UFC Featherweight Champions History – From Conor McGregor, Max Holloway to Alexander Volkanovski

The current UFC champion, Alexander Volkanovski, is the perfect example of why the featherweight division is one of the UFC’s most stable ones. It has been one of the most exciting divisions in the promotion ever since it was established back in 2010. From long-reigning champions to the most iconic fighters to come out of the division, it has managed to hold its own in terms of competition.

UFC 298 will feature a main event fight for the featherweight title, between champion, Alexander Vokanovski and the no.3 ranked featherweight, Ilia Topuria. Volkanovski has been the champion for over three years, but what was the scene for the featherweight division before he became the champion?

Conor McGregor, Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski’s reigns as featherweight champions

‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor was the second person to hold the UFC featherweight title. His reign began as he defeated Chad Mendes at UFC 189 in July 2015 to win the interim UFC featherweight title. In December of the same year, he faced the then-champion, Jose Aldo at UFC 194, winning the undisputed UFC featherweight title after finishing the Brazilian in just 13 seconds.

Max Holloway was the third one to touch the 145 lbs division’s gold belt. Holloway beat Anthony Pettis at UFC 206, to win the interim title, and would later go on to beat Jose Aldo for the undisputed UFC featherweight championship. ‘Blessed’ reigned as the champion for 3 years, from 2016 to ’19, until eventually losing his title to Alexander Volkanovski.

Alexander Volkanovski became the fourth person to hold the UFC featherweight championship after beating Max Holloway at UFC 245. Volkanovski has been the champion for over 4 years now and is still reigning over the division. But is he the most dominant one to date?

McGregor, Holloway, and Volkanovski have gone on to show how they were some of the most elite fighters after winning the featherweight gold. However, there were other fighters who have managed to do the same in the UFC featherweight division, perhaps even better than the above three.

The first and fifth (?) featherweight champions

The UFC established the featherweight division back in 2010 with the merger of the UFC and WEC. The merger left Jose Aldo, then WEC 145 lbs champion, as the UFC featherweight champion. Aldo was a dominant champion in his time, having defended the title 7 times before eventually losing the title to Conor McGregor. What’s more, he had not been beaten in a decade and was on an 18-fight winning streak before running into the Irishman’s left cross.

He would later win the Interim title against Frankie Edgar and would go on to become the undisputed champion once more after the promotion stripped McGregor of the featherweight title.

As for Volkanovski, he went up a weight class to fight Islam Makhachev for a second belt, which gave Yair Rodriguez a chance at the featherweight gold. He beat Josh Emmett at UFC 284 to win the UFC interim featherweight championship. However, he fell to Volkanovski at UFC 290.

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Given the immense talent that the division has, will Volkanovski be dethroned? Does Ilia Topuria have what it takes to become the 6th fighter to win featherweight gold? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Also Read: ‘Started Getting Headaches’- Alexander Volkanovski Reveals Outcome of ‘Tensing Hard’ for UFC 298 Clash Against Ilia Topuria