Every Champion On UFC 300

The rise of Cody Garbrandt was something to behold. “No Love” took the sport by storm with his exciting style, knockout power, and his relatable personality. Garbrandt went on a five-fight run that culminated in a dominant win over Dominick Cruz to capture the bantamweight title.

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Back-to-back title defeats to rival TJ Dillashaw started a tough go at it for Garbrandt, who tested the waters at flyweight in 2021. After his lone flyweight fight, Garbrandt went back to his home at 135 pounds and has since notched wins over Trevin Jones and Brian Kelleher. Those victories put Garbrandt in position to call for a big fight and he asked to throw hands with Deiveson Figueiredo as the former flyweight king continues his journey in a new weight class.

Deiveson Figueiredo

Deiveson Figueiredo made his UFC debut at UFC 212 and his exciting style helped him quickly make his way up the flyweight rankings. He earned a title shot versus Joseph Benavidez in early 2020, but he missed weight for the bout, making him ineligible to win the belt. Figueiredo won that bout by TKO, setting up a second fight with Benavidez. This time, Figueiredo made good on the opportunity and submitted Benavidez in the first round to become the undisputed UFC flyweight champion.

Figueiredo defended his title against Alex Perez, then faced Brandon Moreno at UFC 256. Figueiredo and Moreno’s first fight was a majority draw, with Figueiredo retaining the title. It was an absolute classic and began a massive four-fight championship rivalry with Moreno. With the series 1-2-1 in favor of Moreno, and the weight always tough to make, Figueiredo decided to move up to bantamweight to battle perennial contender Rob Font. Figueiredo defeated Font and proved that he can hang with the best at bantamweight.

Figueiredo has a chance to beat one of the biggest names in the bantamweight division at UFC 300 and shoot his name into the title conversation.

Jéssica Andrade

One glance at the list of opponents that Jéssica Andrade has faced during her nearly 11-year UFC career and it’s evident that Andrade has been a force to be reckoned with. Andrade started as a bantamweight before moving to strawweight and ascending the rankings.

She came up short in her initial title run at the hands of Joanna Jędrzejczyk before putting together a four-fight win streak that ended with Andrade as the strawweight champion. Andrade earned that belt by knocking out Rose Namajunas with a wild slam that sent the Brazilian crowd into a frenzy.

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After defeats to Zhang Weili and Namajunas, Andrade moved up to flyweight and contended for the 125-pound title. Since then, Andrade has bounced back and forth between flyweight and strawweight, fighting a balanced diet of rising contenders and veterans.

Most recently, Andrade defeated Mackenzie Dern by knockout, setting up a strawweight bout with Marina Rodriguez.

Holly Holm

Coming into the UFC as a world class boxer, Holly Holm was instantly one of the most prominent female fighters on the roster. At UFC 193, Holm knocked out Ronda Rousey to become the UFC women’s bantamweight champion. It was one of the biggest upsets in UFC history and made Holm a star.

After beating Rousey, Holm lost to Miesha Tate in her first title defense. She has since competed for the bantamweight championship, and twice for the women’s featherweight championship. Holm holds a victory over current bantamweight champion Raquel Pennington, and she looks to use her UFC 300 bout with newcomer Kayla Harrison as a launching pad to get back into title contention.

Aljamain Sterling

With 10+ years on the UFC roster, Aljamain Sterling has racked up an array of accolades in the bantamweight division. He made his debut in February of 2014 and worked his way up the rankings for a few years before ripping off a nine-fight win streak. In the middle of that win streak he became the UFC bantamweight champion by defeating Petr Yan. The “Funk Master” went on to defend his title three times, beating Yan again, TJ Dillashaw, and Henry Cejudo.

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Those victories helped cement Sterling’s legacy as one of the best bantamweights to ever step foot in the Octagon. At UFC 292 Sterling was defeated by Sean O’Malley, and after years of flirting with moving up to featherweight, he decided that it was the right time to make it happen. At UFC 300, we will see Sterling’s UFC featherweight debut when he takes on stalwart contender Calvin Kattar.

