Ufc heavy weight fights. Weight categories in MMA (UFC). Flyweight and Bantamweight Division

As a rule, depending on the promotions, each weight division has its own championship belt, which fighters strive to get. Before each fight, fighters must go through a weigh-in procedure. Depending on the promotion, various deviations from the desired weight of the fighter are allowed. If a fighter does not fit into the weight (too light or too heavy), he may be disqualified and not allowed to fight. Here are the main weight categories of MMA:

from 120.2 kg Super heavyweight

93 - 120.2 kg Heavy weight (Heavyweight)

83.9 - 93 kg Light heavyweight P

77.1 - 83.9 kg Middleweight

70.3 - 77.1 kg Welterweight (Welterweight)

65.8 - 70.3 kg Lightweight

61.2 - 65.8 kg Featherweight

56.7 - 61.2 kg Bantamweight

up to 56.7 kg Flyweight

Most fighters are found in lightweight and their number decreases with increasing weight. This is explained as less big people, and the fact that the greater the weight, the more likely it is to get seriously injured in preparation for the fight or during the fight itself. That is why good heavyweights are worth their weight in gold for any promotional organization and many heavyweights continue to perform even after 35 years.

Weight Loss in MMA

To get into the right weight category, some fighters have to gain or lose weight. This procedure is called weight loss and is a complex process that involves doctors and nutritionists. Weight cutting begins a few months before the fight. The difference in weight between competitive and everyday can reach 5-20 kg. This is a serious burden for the athlete's body, so the weight race is no less responsible event than even the preparation for the fight itself.

When cutting weight, various methods and approaches are used, but the main ones are drinking as much water as possible, eliminating meat from the diet, and eating plant foods. During the weight race, the fighter excludes heavy loads and does not actively train, focusing only on his weight. In the last stages of the race, fighters can visit the sauna or use a thermal suit.

MMA champions in several weight categories at once

UFC fighters who won the championship belt in several weight categories: Randy Couture ( Lightweight+ heavyweight, B.J. Penn ( welterweight + lightweight), Conor McGregor (featherweight + lightweight), Georges St-Pierre (welterweight + middleweight).

The history of the emergence and transformation of weight UFC categories

If you look back at the history of the development of mixed martial arts, you can see that initially MMA fights had practically no rules, and the first UFC show was started by the organizers as a kind of tournament designed to determine the best fighter and the best technique. That is, there were no established norms for fighting, no UFC weight categories, and the competitions themselves had little to do with sports and looked more like a bloodbath of gladiators destroying each other. In 1993, the debut UFC fight night in Denver took place, after which Nevada state officials urged the organizers to give such tournaments more sports content and, above all, limit violence.

This applies not only to the UFC, but also to mixed martial arts in general. Previously, this discipline of fighting sports was called fights without rules. As part of such competitions, a sumo wrestler weighing 120 kilograms could end up in a cage with a karate master who weighed 75 or even 70 kilograms. Gradually this species sports became more loyal to the human body, the first rules appeared, and with them the divisions. Separate states of America opposed the legalization of mixed martial arts even when they acquired a modern form. The latest such example was the New York MMA ban, which only legalized MMA in 2016.

It is important to know! In the fall of 2016, the long-awaited UFC 205 tournament was held in New York, in which the promotion received the first champion of two weight categories - featherweight and lightweight. They were the phenomenal Irishman Conor McGregor, who knocked out Eddie Alvarez in the central fight of the show and took possession of his 155-pound championship belt.

True, later the featherweight title. In order not to derail the headless UFC 206 event, the organization's leaders announced that the 145-pound weight class belt, obtained by McGregor in a 13-second fight with Jose Aldo, returns to the Brazilian, who at that time owned the interim title in the same category. The remaining vacant interim title was played between Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis in the central fight of the UFC 206 tournament already mentioned above.

The only "one-time" UFC Featherweight and Lightweight Champion in UFC history, Conor McGregor

A lot has changed in the UFC's 20+ year history. It should be noted right away that it was this organization that became the locomotive that pulled all other promotions involved in organizing fights according to mixed rules. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the divisions that were introduced into the UFC are currently used by less status organizations. In this case, we are talking about Bellator, WSOF, regional American and Asian promotions.

At the moment, eight men's weight categories and three women's are represented in the leading promotion of the planet.

