UFC Flyweight | Rankings, Champion & Title History

Current Champion: Deiveson Figueiredo

Deiveson Figueiredo won the UFC Flyweight Championship for the second time on January 22, 2022. He defeated Brandon “The Assassin Baby” Moreno by unanimous decision at UFC 270.

History of the UFC Flyweight Division

The UFC Flyweight Division is the smallest men’s division in the UFC at 116-125 lbs. It is also the newest men’s division in the organization, having been introduced in early 2012. After the UFC-WEC merger in 2010, the UFC finally got around to announcing a 125 lb division in December 2011.

The first-ever Flyweight fight in the UFC was between eventual-champion Demetrious Johnson and Ian McCall, who fought as part of a four-man semi-final tournament at UFC on FX 2 in Sydney, Australia on March 2nd, 2012.

The first Flyweight champion, Demetrius “Mighty Mouse” Johnson, won the tournament final against Joseph Benavidez at UFC 152 in September 2012. Johnson went on to defend the belt an unprecedented 11 times in a row, dominating the division for over five years.

During his indomitable reign of 5 years, 10 months and 13 days, Johnson saw off the era’s best flyweights, including John Dodson, Kyoji Horiguchi, Joseph Benavidez and Henry Cejudo. Such was Mighty Mouse’s dominance, the UFC had trouble finding him worthy opponents.

At UFC 227, Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo, in his second run at the title, upset the odds and beat Johnson by split decision to become the second UFC flyweight champion. Cejudo defended the belt once, against 135 lb champion T.J. Dillashaw, before moving up to Bantamweight and vacating the title. 

Deiveson Figueiredo and flyweight veteran Joseph Benevidez fought for the vacant belt in Abu Dhabi in July 2020. Figueiredo dominated Benavidez, choking him out within one round to claim the title. He finished Alex Perez in similar fashion at UFC 255, before battling out an epic five-round draw with Brandon Moreno to retain the belt.

Figueiredo vs Moreno 2 took place six months later at UFC 263, with the champ entering as the favorite. A determined Moreno put the pace on Figueiredo and became the first Mexican-born UFC champion with a third-round rear-naked choke.

Moreno and Figueiredo will meet for a third time at UFC 270 on January 22nd, 2022.

The first Flyweight champion

The Flyweight division was announced in December 2011, with a four-man tournament set-up to decide the inaugural champion. The final, at UFC 152, was contested between Demetrius Johnson and Joseph Benavidez.

Johnson (15-2-1) had unsuccessfully challenged for the UFC Bantamweight belt a year prior, losing to dominant champion Dominick Cruz. Benavidez (16-2) had also lost to Cruz twice in his career. Mighty Mouse narrowly won the fight by split decision and was crowned the first-ever UFC Flyweight champion.

Thus began one of the longest championship reigns in the history of the sport. Johnson’s dominance is comparable only to Middleweight legend Anderson Silva or Welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre. Johnson in fact notched up more consecutive title defences than any other UFC champion during his reign, with 11 successful defences.

Over the next five years, Demetrius defended his belt against John Dodson (twice), John Moraga, Joseph Benavidez, Ali Bagautinov, Chris Cariaso, Kyogi Horiguchi, Henry Cejudo, Tim Elliot, Wilson Reis and Ray Borg, for a total of 11 title defences.

Notable fights include first-round demolitions of Joseph Benavidez and future champion Henry Cejudo, and a spectacular flying armbar finish in his final successful defence against Ray Borg.

A P4P great

Mighty Mouse is frequently placed near, or at, the top of greatest Pound-for-Pound fighters in UFC history. After knocking out Benavidez in his 3rd title defence at UFC on Fox 9 in December 2013, Johnson entered the UFC P4P Top 5. He rose to No.3 after submitting Chris Cariaso in his 5th title defence at UFC 178, with only legends Jose Aldo and Jon Jones ahead of him.

