The UFC Heavyweight Championship title is one of the oldest weight classes in the UFC. The first title fight in the division was all the way back in 1997, when Mark Coleman defeated Dan Severn to became the first ever Heavyweight champion, at UFC 12.
Being a UFC Champion is one of the highest honours you can receive in MMA. However, for UFC Heavyweights, it is not easy to hold onto that accolade for very long. The UFC Heavyweight title is, historically, the slipperiest title to hold on to in any UFC weight class. As a result of how often the Heavyweight belt changes hands, the UFC Heavyweight rankings are always moving around.
No Heavyweight fighter has ever defended the Championship belt more than 3 times consecutively. Stipe Miocic became the holder of this record, after beating; Alistair Overeem, Junior Dos Antos & Francis Ngannou, before finally losing his belt to Daniel Cormier at UFC 226.
Due to both how long the Heavyweight division has been around for & how quickly the belt changes owner, there is a long list of previous UFC Heavyweight champions that have had their names forever etched into UFC history.
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Current UFC Heavyweight Champion in 2022
The current UFC Heavyweight Champion is Francis Ngannou. Ngannou became the Heavyweight title holder when he knocked out Stipe Miocic at UFC 260.
Every UFC Heavyweight Champion
| Photo | Date Made Champion | UFC Fighter Name | Country Of Origin |
 | Feb 7, 1997 | Mark Coleman | USA |
 | Jul 27, 1997 | Maurice Smith | USA |
 | Dec 21, 1997 | Randy Couture | USA |
 | May 7, 1999 | Bas Rutten | Netherlands |
 | Nov 19, 1999 | Kevin Randleman | USA |
| Nov 17, 2000 | Randy Couture (2) | USA |
 | Mar 22, 2002 | Josh Barnett | USA |
 | Sep 27, 2002 | Ricco Rodriguez | USA |
 | Feb 28, 2003 | Tim Sylvia | USA |
 | Jun 19, 2004 | Frank Mir | USA |
 | Aug 12, 2005 | Andrei Arlovski | Belarus |
| Apr 15, 2006 | Tim Sylvia (2) | USA |
| Mar 3, 2007 | Randy Couture (3) | USA |
 | Nov 15, 2008 | Brock Lesnar | USA |
 | Oct 23, 2010 | Cain Velasquez | USA |
 | Nov 12, 2011 | Junior dos Santos | Brazil |
| Dec 29, 2012 | Cain Velasquez (2) | USA |
 | Jun 13, 2015 | Fabrício Werdum | Brazil |
 | May 14, 2016 | Stipe Miocic | USA / Croatia |
 | Jul 7, 2018 | Daniel Cormier | USA |
| Aug 17, 2019 | Stipe Miocic (2) | USA / Croatia |
 | March 27, 2021 | Francis Ngannou | Cameroon |
