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A Standard in Gold: Dating back to 2015, every year in the UFC has seen at least 18 championship tilts. 2022 featured 19, which is three shy of the record set in 2016.
New Horizons: Not counting interim belts, of the 12 champions that held titles on Jan. 1, 2022, only four of them still remained on their thrones at year’s end. Francis Ngannou, Alexander Volkanovski, Amanda Nunes at featherweight and Valentina Shevchenko are the only ones to start and conclude 2022 as champs – a massive contrast to 2020, when no defending champion lost their title.
Defenseless Year: Only one champion managed to register multiple title defenses in 2022: Volkanovski, who stopped Chan Sung Jung in April and prevailed in the trilogy match against Max Holloway in July.
Empty Nest Syndrome: Multiple crowns lay vacant for extended periods of 2022 for a variety of reasons. Charles Oliveira lost his lightweight gold on the scales and beat Justin Gaethje, keeping it empty from March to October. At 205 pounds, Jiri Prochazka surrendered his belt in November, and a subsequent draw left it vacant leading into UFC 283 in 2023.
Round Robin at 115: In May, Carla Esparza reclaimed her strawweight belt, one she earned in the inaugural title fight atop the 20th Season of “The Ultimate Fighter.” She became the second two-time champ among all women – a feat first performed by Rose Namajunas in 2021, and then achieved in June by Nunes and in November by Weili Zhang.
Cracks in the Armor Forming: Albeit by split decision, Shevchenko held onto her 125-pound championship against Taila Santos in June. She successfully surpassed Ronda Rousey for the most consecutive title defenses (seven) among all women.
All Three Were Down on the Scorecards: An unprecedented three titles changed hands courtesy of Round 5 stoppages this year. Prochazka wrested the belt from Glover Teixeira in June, Leon Edwards sparked Usman in August and Alex Pereira drubbed Israel Adesanya in November, all as challengers.
Everyone Shrugged: The second championship draw since 2016 took place in December, when Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev vied for the vacant light heavyweight strap and left it empty.
Bad Timing Overall: By submitting Charles Oliveira at UFC 280, Islam Makhachev became the third Russian-born fighter to hoist a UFC belt. Petr Yan and teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov were the first two.
Positively Chuffed: Edwards became the second competitor out of England to earn UFC gold when he crushed Usman at UFC 278. He joins Michael Bisping as the only two Brits to pull this off.
Dusting Off Her Seat: Exacting revenge by pummeling Julianna Pena for five rounds, Nunes regained her bantamweight strap to once again serve as the concurrent two-division champion of 135 and 145 pounds. She has not faced a challenger in the latter since March 2021.
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