The UFC introduced the women’s bantamweight division in 2012 with Ronda Rousey introducing the division to the promotion after her impressive reign in Strikeforce. Since then, we have seen the expansion of women’s mixed martial arts with four divisions — featherweight, bantamweight, flyweight, and strawweight — now in the UFC.
From Ronda Rousey to Amanda Nunes to Cris Cyborg, there have been some dominant women who have reigned over their respective divisions throughout their careers, and now we can look back at how we got to where we are now.
Over the weekend, the Ultimate Fighting Championship celebrated International Women’s Day by releasing a video that highlights every women’s champion in UFC history and the moment they claimed the title.
A full look at the history throughout the UFC women’s divisions can be seen below.
Every UFC Women’s Champion in History
In honor of International Women’s Day, take a look back through the history of the UFC’s women’s champions from Ronda Rousey in 2012 to Zhang Weili in 2020.
Women’s Featherweight Division
- Germaine de Randamie — Reign: 128 Days — stripped of title after refusing to defend against Cris Cyborg
- Cris Cyborg — Reign: 517 days — 2 title defenses; lost to Amanda Nunes
- Amanda Nunes — Reign: 436 days (incumbent) — became first two-division women’s champion
Women’s Bantamweight Division
- Ronda Rousey — Reign: 1,074 days — 6 title defenses; lost to Holly Holm
- Holly Holm — Reign: 11 days — lost to Miesha Tate
- Miesha Tate — Reign: 126 days — lost to Amanda Nunes
- Amanda Nunes — Reign: 1,339 days (incumbent) — 5 title defenses
Women’s Flyweight Division
- Nicco Montano — Reign: 280 days — stripped of title after weight-cutting issues
- Valentina Shevchenko — Reign: 457 days (incumbent) — 3 title defenses
Women’s Strawweight Division
- Carla Esparza — Reign: 92 days — won TUF 20; lost to Joanna Jedrzejczyk
- Joanna Jedrzejczyk — Reign: 966 days — 5 title defenses; lost to Rose Namajunas
- Rose Namajunas — Reign: 554 days — 1 title defense; lost to Jessica Andrade
- Jessica Andrade — Reign: 112 days — lost to Zhang Weili
- Zhang Weili — Reign: 191 days (incumbent) — 1 title defense