Featured InfographicsThe UFC Welterweight Title: A Visual History
On Saturday, Islam
Makhachev joined some truly exalted company.
In the headliner of UFC 322 at Madison Square Garden, the former lightweight champ dominated Jack Della Maddalena for virtually every second of their 25-minute fight, wresting the welterweight strap from the Australian in a manner that reaffirmed his case to be called the top pound-for-pound fighter in the sport.
If welterweight isn’t the best weight class in UFC history, it must
be a close second behind lightweight. Scan the 14 names on the
left-hand side of this infographic and you will see a lot of meat
and not much filler. There are a couple of the greatest fighters of
all time and several more who were at least among the greatest of
their time. The right column tells a story as well, with some
incredibly accomplished fighters trying and failing to scale the
throne. Few weight classes have a second tier as historically
impressive as Jon Fitch,
Jake
Shields, Demian Maia
and Stephen
Thompson.
The biggest question in the immediate wake of Makhachev’s title win is whether he intends to stay at 170 pounds, move back down to 155 or even attempt to defend both titles simultaneously. If he elects to set up shop at welterweight for the long term, he may well restore some stability to one of the promotion’s original—and unsurpassed—dynasty division. Where other UFC weight classes such as lightweight and heavyweight struggled in the early years, with nobody even seeming to want the title, and multiple sitting champs dumping their belts and leaving for greener pastures, welterweight was put into an immediate stranglehold by Pat Miletich, who defended the title four times.
Since Miletich’s reign, that number has been met or exceeded by Matt Hughes, Georges St. Pierre, Tyron Woodley and Kamaru Usman, a fleet of long-reigning titleholders that no other UFC division can touch. (Consider that heavyweight, the UFC’s oldest division, has never had a four-time defending champ in almost three decades.)
Here is the 27-year history of the UFC welterweight title and the times it was won, lost or defended. It tells the story of a cutthroat division, where strapping the belt onto your waist has always meant attaching one of the sport’s largest bull’s eyes to your back.
In the headliner of UFC 322 at Madison Square Garden, the former lightweight champ dominated Jack Della Maddalena for virtually every second of their 25-minute fight, wresting the welterweight strap from the Australian in a manner that reaffirmed his case to be called the top pound-for-pound fighter in the sport.
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The biggest question in the immediate wake of Makhachev’s title win is whether he intends to stay at 170 pounds, move back down to 155 or even attempt to defend both titles simultaneously. If he elects to set up shop at welterweight for the long term, he may well restore some stability to one of the promotion’s original—and unsurpassed—dynasty division. Where other UFC weight classes such as lightweight and heavyweight struggled in the early years, with nobody even seeming to want the title, and multiple sitting champs dumping their belts and leaving for greener pastures, welterweight was put into an immediate stranglehold by Pat Miletich, who defended the title four times.
Since Miletich’s reign, that number has been met or exceeded by Matt Hughes, Georges St. Pierre, Tyron Woodley and Kamaru Usman, a fleet of long-reigning titleholders that no other UFC division can touch. (Consider that heavyweight, the UFC’s oldest division, has never had a four-time defending champ in almost three decades.)
Here is the 27-year history of the UFC welterweight title and the times it was won, lost or defended. It tells the story of a cutthroat division, where strapping the belt onto your waist has always meant attaching one of the sport’s largest bull’s eyes to your back.
Ben
Duffy/Sherdog.com illustration
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