Strawweight

Last updated: July 8, 2026

What is strawweight?

Strawweight is one of the UFC’s 12 weight classes and the smallest of them all. Fighters in this division must weigh in at 115 pounds or less for title fights, with a one-pound allowance (116 pounds) for non-title bouts. Under the Unified Rules of MMA, the division covers competitors between 106 and 115 pounds.

The UFC only runs strawweight for women. It is one of four women’s divisions in the promotion, sitting below flyweight (125 lb), bantamweight (135 lb), and featherweight (145 lb). Men’s UFC divisions start at flyweight, so no male fighter competes at 115 pounds in the Octagon.

Because it sits at the bottom of the scale, strawweight is where fans see some of the most technical, fast-paced fighting in the sport. Fighters at this weight rarely end fights with one punch. They win with volume, footwork, grappling exchanges, and cardio that holds up over 25 minutes.

Where the name comes from

The name is borrowed from boxing. When boxing’s major sanctioning bodies rolled out a 105-pound division starting in 1987, the WBC called it “strawweight,” while other bodies used “minimumweight” or “mini flyweight.” The idea behind the word: straw is about the lightest thing you can pick up, so the lightest fighters became strawweights.

MMA kept the name but changed the number. In MMA, strawweight means 115 pounds, not 105, and the term “minimumweight” never carried over. So a boxing strawweight and a UFC strawweight are 10 pounds apart despite sharing a name.

How the strawweight division works

Weigh-ins work the same here as in every other UFC division. According to the UFC’s own weight-class guide, fighters step on the scale the day before the event, between 9 and 11 a.m. local time. For a title fight, the limit is a hard 115 pounds. For everything else, 116 is acceptable.

Missing weight has real consequences. A fighter who comes in heavy typically forfeits a percentage of her purse to her opponent, and the bout either proceeds at a catchweight (an agreed weight outside the division limit) or gets cancelled. In a championship bout, a fighter who misses weight becomes ineligible to win the belt.

There is a floor on paper: the Unified Rules place strawweight between 106 and 115 pounds. In practice, nobody polices the lower number. Fighters near the bottom of the range simply choose whether the size disadvantage is worth it.

Strawweight vs. flyweight and atomweight

Strawweight gets confused with its neighbors, and with the same name used elsewhere. Here is how the surrounding divisions compare:

Division	Upper limit	In the UFC?
Atomweight	105 lb (47.6 kg)	No. Used by Invicta FC and others
Strawweight (UFC)	115 lb (52.2 kg)	Yes, women only
Flyweight	125 lb (56.7 kg)	Yes, men and women

The trickiest comparison is with ONE Championship. ONE also has a division called strawweight, but its limit is 56.7 kg, which works out to 125 pounds. That happens because ONE bans dehydration-based weight cutting and matches athletes closer to their walking weight, shifting its named divisions roughly one class up from the UFC’s numbers. A ONE strawweight would be a UFC flyweight on the scale.

Atomweight fills the space below strawweight in promotions like Invicta FC, but the UFC has never adopted it.

Strawweight history in the UFC

The UFC added women’s strawweight in 2014 through season 20 of The Ultimate Fighter. Carla Esparza became its first champion, submitting Rose Namajunas at the finale on December 12, 2014, and the Association of Boxing Commissions made the 115-pound class official across all of MMA seven months later, on July 29, 2015.

Poland’s Joanna Jedrzejczyk defined the division’s early years, holding the belt from 2015 to 2017 and setting the record of five consecutive title defenses, which still stands. Zhang Weili, a two-time champion, later set the mark for reign length: per UFC.com, her second run with the belt lasted 1,078 days, the longest in strawweight history.

Zhang vacated the belt in 2025 to move up and challenge flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko, a bid that failed at UFC 322 that November. Mackenzie Dern had already claimed the vacant title, though. At UFC 321 on October 25, 2025, the former ADCC grappling world champion out-pointed Virna Jandiroba over five rounds, and she now makes her first defense against Gillian Robertson at UFC 330 on August 15, 2026, in Philadelphia.

What strawweight fights look like

Watch a strawweight bout after a heavyweight one, and the contrast is obvious. Knockouts happen, but far less often than in the bigger divisions. The output tells the story instead: in her title win at UFC 321, ESPN recorded Dern out-landing Jandiroba 247 to 152 in significant strikes across five rounds, while Jandiroba scored nine takedowns of her own.

That volume is typical. Strawweights carry less one-shot power, so pace and grappling depth decide fights, and scorecards settle many of them. For newer fans, this is the division to watch if you want to see pure skill decide a fight rather than a single big punch.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the strawweight limit in kg?

52.2 kg, which is 115 pounds. Non-title bouts allow 52.6 kg (116 pounds).

Is there a men’s strawweight division in the UFC?

No. In the UFC, strawweight is women-only, though ONE Championship, Shooto, and Pancrase all run men’s divisions under the name.

Who is the current UFC strawweight champion?

Mackenzie Dern, who won the vacant title at UFC 321 in October 2025. Her first defense is scheduled against Gillian Robertson at UFC 330 in August 2026.

Is strawweight the lightest weight class in the UFC?

Yes. No UFC division sits below 115 pounds. The 105-pound atomweight class exists in other promotions but has never been added to the UFC.

Is boxing strawweight the same as UFC strawweight?

No. Boxing’s strawweight, also called minimumweight, tops out at 105 pounds, a full 10 pounds lighter than the UFC’s version.

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Sources

1. UFC. “Understanding UFC Weight Classes and Weigh-Ins.” Accessed July 9, 2026.
   https://www.ufc.com/news/understanding-ufc-weight-classes-and-weigh-ins
2. UFC. “The Women’s Strawweight Division | 2026 Preview.” Accessed July 9, 2026.
   https://www.ufc.com/news/womens-strawweight-division-2026-preview
3. UFC. “UFC 330: Makhachev vs. Machado Garry Announcement.” Accessed July 9, 2026.
   https://www.ufc.com/news/blockbuster-welterweight-main-event-between-c-islam-makhachev-and-1-ian-machado-garry
4. ESPN. “Dern outpoints Jandiroba for vacant UFC women’s strawweight title.” Accessed July 9, 2026.
   https://www.espn.com/mma/story//id/46723140/dern-outpoints-jandiroba-vacant-ufc-women-strawweight-title
5. Wikipedia. “Strawweight (MMA).” Accessed July 9, 2026.
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawweight(MMA)
6. Wikipedia. “Mixed martial arts weight classes.” Accessed July 9, 2026.
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_martial_arts_weight_classes
7. Wikipedia. “Mini flyweight.” Accessed July 9, 2026.
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini_flyweight
8. BoxRec. “Weight divisions.” Accessed July 9, 2026.
   https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/Weight_divisions

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