The UFC Middleweight title: A visual history

Khamzat Chimaev may be a massive favorite in his first title defense, but he’ll be facing a man who is no stranger to long odds. In the main event of UFC 328 this weekend in Newark, New Jersey, the Chechen mauler will attempt to defend the belt he won in dominant fashion from Dricus Du Plessis last summer. The challenger, former champ Sean Strickland , will enter the cage as a prohibitive underdog, but it was less than three years ago that he flouted similar odds when in dethroning Israel Adesanya —and frankly made it look easy.

“Borz,” of course, represents a completely different set of problems from “The Last Stylebender,” but he would be well served not to underestimate the brash American. If Chimaev can get past Strickland, there probably is not another middleweight on roster who would be closer than a 4-to-1 underdog against him. As such, the main obstacles between the new champ and the kind of milestones set by Anderson Silva (seven title defenses) and Adesanya (five) might be his own multi-divisional aspirations, his knack for ill-timed injuries and of course the basic unpredictability of MMA in general and the 185-pound division in particular.

Here is the nearly 25-year history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight title and the times it was won, lost or defended. Interim title fights are omitted with the exception of Robert Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero at UFC 213, since the winner of that fight was promoted to undisputed champion without a unification bout.

Ben Duffy/Sherdog. com illustration