Who Is The Greatest UFC Champion Of All Time?

In the history of the UFC there have been 97 champions - 99 if you include the superfight championship from the early days and 100 if you include the BMF championship that belongs to Jorge Masvidal - personally I don’t as I’m just referring to specific weight classes. I often wonder who the greatest champion is and by thinking about who the greatest champion is, you have to think of a specific criteria: am I basing it off their opponents? Am I basing on consecutive defences? Am I counting days? I’ve decided to throw them all in the mix and I’m going to reveal who the greatest UFC champion of all time is.

Demetrious Johnson

There’s no doubt that Demetrious Johnson is the greatest flyweight of all time with a reign that spanned 2,142 days and defended his championship eleven times against great opposition. Johnson is extremely well-rounded, his grappling is phenomenal, his striking is great and his UFC run was so incredibly dominant. The six year for Mighty Mouse is Hall Of Fame worthy and an argument can be made that he is the greatest champion of all time.

Georges St-Pierre

Many consider Georges St-Pierre the greatest MMA fighter of all time and its hard to disagree. St-Pierre is a two time welterweight champion yet his second reign is what puts him on this list as his reign lasted 2,064 days with 9 defences and GSP got great wins throughout. As champion, the Canadian gained the majority of his defences by winning a decision victory which many got angry at during his run as champion despite it being successful for GSP as he walked away with the belt and is a potential candidate for being the greatest champion of all time.

Anderson Silva

A reign that lasted 2,457 days - Anderson Silva’s middleweight title run is one of the greatest championship reigns of all time. Silva took out top contenders and made 10 successful title defences defeating names such as Dan Henderson, Demian Maia, Chael Sonnen & Vitor Belfort. Silva’s run is one of the greatest title runs of all time and what he achieved definitely puts him as one of the greatest champions of all time.

Jon Jones

If you want to know who the greatest light heavyweight of all time is then look no further than Jon Jones. Let me put things in perspective, Jon Jones was champion in 2011 and in 2020 - he’s still champion. Yes, he may have lost the belt during that time however that’s only because of his failed drug tests which does put him to a slight disadvantage as his reign does have some controversy yet I’d be stupid not to consider him as one of the greatest UFC champions of all time.

The Best UFC Champion Of All Time: Jon Jones

At a combined record of 2,064 days Jon Jones is the greatest UFC champion of all time. Jones is only 32 and he’s been dominating his opponents for so long now. Defeating names such as: Rampage Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, Alexander Gustafsson (twice), Glover Teixeira, Daniel Cormier (technically twice), Ovince Saint Preux, Anthony Smith, Thiago Santos and most recently, Dominick Reyes. Jones has been on the throne of the light heavyweight division for so long now and in my opinion, it’s hard not to crown him the greatest light heavyweight champion of all time. Despite almost losing his last two fights, Jones is still the greatest champion of all time.