Jiří Procházka

There’s no one quite like Jiří Procházka. From his look to the fighting style and  the personality, Procházka was an instant hit among fight fans. Procházka needed just two fights, knockout wins over former title challengers Volkan Oezdemir and Dominick Reyes, to earn a shot at the light heavyweight title.

At UFC 275 in Singapore, Procházka fought Glover Teixeira in one of the best fights of 2022. It was a true battle that Procházka was made for. At the end of the fifth round, he was able to submit Teixeira and secure the UFC light heavyweight title.

Unfortunately, an injury forced Procházka to relinquish his title just a few months later. That paved the way for other contenders to have their shot at the title without his injury holding up the division. He returned at UFC 295, where he fought Alex Pereira for the vacant belt. Procházka was defeated in the second round and vowed to turn around quickly, prompting an important fight versus Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 300.

Charles Oliveira

It’s been a true fairytale to watch Charles “Do Bronx” Oliveira’s UFC career.

Oliveira started off in the UFC all the way back on August 1, 2010, and he’s bounced between featherweight and lightweight throughout his time in the Octagon, having great success in both weight classes. Oliveira had difficulties making 145 pounds, so when he finally moved up to lightweight full-time in 2017, his entire career turned around.

Oliveira went on an 11-fight winning streak, finishing every one of his opponents. Oliveira won the lightweight title at UFC 262 when he beat Michael Chandler by knockout. Oliveira has 13 Performance of the Night bonuses, three Fight of the Night bonuses, the most finishes in UFC history (20) and the most submission wins in UFC history (16).

At UFC 280, he was defeated by Islam Makhachev, failing to recapture the lightweight belt. Oliveira’s next bout came against Beneil Dariush, where the Chute Boxe representative won by knockout. Oliveira was scheduled for a rematch with Makhachev, but an injury forced him out of the bout. Rather than wait for his next opportunity at Makhachev, Oliveira opted to face the top rising contender in Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300.

Max Holloway

A 20-year-old Max Holloway made his UFC debut against Dustin Poirier at UFC 143. Since then, “Blessed” has been a mainstay at the top of the fight game.

Holloway started off his career 3-3, dropping that debut against Poirier, as well as a fight against Conor McGregor. After the fight with McGregor, he went on a crazy 12-fight streak all the way to the top, beating the who’s who at 145 pounds. Holloway won the undisputed UFC featherweight title at UFC 212 when he knocked out the great Jose Aldo and he defended his belt three times.

Three championship losses to Alexander Volkanovski prevented Holloway from keeping featherweight gold, but that hasn’t slowed him down in the slightest. Other than his fights with Volkanovski, he’s defeated every featherweight to step into the Octagon with him since losing the title.

RELATED: Max Holloway Just Wants To Build His Legacy

Holloway’s name is written all over the UFC record book, including the most wins in featherweight history (20), the most knockouts in featherweight history (9), the most finishes in featherweight history (11) and the most significant strikes landed in UFC history (3,197).

At UFC 300, Holloway will move up to lightweight to fight Justin Gaethje for the BMF belt and to insert himself into the lightweight title conversation.

Justin Gaethje

From the moment that Justin Gaethje stepped into the Octagon, it was pure violence and chaos.

Gaethje came into the UFC a shiny 18-0, and he immediately made an impact on the lightweight division. He beat Michael Johnson in one of the craziest fights you’ll ever see and then went on to fight big name after big name. In 2020, Gaethje faced Tony Ferguson for the interim UFC lightweight title, where he delivered a career-best performance. He fought Khabib Nurmagomedov later that year, coming up short in his efforts to unify the lightweight title. Gaethje’s second attempt at the lightweight belt came in 2022, when he was defeated by Charles Oliveira.

“The Highlight” has won back-to-back fights against Rafael Fizeiv and Dustin Poirier, the second of which was for the vacant BMF title. Gaethje won that bout via head kick and put himself right back in the running for a shot at current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.

