When Dominick Cruz defeated Scott Jorgensen in December 2010, he became the first fighter to win a UFC title without ever having stepped foot in the Octagon.
With the UFC-WEC merger well underway at that point, the inaugural UFC bantamweight title fight was contested on a WEC event, marking the one and only time a title fight has taken place on another promotion's card.
In the nearly 16 years since that fateful night a number of legendary fighters have had that same belt wrapped around their waist, including the likes of TJ Dillashaw, Henry Cejudo, Aljamain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili.
Current UFC bantamweight champion
Petr Yan is the current UFC bantamweight champion after producing a technical masterclass to defeat Merab Dvalishvili in the main event of UFC 323 to regain the title more than five years after his first reign.
Yan defeated the legendary Jose Aldo to claim the vacant belt back in 2019 before dropping the title in bizarre circumstances as he was disqualified for an illegal strike during his first encounter with Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259.
The Russian striker suffered three straight defeats in 2022 and 2023 but he bounced back emphatically with victories over Song Yadong, Deiveson Figueiredo and Marcus McGhee to put himself in line for another shot at the gold.
In doing so he earned a rematch with Dvalishvili, who had dominated their first encounter at UFC Fight Night 221.
This time however Yan was able to prevent Dvalishvili from implementing his unrelenting pressure, punishing the champion when he attempted to close the distance and ultimately getting his hand raised in a lopsided decision.
Title Won | Defeated Merab Dvalishvili (UD) - December 2025 |
Title Defences (current reign) | 0 |
Previous UFC bantamweight champions
Dominick Cruz (December 2010 - January 2014; two defences, vacated)
Renan Barao (July 2012 - January 2014; two defences; interim)
Renan Barao (January 2014 - May 2014; one defence)
TJ Dillashaw (May 2014 - January 2016; two defences)
Dominick Cruz (January 2016 - December 2016; one defence)
Cody Garbrandt (December 2016 - November 2017)
TJ Dillashaw (November 2017 - March 2019; one defence, vacated)
Henry Cejudo (June 2019 - May 2020; one defence, vacated)
Petr Yan (July 2020 - March 2021)
Aljamain Sterling (March 2021 - August 2023; three defences)
Petr Yan (October 2021- April 2022; interim)
Sean O'Malley (August 2023 - September 2024; one defence)
Merab Dvalishvili (September 2024 - December 2025; three defences)
