List of UFC champions
Welterweight Championship
156 to 170 lb (70 to 77 kg) The Welterweight Title was known as the Lightweight Title prior to UFC 31 (May 4, 2001).

List of UFC champions

Section Title: Welterweight Championship
Table Section Text: 156 to 170 lb (70 to 77 kg) The Welterweight Title was known as the Lightweight Title prior to UFC 31 (May 4, 2001).

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (Total)	Defenses

1	United States Pat Miletich def. Mikey Burnett	UFC Brazil São Paulo, Brazil	Oct 16, 1998	931 days	1. def.

2	Canada Carlos Newton	UFC 31 Atlantic City, NJ, US	May 4, 2001	183 days

3	United States Matt Hughes	UFC 34 Las Vegas, NV, US	Nov 2, 2001	820 days	1. def.

4	United States B.J. Penn	UFC 46 Las Vegas, NV, US	Jan 31, 2004	107 days

Penn was stripped of the title on May 17, 2004, when he left the UFC for K-1.

5	United States Matt Hughes (2) def. Georges St-Pierre	UFC 50 Atlantic City, NJ, US	Oct 22, 2004	757 days (1,577 days)	1. def.

6	Canada Georges St-Pierre	UFC 65 Sacramento, CA, US	Nov 18, 2006	140 days

7	United States Matt Serra	UFC 69 Houston, TX, US	Apr 7, 2007	378 days

Canada Georges St-Pierre def. Matt Hughes for interim title	UFC 79 Las Vegas, NV, US	Dec 29, 2007	—

8	Canada Georges St-Pierre (2)	UFC 83 Montreal, QC, Canada	Apr 19, 2008	2,064 days (2,204 days)	1. def.

United States Carlos Condit def. Nick Diaz for interim title	UFC 143 Las Vegas, NV, US	Feb 4, 2012	—

St-Pierre vacated the title on December 13, 2013, when he decided to take time off from the sport.

9	United States Johny Hendricks def. Robbie Lawler	UFC 171 Dallas, TX, US	Mar 15, 2014	266 days

10	United States Robbie Lawler	UFC 181 Las Vegas, NV, US	Dec 6, 2014	602 days	1. def.

11	United States Tyron Woodley	UFC 201 Atlanta, GA, US	Jul 30, 2016	945 days	1. drew with Stephen Thompson at UFC 205 on Nov 12, 2016 2.

United States Colby Covington def. Rafael dos Anjos for interim title	UFC 225 Chicago, IL, US	Jun 9, 2018	—

Covington was stripped of the interim title on September 8, 2018.

12	Nigeria Kamaru Usman	UFC 235 Las Vegas, NV, US	Mar 2, 2019	46 days (incumbent)

Sentence(s)

Penn was a champion in the UFC Lightweight Tournament.

final_sentence: Penn was a champion in the UFC Lightweight Tournament.