How many weight classes are there under the Unified Rules?

Fourteen, all defined in pounds. Strawweight was added in 2015, and super lightweight, super welterweight, super middleweight, and cruiserweight were added in July 2017.

What is the heaviest weight class in MMA?

Super heavyweight has no upper weight limit. Heavyweight, the class below it, is capped at 265 lb (120.2 kg).

Which women's weight classes have UFC titles?

The UFC recognizes women's championships at strawweight (115 lb), flyweight (125 lb), and bantamweight (135 lb). Some other organizations also sanction an atomweight title at 105 lb (48 kg).

Do all MMA promotions use the same weight limits?

Most do. Outside the United States, promotions set their own limits, usually in line with the Unified Rules, though Singapore's ONE Championship matches fighters by walking weight instead of using pre-fight weigh-ins.

UFC Weight Classes: Every Division Limit Explained

Q: When did the UFC first use weight classes?

At UFC 12, which introduced heavyweight for competitors above 200 lb (91 kg) and lightweight for those under 200 lb.

What Are the UFC Weight Classes?

Weight limits in the UFC come from the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, which designate upper limits for fourteen weight classes, running from strawweight at 115 lb up to super heavyweight, which carries no limit at all. The UFC awards women's championships in three of those divisions: strawweight, flyweight, and bantamweight. Every definition and measurement in the rules is given in pounds.

The rules were drawn up in 2000 by the New Jersey State Athletic Commission and have since been folded into the regulations of every US state commission that oversees the sport. A promotion that wants to hold an event at a venue sanctioned by a state must abide by that commission's rules for weight limits.

The lineup of classes has expanded over the years. The UFC's first divisions, introduced at UFC 12, were just two: heavyweight, for competitors above 200 lb (91 kg), and lightweight, for those under 200 lb.

Every Weight Class Limit From Strawweight to Heavyweight

The lightest four classes cover the smaller fighters. Strawweight is capped at 115 lb (52.2 kg), flyweight at 125 lb (56.7 kg), bantamweight at 135 lb (61.2 kg), and featherweight at 145 lb (65.8 kg).

The middle bands run from lightweight at 155 lb (70.3 kg) up through super lightweight at 165 lb (74.8 kg), welterweight at 170 lb (77.1 kg), super welterweight at 175 lb (79.4 kg), and middleweight at 185 lb (83.9 kg).

The heavier classes are super middleweight at 195 lb (88.5 kg), light heavyweight at 205 lb (93.0 kg), cruiserweight at 225 lb (102.1 kg), and heavyweight at 265 lb (120.2 kg). Above heavyweight sits super heavyweight, the one class with no upper limit.

Women's UFC Weight Classes

Women's MMA uses mostly the same Unified Rules limits as the rest of the sport. Organizations that recognize women's championships tend to offer titles only at the lighter end of the table, and the UFC follows that pattern with women's championships at strawweight, flyweight, and bantamweight.

In pounds, those three divisions are limited to 115 lb (52.2 kg) at strawweight, 125 lb (56.7 kg) at flyweight, and 135 lb (61.2 kg) at bantamweight.

Outside the UFC, some organizations that crown women's champions also sanction a separate atomweight title with a 105 lb (48 kg) limit.

How Weight Limits Are Enforced

Weight classes were not always required. Before state sanctioning, competitions took place without athletic commission approval, and promotions could set their own weight classes. That independence ended once athletic commissions began supervising mixed martial arts.

The Unified Rules were codified in 2000 by the New Jersey State Athletic Commission. The California State Athletic Commission also worked extensively on regulation, but its sanctioning of MMA stalled because of state governmental issues, and California officially sanctioned the sport on December 28, 2005, using the ruleset it had helped devise five years earlier.

The result is uniformity across the country. Every US state commission that regulates mixed martial arts has written the Unified Rules into its existing rules and statutes for unarmed combat competition, so weight limits at sanctioned events trace back to a single ruleset.

Weigh-Ins and Weight Cutting Around the World

In other countries, no state or government laws restrict weight classes, so organizations there can book fights without paying much attention to differences in weight between competitors. As the sport has grown more competitive and international, most promotions have set limits in line with the Unified Rules anyway, since standard classes are viewed as fair for everyone.

Singapore-based ONE Championship handles making weight differently from the rest of the sport. It prohibited cutting weight through dehydration in December 2015 and matches fighters by their walking weight instead of holding pre-fight weigh-ins.

The shift came after 21-year-old Yang Jian Bing died in 2015 from dehydration caused by a weight cut. The walking-weight approach has drawn a positive response from athletes and others in the MMA industry.

How the Weight Class Lineup Grew

The earliest UFC events had no required divisions, and the promotion's first split came at UFC 12, with heavyweight for fighters above 200 lb (91 kg) and lightweight for fighters below that mark. Weight classes went through many changes in the years that followed, until athletic commission oversight standardized the sport.

Under the Unified Rules, the strawweight class was added in 2015. Super lightweight, super welterweight, super middleweight, and cruiserweight were added in July 2017, and the Unified Rules designate limits for fourteen weight classes in all.