The UFC Men's Featherweight Championship: A Visual History

“Alexander the Great” conquers again—though he certainly had to work for it.

Alexander Volkanovski made a successful first defense of his Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight title on Saturday, turning back Max Holloway by split decision in the co-main event of UFC 251. The second meeting was a closer affair than their first meeting last December, when Volkanovski took the title from the “Blessed” one.

With Holloway down 0-2 against the new champ and likely to need at least a couple more wins before the UFC considers a third fight, Volkanovski can now turn his attention to the rest of the division. With Holloway a closed topic for the moment, and the distinct possibility that neither Jose Aldo nor Conor McGregor ever fights at featherweight again, Volkanovski must now look towards the future, rather than the past of the division to cement his legacy. Fortunately, there are a number of of 145-pound contenders on impressive runs, including Chan Sung Jung and the winner of the upcoming Zabit Magomedsharipov-Yair Rodriguez matchup, that would make for outstanding challenges.

This is the history of the UFC men’s featherweight title and the times it was won, lost or defended. Interim title fights are omitted with the exception of Aldo-Frankie Edgar 2, since the winner of that fight ended up being promoted to undisputed champ without a unification bout.

Ben Duffy/Sherdog.com illustration