UFC men's weight classes

1. Heavy weight
2. light heavyweight
3. Average weight
4. Welterweight
5. A light weight
6. Feather-weight
7. Bantamweight
8. Flyweight

UFC weight classes for women

1. Feather-weight
2. Bantamweight
3. Minimum weight

Below you can find a table detailing each UFC weight class.

Prerequisites for the development of UFC weight categories?

The need to divide fighters into weight categories was due to the global process of universalization of athletes, when each of them began to improve himself in all styles. Weight classes in the UFC initially had a completely different look than they do today. Back in 1997, the UFC 12 tournament was held, where only two weight echelons were presented - heavy and light. The first included all athletes whose weight exceeded 200 pounds, the second - those athletes who weighed less than 199 pounds.

The most dominant champion in UFC history Anderson Silva

Before the UFC 14 show, it was decided to call the lightweight middleweight, and the new lightweight division was already introduced as part of UFC 16. At that time, any fighter whose body weight did not exceed 170 pounds could call himself a lightweight, that is, today he would be a welterweight. A couple more years passed, and the bantamweight division appeared in the UFC, which included athletes with a body weight of up to 155 pounds.

By the time of the UFC 31 tournament, the promotion has changed its weight classes in accordance with the requirements of the New Jersey Athletic Commission. At the indicated tournament, the fighters already competed in five echelons: light, welterweight, medium, light heavy and heavy.

The next stage of expansion had to wait about ten years. In 2010, the promotion announced the creation of the UFC featherweight and bantamweight divisions. Two years later, the lightest weight class appeared, and a little later, women's divisions were also introduced - first the lightest, and then the minimum. The weight categories have acquired their final form, which you can accurately and in detail see in the table below.

Table of modern men's and women's UFC categories

Weight category name (Russian)	Weight class name	weight in pounds	weight in kilograms
Heavy weight	heavyweight	206-265	93-120
light heavyweight	Lightweight	186-205	84-93
Average weight	Middleweight	171-185	77-84
Welterweight	Welterweight	156-170	70-77
A light weight	light weight	146-155	66-70
Feather-weight	Featherweight	136-145	61-66
Bantamweight	bantamweight	126-135	57-61
Flyweight	Flyweight	116-125	53-57
Women's Bantamweight	bantamweight	126-135	57-61
Women's minimum weight	Strawweight	106-115	48-52
Women's Featherweight	bantamweight	136-145	61-66

Recently champions of weight categories change regularly. So, in 2016, TJ Dillashaw, Fabricio Werdum, Holly Holm, Misha Tate, Luke Rockhold, Robbie Lawler, Rafael dos Anjos, Eddie Alvarez, Dominic Cruz resigned royal powers. The most interesting and long-awaited confrontation of the end of the year was the bantamweight clash, where former division queen Ronda Ruosi acted as a contender. Unfortunately, there was no intrigue in this clash: Rhodey limply lost to the Brazilian Lioness at the very beginning of the first round. This year, two division champions have changed in the UFC. So, the featherweight title was again given to Jose Aldo, but as part of the show, the Brazilian lost it to Max Holloway. In addition, the promotion bosses took away the belt from the women's featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie, citing the fact that the Dutch athlete refuses to sign a contract to fight Christiana Justino.

List of current UFC champions and champions by category

• heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic;
• light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier;
• middleweight champion Michael Bisping;
• welterweight champion Tyron Woodley;
• lightweight champion Conor McGregor;
• featherweight champion Max Holloway;
• bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt;
• flyweight champion Demetrius Johnson;
• the champion of the women's featherweight category will be determined by the result of the meeting between Christiane Justino and Megan Anderson at UFC 214 (07/29/2017).
• women's bantamweight champion Amanda Nunez;
• champion of the women's minimum category Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

UFC women's featherweight division. Cyborg name category

UFC leaders can't create divisions just like that: in order for a weight class to exist, you need stars who can compete in it and bring good money on PPV sales. The latest experience of the company has shown that fighters filling the division are not even needed to make money.

The success of Ronda Rousey inspired the owners of the promotion to search for new celebrities in women's mixed martial arts. After all, in fact, we can say that due to its popularity, Rowdy kept many other fighters not only of the female, but also of the male roster.

In 2016, his famous Brazilian Cristiana Justino, nicknamed Cyborg. She is still considered the featherweight queen of the all-female fighting organization Invicta FC, where the 145-pound class is available. However, due to the too large dimensions of Christian, she never competed in the largest UFC 135-pound echelon at that time. On the contrary, athletes who wanted to fight her gained weight and fought in the intermediate 140 pounds, and invariably lost.

