UFC Champions in 2026: Full List With Height, Reach and Record

The UFC champions 2026 list is the fastest way into any card: before the tale of the tape, you need to know who holds the belt at each weight. Eleven fighters carry gold into the autumn, from a heavyweight crowned in September to a flyweight with two defences already behind him.

Ciryl Gane leads the heavyweight division, Carlos Ulberg holds light heavyweight, Sean Strickland middleweight and Islam Makhachev welterweight. The women's belts belong to Kayla Harrison, Valentina Shevchenko and Mackenzie Dern.

UFC champions 2026: every belt in one table

Eight men's weight classes and three women's divisions make up the championship picture, and no two of them share a champion. Each row gives the division, the fighter holding the belt, the date it was won and the number of title defences since.

Read the dates as a measure of turnover rather than of quality. Four champions were crowned during 2026, six took their belts in 2025 and one, Valentina Shevchenko, has held women's flyweight gold since 2024.

The defences column answers a different question, which is how settled a division is. Five champions have defended at least once and six have not, so more than half of the sport's gold is still inside its first reign.

Four belts changed hands during 2026

Ciryl Gane took the heavyweight title on 14 September 2026, Justin Gaethje the lightweight belt on 14 June, Sean Strickland the middleweight title on 9 May and Carlos Ulberg light heavyweight on 11 April. No other division changed hands between January and September.

The 2025 group is larger. Islam Makhachev won welterweight gold on 15 November, Petr Yan and Joshua Van both claimed titles on 6 December, Mackenzie Dern won at strawweight on 25 October, Alexander Volkanovski returned to the featherweight throne on 12 April and Kayla Harrison took women's bantamweight on 7 June.

None of the four champions crowned in 2026 has defended yet, so those divisions remain open in a way the date alone does not show. Heavyweight will be judged by one fight above all: the first defence of Gane.

Height, reach and record behind the eleven belts

The roster spans more than a foot in height. Ciryl Gane stands 6 ft 5 in with an 81-inch reach at 248 lb, while Mackenzie Dern is 5 ft 4 in with a 63-inch reach at 115 lb. Those two frames are the extremes of the list.

Reach does not follow height in a straight line. Alexander Volkanovski measures 5 ft 6 in and still carries a 71.5-inch reach, which is longer than Islam Makhachev manages at 5 ft 10 in with 70 inches.

• Ciryl Gane: 6 ft 5 in, 81 in reach, 248 lb, record 14-2.
• Carlos Ulberg: 6 ft 4 in, 77 in reach, 205 lb, record 14-1.
• Sean Strickland: 6 ft 1 in, 76 in reach, 185 lb, record 31-7.
• Islam Makhachev: 5 ft 10 in, 70 in reach, 170 lb, record 29-1.
• Justin Gaethje: 5 ft 11 in, 70 in reach, 155 lb.
• Alexander Volkanovski: 5 ft 6 in, 71.5 in reach, 145 lb, record 28-4.
• Petr Yan: 5 ft 7 in, 67 in reach, 135 lb, record 20-5.
• Joshua Van: 5 ft 5 in, 65 in reach, 125 lb, record 18-2.
• Kayla Harrison: 5 ft 8 in, 66 in reach, 135 lb, record 19-1.
• Valentina Shevchenko: 5 ft 5 in, 66.5 in reach, 125 lb, record 26-4.
• Mackenzie Dern: 5 ft 4 in, 63 in reach, 115 lb, record 17-5.

One pattern is worth noting. Every men's champion from welterweight upward stands 5 ft 10 in or taller, and Joshua Van is the shortest of the eight at 5 ft 5 in.

The reach advantage is usually treated as more important than height at striking distance, because it decides who lands first when both fighters commit at the same moment. That is why the measurements deserve a second look.

What the defences column really measures

A title defence is the hardest fight to win, because the belt is already on the line and the challenger has earned the shot. It is also the only proof that a champion can be the target rather than the hunter.

Joshua Van at flyweight and Valentina Shevchenko at women's flyweight have each defended twice, the best record on the list. Islam Makhachev, Alexander Volkanovski and Mackenzie Dern have one defence apiece, and the remaining six champions have none at all.

Makhachev's single defence came against Machado Garry at UFC 330 on 15 August 2026, in front of 19,236 people at the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.

Shevchenko's two defences have come inside a reign that began on 14 September 2024, the longest continuous run anywhere in the sport. Van has fitted two defences into a much shorter window, having won the flyweight belt on 6 December 2025.

Which divisions are still unresolved

Heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight and lightweight all begin a fresh reign. Gane, Ulberg, Strickland and Gaethje hold belts they have not yet defended, which keeps the queue behind each of them open.

Heavyweight is the thinnest of the four. Gane carries a 14-2 record and has fought fewer times as a professional than every champion on the list except Carlos Ulberg, so the depth behind him is the open question.

Flyweight looks like the opposite case. Van already has two defences, and the lighter divisions refill faster because contenders arrive from the regional circuit within a couple of years rather than a decade.

How to use the list before a card starts

Start with the defences column, because it separates a champion who has answered the hard questions from one who has not. Then check the measurements, since the taller fighter is not automatically the longer one.

Featherweight is the clearest example this autumn. Volkanovski defends against Evloev at UFC 333 on 24 October 2026 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, and the reach numbers will shape that fight as much as the records will.

Taken together, the UFC champions 2026 list is a map of the sport rather than a table of names: eleven belts, four of them new this year, two champions with a pair of defences each and a heavyweight champion whose first defence is still ahead of him.

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