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Middleweight Fighters
MMA's standard middleweight division runs from 171 to 185 pounds (77.56-83.91 kilograms, or 12.21-13.21 stone). It is significantly heavier than the traditional "middleweight" division in professional boxing, which has operated with a 160 lb. weight limit since at least 1884. Professional boxing, in fact, has no immediate analogue to MMA's middleweight class, but rather jumps from its 175 pound("light heavyweight") class directly to its 200 pound ("cruiserweight") class.
The premier middleweight division in the world belongs to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which boasts past champions including Rich Franklin and Anderson "The Spider" Silva. But notable world class middleweights exist outside the UFC, in Strikeforce, Bellator, Sengoku and elsewhere. The WEC's former middleweight division is now defunct, and was rolled into the UFC by the parent company of both promotions, Zuffa, LLC.
Pride Fighting Championships maintained a 205 pound class which it referred to as its "middleweight" division, but its "welterweight" (183 lb.) division is a closer analogue to modern day MMA's middleweight class. Its last and final champion was Dan Henderson, who seized the crown at Pride Shockwave 2005 by defeating Murilo Bustamante by split decision. Henderson later met Anderson Silva at UFC 82 on March 1, 2008 in a championship unification bout of sorts, though the Pride title was no longer in existence and Henderson was no longer a formally recognized champion. Silva choked out Henderson in the second round to retain his UFC title, and put to rest any doubt over who was the best in the world.
Silva, with a title reign of more than four years and, at the time of this writing, seven consecutive title defenses, is easily the most successful and the most decorated champion in middleweight MMA history (long reigning Pride "middleweight" champion Wanderlei Silva is, again, better considered a light heavyweight during that time). Franklin, at the time thought of as a dominant champion, defended his crown only twice by comparison, to Nate Quarry and David Loiseau. His pair of devastating losses to "The Spider" caused him to permanently vacate the division in favor of light heavyweight and catchweight bouts. The UFC's three other middleweight champions, Dave Menne, Murilo Bustamante and Evan Tanner, had only one successful title defense among them.