The popularity of Justino and her financial potential prompted the bosses of the organization to establish a new weight category. As part of the UFC 208 tournament in February of this year (see the full results of the tournament), the corresponding belt was played by the Dutch striker Germaine de Randamie and the former champion of the 135-pound division Holly Holm. Ironically, Cristina Justino did not fight in the first title fight in the category that was actually created specifically for her. The reasons are called different. Representatives of the promotion claim that they offered such a fight to the Brazilian, and the latter says that her body could not recover from weight loss in preparation for the previous fight. If we add to the above the fact that Justino, then this whole story becomes even more confusing.

One way or another, the result of the main UFC fight 208 was the victory of Germaine de Randamie by unanimous decision. It was the Dutch athlete who became the first title holder in the women's 145-pound weight class. However, there are no women's featherweights in the official rankings, because, with the exception of two or three girls, there are no fighters in it.

Later, the promotion bosses took away the belt from Randami due to the latter's unwillingness to defend in the battle with Christiana Justino. The new champion of the category will be determined in the fight between Justino and Megan Anderson on July 29, 2017 at the UFC 214 tournament.

Today, the popularity of mixed martial arts is at its peak, and no one doubts their further rapid development. This is not surprising, because these battles are distinguished by their brightness, dynamism and swiftness. However, it has become relatively recent to observe a fight in a cage of single-weight wrestlers, since some time ago the fights were held without any even very conditional division of athletes into weight divisions. In this article, we will take a closer look at which weight categories in the UFC exist today and who unconditionally dominates them.

Historical reference

Now the UFC is truly a huge organization in which everything is perfectly debugged as in a high-quality and complex mechanism. Every little detail has not gone unnoticed by the forward-thinking owners of the American promotion, who are keeping a close eye on all the emerging changes in the world of mixed martial arts. But it was not always so. In 1993, already quite far from us, there were no weight categories in the UFC at all. The first fights were held according to the scheme, which at that time did not provide for the mandatory weigh-in before the fight that we were used to.

The emergence of divisions

Weight categories in the UFC appeared only in 1997. At the same time, initially they were not what we know today. At the UFC 12 tournament, all the fighters who took part in it were divided into two categories: heavyweight, which included athletes weighing over 200 pounds, and lightweight (under 200 pounds).

Somewhat later, and to be precise, at the 14th tournament, the lightweight category in the UFC was transformed into the middle category. And in its purest form, lightweight was formed already at UFC 16. At that moment, fighters were considered lightweight if their weight was less than 170 pounds (77 kilograms). Two years later, the promotion decided to create another division - the lightest, the so-called Bantamweight. The first time fighters of this weight entered the cage at the UFC 26 tournament. Then the lightest division required the athlete to weigh no more than 70 kilograms.

Athletic Commission requirements

In 2000, the New Jersey State Athletic Commission literally forced a change in the formation of weight divisions. As a result, the weight classes in the UFC have taken on a modern look. At the time of the 31st tournament, the promotion already comprised five divisions, including:

• A light weight.
• Welterweight.
• Average weight.
• Light heavyweight.
• Heavy weight.

However, already in 2010, the categories again underwent some changes. So, the featherweight and lightest weight categories were added. And two years later, the company's management made the final decision to further expand the list of outstanding fighters by introducing another weight - the lightest.

Women's divisions

In order to finally figure out how the weight categories are divided in the UFC, it must be pointed out that the organization also found a place for bright female fighters. In 2012, for the first time in the history of mixed fights, a women's bantamweight league was created. And the very next year, they formed the flyweight among the fairer sex, who devoted their lives to MMA.

Number of divisions

So how many weight classes are in the UFC? At the beginning of 2017, the organization has twelve divisions, ten of which are exclusively male, and two are female.

In the heavy division, the weight of a fighter should not exceed 120 kilograms, in the light heavyweight - 93 kilograms, the average - 84 kilograms, the welterweight - 77 kilograms, the light - 70 kilograms, the featherweight - 66 kilograms, the lightest - 61 kilograms, the lightest - 57 kilograms.

The women of the flyweight division must have their own weight at the time of weighing up to 52 kilograms, and the bantamweight division - 61 kilograms.

