The 185-pound division is weird. Honestly, if you look at the UFC middleweight championship history, it’s not just a list of names; it’s a graveyard of legends and a birthplace of some of the strangest statistical anomalies in MMA. Most fans think of Anderson Silva’s front kick to Vitor Belfort or Israel Adesanya’s bow-and-arrow celebration. But the actual lineage? It’s messy. It started with a guy almost no one talks about anymore and currently sits with a dominant force who looks like he might never lose.
The Forgotten Era: Before the Spider
We have to go back to 2001. UFC 33. Dave Menne became the first-ever middleweight champ by beating Gil Castillo. He held it for about four months. Murilo Bustamante then took it, defended it once in that infamous "double tap" fight against Matt Lindland, and then just... left. He signed with PRIDE, and the belt sat in a closet for two years.
People forget the division basically didn't exist for a while.
When it came back, Evan Tanner—a true pioneer—won the vacant strap. Then came Rich Franklin. "Ace" was supposed to be the face of the company. He was a math teacher who could knock your teeth out. He defended it twice and looked unbeatable until October 14, 2006. That’s when the entire trajectory of the sport changed.
Anderson Silva and the Seven-Year Shadow
You can’t talk about this belt without talking about the 2,457 days of Anderson Silva.
It’s a record that still feels fake. Ten successful title defenses. From 2006 to 2013, the middleweight title wasn't a prize; it was a prop for Silva’s Matrix-style highlights. He didn't just win; he embarrassed people. He made Dan Henderson look human. He front-kicked Vitor Belfort’s face into another dimension.
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The Chael Sonnen rivalry was probably the peak of this era. At UFC 117, Silva was beaten up for four and a half rounds. Literally. Sonnen was minutes away from the biggest upset ever, and then—boom—a triangle armbar out of nowhere. It’s the kind of stuff you’d call unrealistic in a movie.
Why the Middleweight Belt is a Hot Potato
After Chris Weidman finally dethroned Silva in 2013 (that left hook still rings in my ears), the division became a meat grinder. Weidman defended it against legends like Lyoto Machida and Belfort, but then the "Four Kings" era happened. Luke Rockhold, Michael Bisping, Robert Whittaker, and Yoel Romero.
Bisping winning the title at UFC 199 is arguably the biggest "what just happened?" moment in the history of the sport. He took the fight on two weeks' notice. He was a massive underdog. He knocked out Rockhold in the first round.
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Then Georges St-Pierre came back from a four-year retirement, moved up a weight class, choked out Bisping, and then immediately vacated. It was chaotic.
The Modern Rivalry: Adesanya and Pereira
Then came Israel Adesanya. He brought stability back. For a while, it felt like the Silva era again. He cleaned out the division, beating Robert Whittaker twice and lapping contenders like Marvin Vettori and Paulo Costa.
But then his boogeyman showed up. Alex Pereira.
The story is almost too perfect for SEO but it's actually real: a guy follows you from kickboxing to MMA just to take your belt. Pereira did exactly that at UFC 281. Adesanya got it back in 2023 with a brutal KO, becoming the only two-time undisputed middleweight champ, but the reign was shorter than expected.
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Where We Are Now in 2026
If you haven't been keeping up lately, the 185-pound landscape has shifted toward absolute wrestling dominance. Dricus Du Plessis shocked the world by beating Sean Strickland and then submitting Adesanya. But the current king is Khamzat Chimaev.
Chimaev took the belt from Du Plessis at UFC 319 in August 2025. He’s currently sitting at 15-0. It feels like the division has come full circle—from the technical striking of Silva and Adesanya back to the suffocating, "smesh" style of the new guard.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Historians
If you’re trying to settle a debate at a bar or just want to understand the lineage better, keep these points in mind:
- Longevity is rare: Only Silva and Adesanya have more than three consecutive defenses.
- The "Silva Curse": Most former champions have a losing record in the UFC after they lose the middleweight belt. Robert Whittaker is the rare exception who stayed elite.
- Weight Matters: This is the most common division for "champ-champ" transitions, with guys like GSP and Alex Pereira jumping between 170, 185, and 205.
To really get the depth of this history, go back and watch UFC 117 (Silva vs. Sonnen 1) and UFC 199 (Rockhold vs. Bisping 2). Those two events explain the soul of the middleweight division better than any Wikipedia list ever could.