UFC Weight Classes Explained: Limits, Champions and Weigh-Ins

The men's divisions and their upper limits: flyweight 125 pounds, bantamweight 135, featherweight 145, lightweight 155, welterweight 170, middleweight 185, light heavyweight 205 and heavyweight 265. The women's divisions: strawweight 115, flyweight 125 and bantamweight 135. Women's featherweight at 145 existed until Amanda Nunes retired in June 2023, when Dana White said dissolving it "makes sense." It no longer appears on the UFC's rankings page.

UFC.com's own explainer sets the rule on allowances: "For non-title bouts, athletes are allowed a one-pound allowance above the division's limit." So a flyweight can weigh 126 for a regular fight and a lightweight can weigh 156. In a championship fight the limit is the limit.

Heavyweight: Ciryl Gane. He won the interim title by stopping Alex Pereira in the second round at UFC Freedom 250 on the White House South Lawn on June 14, 2026, and was promoted to undisputed champion in September after Tom Aspinall vacated because of a recurring eye injury. His first defense is against Josh Hokit at UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden on November 14, 2026.

Light heavyweight: Carlos Ulberg, who knocked out Jiri Prochazka in the first round at UFC 327 in Miami on April 11, 2026 for the vacant belt. Middleweight: Sean Strickland, a two-time champion after his split decision over Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328 in Newark on May 9, 2026. Welterweight: Islam Makhachev, who beat Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322 on November 15, 2025 to become a two-division champion and defended against Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330 in Philadelphia on August 15, 2026, his UFC-record 17th straight win.

Lightweight: Justin Gaethje, who won the interim title against Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324 in January and then took the undisputed belt when Ilia Topuria's corner stopped their fight after four rounds at UFC Freedom 250. Featherweight: Alexander Volkanovski, who beat Diego Lopes for the vacant title at UFC 314 on April 12, 2025, beat him again at UFC 325 in Sydney in February 2026, and faces Movsar Evloev at UFC 333 on October 24. Bantamweight: Petr Yan, who outpointed Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 323 on December 6, 2025 and gives him the rematch at UFC 333. Flyweight: Joshua Van, who won the belt when Alexandre Pantoja's arm gave out 26 seconds into their UFC 323 fight, stopped Tatsuro Taira at UFC 328 and beat Pantoja again by decision at UFC 331 in Los Angeles on September 19, 2026.

Strawweight: Mackenzie Dern, who won the title at UFC 321 on October 25, 2025 and made her first defense against Gillian Robertson at UFC 330 on August 15, 2026. Bantamweight: Kayla Harrison, who submitted Julianna Pena with a kimura at UFC 316 on June 7, 2025. Her fight with Amanda Nunes was pushed back by her January 2026 neck surgery and is now set for UFC 334 on November 14.

Flyweight: vacant. Valentina Shevchenko, who had defended the title against Manon Fiorot in May 2025 and Zhang Weili in November 2025, gave up the belt in early September 2026 because of an injury expected to sideline her for about a year. Rather than create an interim title, the UFC booked Natalia Silva against Wang Cong for the vacant belt at UFC 332 in Salt Lake City on October 3, 2026.

The weigh-in that counts is the official one, held the morning before the fight. UFC.com says it takes place "between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. local time." The UFC moved to early morning weigh-ins in 2016, starting at UFC 199 on June 5, 2016, because the earlier scale time cuts the number of hours fighters spend dehydrated. The ceremonial weigh-in you see on the broadcast later that day is a face-off show. The numbers announced there do not count.

A fighter who misses can usually get more time, but the rules belong to the commission, not the UFC. Nevada's rules allow no more than two additional pounds to be lost, and only within one hour of the initial weigh-in. California's guidance gives a fighter who has been medically cleared two hours to cut up to two pounds and calls anything more dangerous.

UFC.com lists the options: "forfeiting a percentage of their fight purse to the opponent, negotiating a catchweight bout, or, in some cases, the fight being canceled altogether." In practice in 2026 the penalty has run from 20 percent of the purse for half-pound misses, as with Rafael Estevam in April, to 25 percent for two bantamweights who missed in February, to 30 percent for Misha Cirkunov's four-pound miss at UFC Perth in May. The money goes to the opponent, who has to agree to the catchweight fight.

Miss in a title fight and the consequences are worse. Charles Oliveira weighed 155.5 pounds for UFC 274 on May 6, 2022, half a pound over, and was stripped of the lightweight title on the scale. Only Justin Gaethje could win the belt that night. And the newest cautionary tale is Aaron Tau at UFC 325 in Sydney, who registered 122.5 while leaning on the privacy box, reweighed at 129 against a 126 limit, had his fight canceled and was released.

What a fighter weighs in the cage is a different number. California's commission records fight-night weights and flags anyone who has regained more than 10 percent of their body weight. At UFC 311 in January 2025, 15 of 26 fighters crossed that line, and Islam Makhachev, Renato Moicano and Merab Dvalishvili each put back 17 percent. Reinier de Ridder walked into the cage 22.4 pounds heavier than Kevin Holland. Since 2019 California has also had the power to cancel a bout when a fighter regains more than 15 percent of the contracted weight.

The Association of Boxing Commissions' Unified Rules, most recently amended in August 2026, list 15 MMA weight classes. Beyond the UFC's 11 are atomweight (105), super lightweight (165), super welterweight (175), super middleweight (195), cruiserweight (225) and super heavyweight (over 265). The four "super" classes were approved by the ABC in July 2017 after California introduced them as a weight-cutting reform, but promoters were never required to adopt them.

No, and Dana White has said so for nine years. In 2017 he said a 165 class "will only mean bigger guys will try to make 165." In 2019 he promised it would not happen "in the next seven years." In August 2026 he shut down a women's atomweight the same way: "If there was a need for it and we felt that it would work, then we would have done it already." He did say "why not?" to a women's BMF belt, which tells you where the UFC's priorities sit. New belts, yes. New weight classes, no.