Youngest MMA Champions of all time

binny

I'll beat your ass if you jump on my couch.
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All of them came from the WEC. I looked up lists of all the MMA champs from the big 4 orgs and checked how old each champ was when they were crowned.

1. Nick Diaz born Aug 2, 1983. Won WEC WW title March 27, 2003. 19 years 5ish months old.

2. Cole Escovedo born Aug 30, 1981. Won WEC FW title Oct 18, 2002. 21 years 2ish months old.

3. Steve Cantwell born Aug 12, 1986. Won WEC LHW title Aug 3, 2008. 21 years old, 11 days away from 22.

4. Chase Beebe born Mar 29, 1985. Won WEC BW title Mar 24, 2007. 21 years old, a week away from 22.

5. Gilbert Melendez born April 12, 1982. Won WEC LW title May 21, 2004. 22 years 1ish month old.

Steve Cantwell is the youngest one overall today. He's still only 32. TKOing Prime Brian Stann at 21 is pretty impressive. After winning his 1st UFC fight, he was a 7-1 22 year old champ from another org who had avenged his only loss and finished all of his fights. It's too bad he lost 5 in a row and hasn't fought since he was released in 2012. He was never looking like a future GOAT but I hoped for more from him in the UFC than going 1-5.
 
Erick Silva


Give me my like
 
Josh Barnett
I haven't done the math, but 90ish% of fighters to win titles before 25 had 1 or no defenses, for 1 reason or another. Child celebrities always end up fucked up.
 
All of them came from the WEC. I looked up lists of all the MMA champs from the big 4 orgs and checked how old each champ was when they were crowned.

1. Nick Diaz born Aug 2, 1983. Won WEC WW title March 27, 2003. 19 years 5ish months old.

2. Cole Escovedo born Aug 30, 1981. Won WEC FW title Oct 18, 2002. 21 years 2ish months old.

3. Steve Cantwell born Aug 12, 1986. Won WEC LHW title Aug 3, 2008. 21 years old, 11 days away from 22.

4. Chase Beebe born Mar 29, 1985. Won WEC BW title Mar 24, 2007. 21 years old, a week away from 22.

5. Gilbert Melendez born April 12, 1982. Won WEC LW title May 21, 2004. 22 years 1ish month old.

Steve Cantwell is the youngest one overall today. He's still only 32. TKOing Prime Brian Stann at 21 is pretty impressive. After winning his 1st UFC fight, he was a 7-1 22 year old champ from another org who had avenged his only loss and finished all of his fights. It's too bad he lost 5 in a row and hasn't fought since he was released in 2012. He was never looking like a future GOAT but I hoped for more from him in the UFC than going 1-5.

Wasn't Vitor the youngest Something for Somebody at one point? Agree about Cantwell. Curious what happened with that guy and why he went off the rails. He was Very good, albeit briefly.
 
Wasn't Vitor the youngest Something for Somebody at one point? Agree about Cantwell. Curious what happened with that guy and why he went off the rails. He was Very good, albeit briefly.
Didn't include tournament champs.
 
I feel like including WEC weight classes over 155 LBs, in the discussion, is kind of cheating.
 
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