RELATED: Justin Gaethje Loves The Unknowns Of Fighting

Gaethje has won Fight of the Night honors seven times, which is tied for the most in UFC history, and he has five Performance of the Night bonuses.

With Makhachev on hiatus due to Ramadan, Gaethje accepted the offer to fight Max Holloway in a BMF title fight at UFC 300 while he waits. Beating Holloway would make Gaethje the first fighter to defend the BMF belt and would solidify his name on the short list of fighters deserving to face Makhachev.

Zhang Weili

The UFC’s first champion from China has become quite the superstar.

Zhang Weili took the MMA world by storm since her debut at UFC 227 in 2018, becoming the UFC strawweight champion with her knockout of Jéssica Andradae in Shenzhen, China. It was the dream scenario for “Magnum,” who followed up that stunning performance with one of the greatest fights in UFC history. An all-out battle with former strawweight champion and 2024 UFC Hall of Fame inductee Joanna Jędrzejczyk resulted in a razor-close split decision nod in favor of Zhang.

Two championship losses to Rose Namajunas set up a rematch with Jędrzejczyk, which Zhang won with a highlight reel spinning backfist KO. Zhang then defeated Carla Esparza to recapture the UFC strawweight title. She defended that belt against Amanda Lemos at UFC 292 last year with a dominant performance that saw Zhang land the most total strikes in a women’s strawweight bout.

At UFC 300 Zhang will look to defend her title against Yan Xiaonan, in the first all-Chinese title fight.

Jamahal Hill

Light heavyweight Jamahal Hill shined bright on season three of Dana White’s Contender Series, securing a contract and starting his UFC journey.

“Sweet Dreams” has looked incredible in the Octagon, with his only hiccup coming against submission specialist Paul Craig. The Michigan native put together an impressive knockout streak over Jimmy Crute, Johnny Walker, and Thiago Santos en route to accepting a light heavyweight title fight versus Glover Teixeira in Brazil.

WATCH: Jamahal Hill Talks UFC 300 Main Event

The fight came together after a wild series of events that saw Jiří Procházka relinquish the title due to injury, then Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev fight to a draw for the vacant belt. Hill accepted the fight and delivered his best performance to date against Teixeira. He won the fight by unanimous decision, nearly finishing Teixeira multiple times throughout the fight. The win made Hill the first fighter from Dana White’s Contender Series to become a UFC champion.

Unfortunately, Hill suffered an achilles injury in 2023, and he decided the best course of action was to follow in the footsteps of Procházka so that the division wasn’t stuck waiting for him to recover. When UFC was looking for a bout to headline UFC 300, they called Hill and set up a chance for him to reclaim his title versus Alex Pereira.

Alex Pereira

Everyone knew it was going to be a big deal when Alex Pereira transitioned from kickboxing to MMA. He quickly made his way to UFC, and his immense talent, combined with the storylines between him, and longtime champion Israel Adesanya, helped propel Pereira into big fights.

“Poatan” knocked out Sean Strickland to earn his chance to fight Adesanya for the middleweight title in Madison Square Garden. He knocked Adesanya out, becoming the UFC middleweight champion after just four fights in the Octagon. He was later defeated by Adesanya, losing the middleweight title. The loss prompted Pereira to move up to the light heavyweight division, where he wasted no time jumping into the top tier at 205 pounds.

RELATED: Alex Pereira's Legacy Is Being Built

Pereira won a close split decision over Jan Blachowicz, which helped him secure a shot at the vacant light heavyweight title against Jiří Procházka at UFC 295. Pereira knocked Procházka out in the second round, making it the second time he’d won a UFC title at Madison Square Garden.

The win was historic, making Pereira the only fighter in UFC history to win both the middleweight and light heavyweight title. It was also the shortest time and fewest bouts it’s ever taken a UFC athlete to win championships in two divisions. Pereira looks to make his first title defense in the main event UFC 300, where he’ll fight Jamahal Hill in a bout featuring the two most recent light heavyweight champions.