On the championship front, 2016 was a rollercoaster year. We saw interim titles being handed out left right and centre, which wasn’t great, but we also saw a two division champion, a few long time champions dethroned and even a few massive upsets.
Eight of the ten current UFC champions won their belt in 2016, so it was definitely a year for change. Let’s look at the champions and championships.
Heavyweight
Stipe Miocic is the current UFC Heavyweight Champion. Prior to him, Fabricio Werdum held the belt. Miocic and Werdum met at UFC 198, and Miocic starched the Brazilian in front of his own in just under three minutes. Miocic then made the first defence of his title at UFC 203 in his home town of Cleveland, when he stopped Alistair Overeem in the first round.
Light Heavyweight
Daniel Cormier is the currently UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Wait, Jon Jones isn’t the champ? Nope. If you don’t know the deal with Jones and why he isn’t champion or why he’s suspended, I don’t think we can be friends. Cormier won the vacant title with a submission over Anthony Johnson before defending it against Alexander Gustafsson in October of 2015. “DC” did only fight once this year, though, and that was a non title fight against Anderson Silva at UFC 200. Again, you should know why!
Middleweight
Michael Bisping is the middleweight champion, ladies and gentlemen. I bet you never thought you’d read that. 2016 was undoubtedly the best year of the Brits career. First, he defeated Anderson Silva in his home country, then stepped up on short notice to fight Luke Rockhold for the middleweight title, and scored a first round knockout. After that, he made the first defence of his title against the man that is infamous for knocking him unconscious, Dan Henderson. Not bad, hey? Cormier’s next fight will be against Anthony Johnson, but no date is set yet.
Welterweight
Tyron Woodley is the UFC Welterweight Champion. I bet you never thought you’d read that either! Woodley went 5-2 in the UFC before 2016, but weren’t overly impressive in doing so. He sat out from January 2015 in order to get a title shot, and delivered when he did get it. The unbeatable, un-finishable zombie that is Robbie Lawler was in his way, and he walked through him with one big right hand in the first round. In his first defence, he went five exciting rounds with Stephen Thompson, and held onto his title after the war was declared a majority draw. It is unclear who Woodley will fight next, Thompson wants a rematch but Woodley has his eyes on Nick Diaz and GSP.
Lightweight
Conor McGregor is the lightweight champion, I bet you… Nah, you probably did expect to hear that one. After dethroning Jose Aldo with one punch, Conor went to welterweight for two fights against Nate Diaz, but then came down to 155, where he faced then champion Eddie Alvarez. The fight was supposed to be a close one, but it didn’t turn out that way. Conor dominated the fight, tagging and dropping Alvarez repeatedly before picking up the second round stoppage. Khabib seems next in line to face Conor, but let’s be honest, the man does what he wants, so he may well fight Roy Nelson next.
Featherweight
The featherweight champion is Jose Aldo. This is a strange situation; Aldo lost the belt to McGregor, then faced Frankie Edgar for the interim belt, but after Conor won the lightweight belt, he was stripped of the 145lbs belt, and Aldo was promoted to official champion, while Max Holloway defeated Anthony Pettis to capture the interim title. I’m as confused as you are, titles for everybody!
Bantamweight
Dominick Cruz is not the UFC Bantamweight Champion… Cruz, who has seemed untouchable (literally) for years, was dethroned by Cody Garbrandt at UFC 207, the last event of the year. Garbrandt is now 10-0, and will likely face former team mate TJ Dillashaw next. Expect even more trash talk and fireworks from “No Love”.
Flyweight
Yeah, you guessed it. Demetrious Johnson is the UFC Flyweight Champion. In 2016, “Mighty Mouse” defended his title twice, with a first round TKO victory over Henry Cejudo before taking a decision over Tim Elliot. He fought recently, on Dec.3 so we likely aren’t going to see him before March, which sucks, because I want to see him fight every single day. The man is 30-years-old, arguably #1 P4P and is still improving every single fight. No clue who fights DJ next, but whoever it is, is probably in for a bad night.
Women’s Bantamweight
After defeating Ronda Rousey at UFC 207, Amanda Nunes is still the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion. Nunes fought three times in 2016. The first was a decision victory over Valentina Shevchenko, then she walked through Miesha Tate at UFC 200 to win the title, before defending it for the first time against Ronda Rousey.
Women’s Strawweight
Joanna Jędrzejczyk is still the UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion. She is so unbelievably good, and I can’t see anybody in the division right now beating her. In my opinion, the two biggest threats are Claudia Gadelha and Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Guess who she beat in 2016? That’s right, Claudia Gadelha and Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Two fights, two decision victories, two amazing performances. Joanna looks unstoppable
