UFC Featherweight | Rankings, Champion & Title History

Current Champion: Alexander Volkanovski

Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski is the reigning UFC Featherweight champion having taken the belt from Max Holloway at UFC 245. Volkanovski won by decision in a closely contested title fight that drew an immediate rematch. Volkanovski won the rematch by decision again.

The Australian has also mounted successful title defenses against Brian “T-City” Ortega and The Korean Zombie to stake his claim as one of the best Featherweights of all time.

A Short History of the UFC Featherweight Division

The UFC Featherweight Division was inaugurated in 2010 as part of the UFC-WEC merger. The division has crowned some of the most legendary names in UFC history, including Jose Aldo, Conor McGregor and Max Holloway. 

The first UFC Featherweight champion, Jose Aldo, inherited the title in 2010 as the reigning WEC Featherweight champion. Aldo (18-1) began his UFC career on an 11-fight win streak and held onto the belt for over 5 years, seeing off challengers including Frankie Edgar, Chad Mendes and Kenny Florian.

The biggest superstar and PPV draw in UFC history, Conor McGregor, debuted in the featherweight division in 2013. McGregor went on a 7-fight win streak, including a 13-second knockout victory over Aldo, to become the second-ever Featherweight champ.

Max Holloway was the next contender to claim the belt after beating reinstated champion Aldo at UFC 212. Holloway finished Aldo again in their rematch at UFC 218 and saw off challenges from Brian Ortega and Frankie Edgar to establish himself as one of the best featherweights in history.

Holloway would eventually lose two razor-thin decisions to the current champion, Alexander Volkanovski. Volkanovski recently defeated Brian Ortega at UFC 266 in a Fight of the Year contender.

Complete History of the UFC Featherweight Division

Featherweight Division introduced in 2010

With the UFC slowly integrating the WEC divisions into the organization, the Featherweight Division was officially announced at UFC 123 in November 2010. As they had done with other divisions, the incumbent WEC Featherweight champion, Jose Aldo, was promoted to UFC champion.

Jose Aldo was already a feared veteran of the sport from his WEC days, holding notable victories over Urijah Faber and Cub Swanson. In the UFC, Aldo would defend the title seven times over his five-year reign of dominance. Notable defences include two victories over Chad Mendes, a knockout win against Chan Sung Jung and a decision victory over Frankie Edgar.

Aldo would win all his title defences by stoppage or unanimous decision, establishing himself as the undisputed Featherweight G.O.A.T. For a long time, Aldo looked unbeatable as he saw off everyone the UFC could match against him. However, a new force to be reckoned with had arrived in the UFC.

McGregor takes over

A young Irishman by the name of Conor McGregor (12-2) debuted in the UFC in April 2013 with a first-round knockout against Marcus Brimmage. As a former two-weight champion in Cage Warriors, McGregor entered the UFC with huge expectations which he duly delivered on in his debut.

McGregor’s UFC career continued with dominant wins over Max Holloway, Diego Brandao, Dustin Poirier and Dennis Siver. This was enough to earn McGregor a shot at the belt against the great Jose Aldo at UFC 189. After an entertaining world press tour built up unprecedented hype for the fight, Aldo pulled out with a fractured rib and was replaced on two-weeks notice by former challenger Chad Mendes.

Despite Mendes showing early dominance on the ground, he faded as a surging McGregor landed damaging body shots before finishing Mendes off with strikes. The victory earned McGregor the interim belt before his rescheduled showdown with Aldo at UFC 194. 

Aldo (25-1, 15-0 UFC-WEC) had reigned as UFC Featherweight champion for over five years going into the fight. In one of the UFC’s most iconic title moments, McGregor clipped Aldo with a trademark left hand and finished the fight in just 13 seconds.

This would be McGregor’s last fight at Featherweight. After winning the UFC Lightweight title at UFC 205, McGregor was stripped of the Featherweight belt. Jose Aldo, who had beaten Frankie Edgar to claim the interim belt at UFC 200, was reinstated as champion in December 2016.

The Blessed Era

After his early-career defeat to Conor McGregor, Hawaiian Max Holloway went on an impressive 9-fight win streak to earn a shot at the interim title. Holloway achieved notable victories in this period, including stoppage wins over Andre Fili, Cub Swanson and Charles Oliveira. He faced off against Anthony Pettis at UFC 206 for the interim Featherweight title.

Holloway looked impressive against Pettis and eventually wore his opponent down with bodywork in the third round, earning the stoppage victory. A title unification bout against Aldo was all set for UFC 212, hosted in Aldo’s native Brazil.

As the slight underdog, Holloway put in a spectacular performance to stop Aldo in the third round. A rematch was arranged six months later for UFC 218, which saw exactly the same result. Holloway had defeated the Featherweight king to make it 11 wins in a row.

Holloway’s next defence came against undefeated submission artist Brian Ortega (14-0). Ortega had recently knocked out Frankie Edgar and had finished all six of his previous opponents. Despite a competitive start, Holloway’s cardio and striking output overwhelmed Ortega to earn the champion a fourth-round TKO.

After unsuccessfully challenging for the interim Lightweight belt against Dustin Poirier at UFC 236, Holloway defended his title once more against Frankie Edgar at UFC 240. Three-time challenger Edgar struggled to get into the fight, with Holloway winning comfortably by decision.

Volkanovski dethrones the champ

Max Holloway was approaching 1,000 days as champion going into his fourth defence against Australian Alexander Volkanovski (20-1) at UFC 245. The challenger landed the better shots over the five rounds and took the unanimous decision victory. 

Volkanovski became the fifth UFC Featherweight champion and still holds the title today, defending it twice. Holloway was granted an immediate rematch with the champion at UFC 251. The fight was even tighter this time around, with many pundits (18 out of 27 major media outlets) feeling Holloway did enough for the win. However, Volkanovski edged the scorecards with a 48-47, 48-47, 47-48 split decision.

Volkanovski is riding a 20-fight winning streak and most recently saw off Brian Ortega at UFC 266. In one of the most exciting rounds of 2021, Volkanovski escaped a vicious mounted guillotine in Round 3 and turned the tables on an exhausted Ortega. Volkanovski dominated the lion’s share of exchanges and secured a unanimous decision win.

The Australian defended his title again at UFC 274, squaring off against UFC legend The Korean Zombie. Volkanovski was superior in every aspect of the fight, eventually stopping the Korean in Round 4.

UFC Featherweight Rankings