After Conor McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo at UFC 194, and with Jones slipping in the rankings due to his infamous hit-and-run incident, Mighty Mouse became the official P4P No. 1 fighter in the UFC by the end of 2015. Johnson would spend most of 2016 and 2017 in the No.1 spot, before his eventual defeat to Henry Cejudo in August 2018.

Some critics argue that the Flyweight division wasn’t as deep as the other divisions during Johnson’s reign. Others claim that Mighty Mouse made it look that way. When he finally left the UFC in 2018, Johnson had accumulated a record of 15 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw in the organization. 

A new champion

Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo (12-2), after dropping two straight fights to Demetrius Johnson and Joseph Benavidez, earned another shot at the title with victories over Wilson Reis and Sergio Pettis. Johnson vs. Cejudo 2 was set for UFC 227 in August 2018.

Cejudo faced immediate adversity within 30 seconds after his leg gave out due to peroneal nerve damage from calf kicks. After an extremely close fight, Cejudo was given the split decision victory and became the UFC’s second-ever Flyweight champion.

His victory came despite an 81-51 advantage in significant strikes in favor of Mighty Mouse. Nonetheless, he took home the belt in what was to be Johnson’s final fight in the UFC. 

Superfight with Dillashaw

T.J. Dillashaw, who defended his Bantweightweight belt on the same card as Johnson vs. Cejudo 2, had his eye on achieving ‘double-champ’ status by dropping down to Flyweight. The superfight was arranged for UFC Fight Night 143 in January 2019.

The fight was done in just 32 seconds after Cejudo clipped Dillashaw with a punch and finished him off with ground strikes. Dillashaw would later test positive for banned substance EPO and receive a two-year ban from USADA.

Cejudo vacates title

After his triumph over Dillashaw, Henry Cejudo went up a weight class in his own quest to become double-champ. He took on Marlon Moraes for the vacant Bantamweight title at UFC 238 and succeeded, becoming the UFC’s fourth-ever double champion.

By the end of 2019, Cejudo decided to relinquish his Flyweight title to focus on defending the Bantamweight belt instead. There was talk at this point of scrapping the Flyweight division entirely, which UFC President Dana White admitted publicly. 

The God of War

The vacant belt would be contested by Deiveson “God of War” Figueiredo and two-time challenger Joseph Benavidez. In their first fight at UFC Fight Night 169 in February 2020, Figueiredo missed weight and wouldn’t be eligible for the belt. Nonetheless, he finished Benavidez by TKO and the title remained vacant.

The UFC set up an immediate rematch around four months later, with both fighters making weight this time. Figueiredo finished Benavidez even quicker this time, locking in a rear-naked choke in Round 1 and putting his opponent to sleep. He became the third UFC Flyweight champion in history.

Figueiredo defended the belt successfully at UFC 255, submitting Alex Perez in less than two minutes. The God of War would then agree to the quickest championship turnaround fight in UFC history, with a bout against Brandon Moreno all set 21 days later at UFC 256.

First Mexican-born champion

Figueiredo vs. Moreno 1 will go down as a true war, all the more remarkable given the rapid turnaround time of just 21 days for both fighters. Figueiredo and Moreno had both fought at UFC 255 and finished their opponents in the first round.

The five-round battle firmly put the Flyweight division back on the map, with earlier talk of scrapping the division now looking premature. Figueiredo would have won the fight were it not for a point-deduction in Round 3 after a groin strike. Instead, judges deemed the fight to be a majority draw and Figueiredo retained the belt.

Given how competitive the first fight was, a rematch was arranged for UFC 263. Brandon Moreno controlled the fight and submitted Figueiredo in Round 3 via rear-naked choke. The victory crowned Moreno as the first-ever Mexican-born UFC champion.

Brandon Moreno defended his belt against Deiveson Figueiredo in a much-anticipated trilogy fight at UFC 270. After another five-round war, Figueiredo emerged as the winner to become Flyweight champion for the second time.

UFC Flyweight Rankings