5 most dominant Brazilian champions in UFC history

5 most dominant Brazilian champions [Image via @btsportufc on Twitter]

Brazil has always been well-represented in the UFC. The South American nation has produced 19 world champions in the promotion so far and will likely deliver many more down the line.

Royce Gracie, the first-ever UFC champion, was a pioneer of the sport and Brazilian MMA in particular. The grappling phenom famously emerged victorious at the promotion's inaugural event back in 1993, paving the way for subsequent generations of his compatriots.

Nov12.1993

26 years ago today,

A skinny Brazilian kid named Royce Gracie won UFC 1.

The most significant night in MMA history. https://t.co/E2BxADXZON

The likes of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mauricio Rua, Lyoto Machida, Vitor Belfort, Junior dos Santos, Fabricio Werdum, Glover Texeira, Rafael dos Anjos, Deiveson Figueiredo, Jessica Andrade and Charles Oliveira have all featured in championship bouts in the promotion.

However, only a handful of Brazilians have recorded two or more title defenses in the world's premier MMA promotion. On that note, here are the five most dominant Brazilian champions in UFC history.

#5. Cris Cyborg – former UFC women's featherweight champion

Cris Cyborg's time in the UFC may have ended unceremoniously. Regardless, before her exit from the promotion, she enjoyed a year-long reign atop the women's featherweight division. In fact, the company created a 145-pound weight class for women just to accommodate Cyborg in the first place.

Cyborg is a former Srikeforce and Invincta featherweight champion. Between 2009 and 2016, all but one of her professional fights were championship bouts and she had seemingly cleaned out the division in Invicta. Having already defended her title three times, the masses started clamoring for a move to the UFC.

145lb Invicta champion Cris Cyborg reportedly signs with the UFC severemma.com/2015/03/cris-c… http://t.co/uoz5anBJsQ

However, the promotion didn't have a featherweight division at the time. Cyborg was scheduled to fight in the bantamweight division in her first two appearances in the famed octagon, but grueling weight cuts prompted the UFC brass to make them catchweight bouts.

After Cyborg emerged victorious in two 140-pound catchweight fights, the promotion created a featherweight division. With a vacant title on the line, the Brazilian took on Tonya Evinger in 2017, where she came out on top to further solidify her claim to being the best female fighter on the planet.

Cris Cyborg is the only fighter to have won titles in UFC, Bellator, Strikeforce and Invicta. Elite. 🔥🏆

(📸: @criscyborg) https://t.co/pCpJ3JHSfW

In her first title defense, she cruised to a unanimous decision win over Holly Holm. Three months later, she retained her title for the second time with a TKO victory against Yana Kunitskaya. With no new contenders on the horizon, Cyborg accepted a fight against then-bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes.

Nunes produced one of the biggest shocks in women's MMA history at UFC 232, coming away with a stunning 51-second KO victory to become a two-division titleholder. This was Cyborg's first loss in over 13 years.

This may be the single most exciting minute in UFC history:
#UFC232
https://t.co/WnWIlpJYDn