How Many Divisions are in the UFC?

Since 1993, the UFC has been the major organization in mixed martial arts and has played the biggest role in promoting one of the fastest-growing sports in the world. Along the way, the UFC has continued to establish weight classes in the women's and male games to make the competition fair. 

In the early stages of the UFC, the promotion had no weight classes and there were many occasions where fighters met with huge weight differences. For example, in 1994, Keith Hackney fought Emmanuel Yarborough with a nine-inch height disadvantage on the 6-foot-8 sumo wrestler who also weighed 416 pounds more, at 616 pounds.

Understanding the need to make mixed martial arts more presentable and to apply it within a sporting context in the mainstream, the UFC introduced weight classes at UFC 12 in 1997. Betting on the UFC fights became more fair as well.

Still, there was a bit of a way to make things fairer, as just the heavyweight division (200+) and the lightweight division (199 and below) were all fighters could choose from. Today, the UFC has 12 weight classes, all of which require fighters to weigh in under a desired limit.

What’s more, despite this, fights outside of title bouts can see a fighter go over the weight limit by one pound. Fighters who miss weight will hand over a percentage of their fight purse to the opponent or potentially be removed from the fight altogether, while title holders who miss weight will forfeit their belt, even if they win.

Here are all the divisions in the UFC.

UFC Weight Classes

Strawweight (115 pounds limit)

The only weight class out of the 12 from the UFC that allows just females to enter is the strawweight category. This is mainly because it’s extremely rare for males to be below 115 pounds. 

Many men can make this weight, however, and One Championship allows males to fight at 115 pounds. 

Flyweight (125 pounds limit)

Both men and women start competing at the same weight in separate divisions at flyweight. 

The flyweight title was first handed out in September 2012 when Demetrious Johnson won the first-ever title fight at 125 pounds in the UFC. Johnson defended the title for a record-breaking 11 fights in a row - no man in any UFC weight class has beat this record.

Nicco Montaño was also the first-ever women's flyweight champion in 2017.

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Featherweight (145 pounds)

The legendary Jose Aldo was the first-ever men’s featherweight champion and after his years of dominance at 145 pounds, this weight class has since gone on to produce some of the best fighters of all time.

The women's featherweight title was introduced in 2017 after Germaine de Randamie defeated Holly Holm. Cris Cyborg would then get the title a few months into de Randamie's reign until Amanda Nunes won the belt in December 2018.

Nunes defended the title twice before vacating the belt after her retirement in June 2023.

Lightweight (155 pounds limit) 

The women’s weight classes end at 145, with just three divisions for women to compete in.

The men carry on fighting at 155 pounds in what is regarded as the deepest division in terms of talent, with the majority of males across the sport fitting into this category.

Welterweight (170 pounds limit)

Some of the most memorable fights in UFC history have come from the welterweight division, with five UFC Hall of Fame residents making a name for themselves at 170 pounds.

Pat Miletich beat Mikey Burnett in October 1998 to win the first UFC welterweight title, which was then called the lightweight title. The welterweight belt has since changed hands 14 times and continues to be one of the toughest divisions to conquer.

Middleweight (185 pounds limit)

MIddleweight is one of those weight classes where fighters make tough decisions in their career. As the 185 pounds limit sees men fight at heights, sometimes as tall as 6-5, there is often a mismatch in height in this division.

Subsequently, middleweight often sees fighters move up to the higher weight class due to the toughness in making weight at 185 pounds. 

Light heavyweight (205 pounds)

A weight class most famously remembered for the dominance of the greatest of all time, Jon Jones. 

Similar to middleweight, fighters at light heavyweight often move up to heavyweight, especially later in their careers, where cutting weight becomes harder and more damaging to the body.

Heavyweight (265 pounds limit)

The final weight class sees men able to be as heavy as 266 pounds and Mark Coleman was the first UFC heavyweight champion in February 1997.

This weight class often sees the oldest fighters step out, as the older a fighter gets, the harder it becomes to cut weight, and many middleweights and light heavyweights often move up to heavyweight towards the end of their career. The oldest champion in UFC history, Randy Couture, won the UFC heavyweight title at 45.

UFC heavyweight, Justin Tafa, became the first fighter in UFC history to miss the heavyweight limit of 266 pounds in December 2021. Earlier that year, Greg Hardy did the same by initially missing the limit before getting under it after being handed extra time to cut more weight off.