The current UFC champions are:

• Stipe Miocic.
• Daniel Cormier.
• Michael Bisping.
• Tyron Woodley.
• Conor McGregor.
• Cody Garbrandt.
• Demetrius Johnson.

Separately, it is worth noting the common rating for all fighters of the organization under the catchy name POUND-FOR-POUND. The best fighters can get into it, regardless of their own weight and gender. Here, in short, everyone has absolutely equal rights. And therefore, an athlete from the flyweight may well be located at a higher ranking position than even some top middleweight or heavyweight.

Since the inception of the first UFC tournaments, the concept of weight classes has not been used at all. The fighters fought in a single weight category, and the competition was equated to a tournament for the title of the strongest fighter in MMA. Fighters of completely different weights could fight among themselves and this, at first, suited absolutely everyone, but gradually the UFC management came to the decision that expanding the active roster and dividing fighters into divisions of different weight categories would be the only right decision in further development. It is also interesting that initially all MMA promotions had similar views on the sports industry, so the addition of weight categories to the UFC behind the scenes became the beginning of the formation of general and new rules in MMA, where fighters of different weight categories could no longer fight inside the cage among themselves.

The UFC rose to the top of the MMA promotion hierarchy and became the company that smaller, less popular MMA federations began to look up to. The UFC remains the premier mixed fight promotion to this day, and their weight classes are the general standard of MMA. For 2019, there are eleven weight categories in the UFC, three of which are women's, namely:

Heavy weight(heavyweight)- 93-120 kg(206-265 pounds)

light heavyweight(Light Heavyweight) - 84-93 kg(186-205 pounds)

Average weight(Middle weight) 77-84 kg(171-185 pounds)

Welterweight(Welterweight) - 70-77 kg(156-170 pounds)

A light weight(Lightweight) - 66-70 kg(146-155 pounds)

Feather-weight(Featherweight)- 61-66 kg(136-145 pounds)

Bantamweight(Bantamweight) - 57-61 kg(126-135 pounds)

Flyweight(Flyweight) - 53-57 kg(116-125 pounds)

Women's Featherweight(Bantamweight) - 61-66 kg(136-145 pounds)

Women's Bantamweight(Bantamweight) - 57-61 kg(126-135 pounds)

Women's minimum weight(Strawweight)- 48-52 kg(106-115 pounds)

It is worth noting that some lesser-known promotions often practice the heavyweight category, which starts from 120 kilograms and goes up to 150, however, mixfight fights in the heavyweight category can be seen so far only in small promotions in Asia, Japan, and also occasionally in the USA. .

Champions in two weight divisions UFC

For a long time, each weight class had its own champion, but at UFC 205 there was a turning point in the history of the UFC weight classes. Conor McGregor made history in the main event of the evening by defeating Eddie Alvarez. He became the first fighter in history to simultaneously hold two titles in different weight categories. After him, only three fighters managed to repeat such an achievement: Daniel Cormier (UFC 226), Amanda Nunez (UFC 232) and Henry Cejudo (UFC 238).

In the era of the formation of MMA, there was no such thing as weight categories at all. All fighters competed in the same absolute weight category. At the first championships UFC in one weight category, a 130 kg sumo wrestler could meet with 85 kg. Today the situation is quite different, and Weight classes in the UFC are the unspoken standard for MMA weight classes..

Read below about the UFC and MMA weight classes in general.

Today, when all fighters are universal and there is no division into styles, weight categories have begun to play an important role. After all, before only you could know and force larger opponents to surrender, and today he is known everything, and not only him. In view of the spread of knowledge of the technique of receptions, weight difference has become a significant factor. That is why modern weight categories in MMA look like this:

• from 120 Super heavyweight, aka Super heavyweight
• 93 - 120 Heavyweight, aka Heavyweight
• 84 - 93 Light heavyweight, aka Light heavyweight
• 77 - 84 Middleweight, aka Middleweight
• 70 - 77 Welterweight, aka Welterweight
• 66 - 70 Lightweight, aka Lightweight
• 62 - 66 Featherweight
• 57 - 62 Bantamweight
• up to 57 Flyweight, aka Flyweight

Today in weight categories UFC and most of the world's organizations do not have heavyweight and flyweight classes. The heavyweight division can sometimes be found in the Japanese weight classes mainly as freak fights. The flyweight division of MMA is occasionally present in smaller organizations in the US and Asia Minor. According to the President of the UFC Dana White, soon flyweight may appear on the UFC weight list.