UFC Light Heavyweight

Last Modified Mar 30, 2025 07:04 GMT

The Light Heavyweight Division is a weight class in combat sports. The UFC Light Heavyweight Division limits between 186.1 lbs to 205 lbs (84 to 93 kg).

Current Light Heavyweight Champion

UFC 313: Pereira v Ankalaev
UFC 313: Pereira v Ankalaev

The current UFC Light Heavyweight champion is Magomed Ankalaev. He won the title against former UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira via a unanimous decision at UFC 313 on March 8, 2025.

Latest Results from UFC Light Heavyweight

Date FightMethodRound TimeResult
March 8, 2025Alex Pereira (c) vs. Magomed AnkalaevDecision (unanimous) (49–46, 48–47, 48–47)55:00
Magomed Ankalaev def. Alex Pereira (c)

UFC Light Heavyweight Rankings 2025

RankFighterRecordMWin StreakResultLast fightNext Fight
CMagomed Ankalaev20–1–1 (1 NC) 3(0 def)WinUFC 313 Alex PereiraTBD
1Alex Pereira12–3 0LossUFC 313 Magomed AnkalaevTBD
2Jiří Procházka31–5–1 1WinUFC 311 Jamahal HillTBD
3Carlos Ulberg12–138WinUFC Fight Night 255 Jan BłachowiczTBD
4Jamahal Hill12–3(1 NC) 0LossUFC 311 Jiří Procházka
UFC on ESPN 66 Khalil Rountree Jr.
5Jan Błachowicz29–11–1−20LossUFC Fight Night 255 Carlos UlbergTBD
6Aleksandar Rakić14–5−10LossUFC 308 Magomed AnkalaevTBD
7Khalil Rountree Jr.13–6(1 NC) 0LossUFC 307 Alex Pereira
UFC on ESPN 66 Jamahal Hill
8Nikita Krylov30–9 3WinUFC Fight Night 221 Ryan Spann
UFC 314 Dominick Reyes
9Volkan Oezdemir20–8 0LossUFC Fight Night 248 Carlos UlbergTBD
10Johnny Walker21–9(1 NC) 0LossUFC on ABC 6 Volkan Oezdemir
UFC Fight Night 257 Azamat Murzakanov
11Dominick Reyes14–4 2WinUFC 310 Anthony Smith
UFC 314 Nikita Krylov
12Azamat Murzakanov14–0 14WinUFC on ABC 7 Alonzo Menifield
UFC Fight Night 257 Johnny Walker
13Bogdan Guskov17–3 3WinUFC 311 Billy ElekanaTBD
14Alonzo Menifield16–5–1 1WinUFC Fight Night 252 Julius Walker
UFC Fight Night 259 Oumar Sy
15Anthony Smith38–21 0LossUFC 310 Dominick Reyes
UFC on ESPN 66 Zhang Mingyang

History of Light Heavyweight Class

The Light Heavyweight Title was known as the Middleweight Title before UFC 31 (May 4, 2001). In 2007, the Pride World Middleweight Championship was unified with the UFC Light Heavyweight Title when Quinton Jackson defeated Dan Henderson at UFC 75.

The UFC Light Heavyweight Title has been held by the likes of Frank Shamrock, Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Vitor Belfort, Chuck Liddell, Quinton Jackson, Forest Griffin, Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida, and Mauricio Rua.

At UFC 128, Jon Jones won the Light Heavyweight Title for the first time in his career after defeating Mauricio Rua. Jones held the title for 1501 days and defended it eight times before being stripped of it due to a hit-and-run issue. Daniel Cormier won the vacant belt by beating Anthony Johnson at UFC 187.

Cormier, who became the second fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two weight classes simultaneously and is the first to defend them in two divisions, vacated his Light Heavyweight Championship 174 days after winning the Heavyweight title. Jon Jones won the vacant belt for the second time in his career after defeating Alexander Gustafsson. He defended it against Anthony Smith, Thiago Santos, and Dominick Reyes before vacating it to move up to the Heavyweight division.

In his first title defense as UFC champion, Glover Teixeira lost to Jiri Prochazka via rear-naked choke at UFC 275, making Jiri Prochazka the incumbent light heavyweight champion.

Jamahal Hill was crowned as the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion after defeating Glover Teixeira at UFC 283. Hill is the first fighter in the UFC to become champion after appearing on the Dana White Contender Series.

On July 14th, Jamahal Hill shared a video on his YouTube channel stating that he would be vacating his Light Heavyweight title because of a severe Achilles tendon injury.

Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira squared off for the vacant light heavyweight title at the main event of UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden on November 11, 2023. Pereira became a 2-division champion after defeating Prochazka via a TKO in the closing minutes of the 2nd round.

At UFC 313, Magomed Ankalaev was crowned the new champion of the light heavyweight division by beating Alex Pereira via a unanimous decision on March 8, 2025.

UFC Weight Divisions

Men

  1. Heavyweight
  2. Light Heavyweight
  3. Middleweight
  4. Welterweight
  5. Lightweight
  6. Featherweight
  7. Bantamweight
  8. Flyweight

Women

  1. Featherweight
  2. Bantamweight
  3. Flyweight
  4. Strawweight

Click to learn about UFC Rankings.

FAQ's On UFC light heavyweight

A. Magomed Ankalaev is the current UFC Light Heavyweight champion.

A. Alex Pereira is the No.1 contender in the UFC light heavyweight division.

A. The UFC light heavyweight division weighs 186.1 lbs to 205 lbs (84 to 93 kg).

A. Yes, Alex Pereira now competes in the light heavyweight division.

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