Championships: 2012 Summer Series, Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Seven, Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Eight, Bellator Fighting Championships: 2013 Summer Series, Bellator Heavyweight World Grand Prix Tournament, Bellator Welterweight World Grand Prix Tournament, Bellator Featherweight World Grand Prix Tournament, MacDonald successfully defended the Bellator Welterweight Championship once and retained the title once following a draw against, List of current mixed martial arts champions, "Viacom Buys Stake in Bellator; Promotion Headed to Spike by 2013", "Bellator announces championship-rematch clause with move to Spike TV", "Bellator's 'Summer Series' returns with three four-man tournaments", "Rebney open to holding four-man tourneys in Bellator's regular season", "Bellator institutes 'tournament champion replacement clause' for title fights", "New Bellator Rule Allows Former Tourney Winners to Fight for Title at Any Time", "Bellator announces departure of executives Bjorn Rebney and Tim Danaher", "Scott Coker: Bellator moving to monthly events in 2015; Spike TV to remain focus", "Bellator confirms retirement of heavyweight champ Cole Konrad; title's future to be decided", "Bellator cuts lightweight champ Will Brooks, strips Heavyweight champ Vitaly Minakov", "Bellator Champ Hector Lombard Jumps to the UFC", "Bellator 137 Weigh-in Results: Brandon Halsey Misses Weight, Stripped of Title", "Rafael Lovato Jr. relinquishes Bellator middleweight title due to ongoing medical condition", "Bellator releases welterweight champion Ben Askren", "Bellator releases lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez", "Kyoji Horiguchi Vacates Bellator Bantamweight Title Due to Injury", "Zoila Frausto Gurgel Signs with Invicta FC, Makes April Debut Against Jennifer Maia", "Bellator 62 weigh-in results: Thiago Santos heavy, Eric Prindle awarded tournament win", "Sidelined 18 months, tourney champ Dave Jansen returns at Bellator 130 vs. Rick Hawn", "Bellator 120 to remain on PPV, Chandler meets replacement Brooks for interim title", "After 3-0 Bellator run, 'Rampage' Jackson re-signs with UFC for expected 2015 return", "Four title fights highlight Bellator's first three events of 2015", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Bellator_MMA_champions&oldid=980936152, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 29 September 2020, at 10:05. Below are the current UFC champions in each weight division. Linton Vassell at Bellator 186 on Nov 3, 2017, 1. def.


The UFC would later rename its lightweight division to middleweight and add lightweight 170 lb and bantamweight 155 lb divisions. ^ 2: Warren next faced 2013 Summer Series tournament winner Rafael Silva for the Interim Bantamweight title. • Won title: Oct. 16, 1998 (September 19, 2015) 254. The champions are listed in reverse chronological order. The following is a list of Ultimate Fighting Championship champions at each weight class and tournament.. At the time of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's inception in 1993, the sport of mixed martial arts was unsanctioned in the United States, and it did not include weight classes. ^ 2: Tournament determined the inaugural Bellator Welterweight Champion. • Won title: July 30, 2016 Brett Cooper at Bellator 98 on Sep 7, 2013 2. def. ^ 3: Lima next faced Season Nine tournament winner Rick Hawn for the vacant welterweight title. That's still a pretty huge achievement. The first was the "tournament champion replacement clause" introduced in August 2013. He's probably the greatest overall MMA talent, ever. • Defenses: 6, * -- As Strikeforce champion, Rousey was promoted to undisputed UFC champion at a pre-event press conference, All-time UFC women's bantamweight champions.