What is your ranking of the UFC titles based on prestige?

[TheBrownRanger]

Not all of the UFC's titles are equal. Some have more history and lineage behind them than others. Which is the most and least prestigious in your opinion?

1. Heavyweight - Great rivalries were had over this title like JDS/Cain and Lesnar/Mir. This lineage is also unified with the original world title, the PRIDE Heavyweight championship, which includes Fedor's reign. All original vacated lineages of this title (Barnett's positive drug test, Mir's motorcycle accident) have since been unified so those vacancies don't sully it. This is mainly number 1 because of the history behind it.

2. Lightweight - Dates to 2002 since all original vacant lineages are unified. Also unified with PRIDE, WEC, Strikeforce, and Bellator Lightweight titles. This means wars such as Edgar/Maynard, Alvarez/Chandler, and Melendez/Thomson are all behind this lineage. I put it at #2 because it lacks the reign that Fedor had.

3. Middleweight - Has the Anderson Silva title defense streak behind it, 'nuff said. Only reason I put it at #3 is due to it not being unified with the original UFC Middleweight title (Rafael Carvalho is the lineal UFC Middleweight champion).

4. Women's Bantamweight - Has Ronda Rousey's reign in this lineage, who was considered the WMMA GOAT for a couple of years. Easily the most prestigous of the WMMA belts

5. Bantamweight - Dates back to the WEC days, Dominick Cruz' reign, and Barao's short wave of destruction. Also has the Cruz/Faber rivalry.

6. Men's Flyweight - This title has DJ's winning streak behind it. However, I ranked it low because of the lack of history and general fan interest behind this title.

7. Women's Strawweight - Same reasons as above, except there's more fan interest and less history.

8. Welterweight - Put it low because GSP vacated the title back in 2013. The vacancy kinda ruins it. Not much history other than Lawler/Rory.

9 Featherweight - Vacated by Conor in 2016, I can't rank this one super high either

10. Light-Heavyweight - Jon Jones happened. Got stripped of the title in 2014 and later won it back this year only to be stripped again. Due to DC losing twice to Jones, some fans are unable to take DC's current title seriously. A "no-contest" doesn't bring any prestige back to the title either. Jones basically ruined this belt's lineage.

11. Women's Featherweight - New title and already vacated once. There it is.

 

[Arm Barbarian]

I would say LW, WW, and MW have been the best divisions in terms of overall level / depth of talent.

HW has always been pretty sparse in terms of the talent pool.

 

[Luvhawky]

LHW, I truly believe to be the baddest man on the planet currently and for most of mma's history.

WW/LW - perfect mix of power, technique and speed.

MW - midpoint of the the top two

HW - the power they carry is scary

BW - more speed than power but still carry enough power and top level technical displays.

Don't care to rank any further.

 

[elwani]

$. Moneyweight -- This title was introduced after WME purchased UFC and is the only title that means anything today.

 

[VitorBelfoTRT]

1. Welter strap because the GSP reign was great regardless of the vacant thing and when you look at how deep the division use to be to even how deep it is now the belt means alot and has rich history attached to it.
2. Light strap because it has always been a very deep,skillful division and is a shark tank. The belt means alot and like the welter belt has rich history attached to it.
3. Middle strap because,well, there's a buncha literally human weapons in this division. The silva reign was great, the short-lived weidman and rockhold reign was pretty sucky but still the belt means alot. All of the middle weight champs were on top of the world when they had the belt. Very meaningful title.
4. Men's bantam strap because of all the great rivalries such as cruz and faber (both those guys would've died for that title LOL)
5. Women's bantam strap because of the whole ronda thing mostly, she was on top of the world and since then it was passed around like a crack whore for awhile but the current champ seems like she'll be reigning for awhile. Lot's of talented women here. Rich history.

 

[F0od]

155, 170, 145, 135, 185 currently.. 185 would have been higher in the past, shit is becoming a joke.

 

[Franc Mittelo]

Light Weight. The division has never been dominated.

 

[Pitier of Fools]

Women's Bantamweight number 4? Really?

Men's Flyweight #6? Are you joking or on crack?

 

[YOLOGOGOPLATA]

$. Moneyweight -- This title was introduced after WME purchased UFC and is the only title that means anything today.

I hate how true this is, and it's too bad because the man who loves that "weight class" is also holding up an extremely talented and intriguing division. Hopefully for not too much longer though.

 

[chaos_36]

Heavyweight will always be the most prestigious title in any combat sport, it means you're the baddest mofo on the planet. I like Lightweight though because it has the most depth and Light heavyweight was the division that got me into the sport, namely Wanderlei Silva in his heyday.

 

[Prince Nephilim]

LHW was always the most prestigious
belt and the deepest division

Held by Tito, Frank, Chuck, Randy, Vitor...the old legends and biggest names of the sport when the sport was growing

Then it was WW and followed by MW.

LW had no weight until BJ took the belt from Sherk

 

[frye666]

Well, I would rank it down from weight. The heavyweights can do MUCH more damage.

To put it into perspective, to the average joe, would you fear a normal 130 lb guy or a normal 260 lb guy? The one exception to this rule is that a guy that walks around at 230 or 240 CAN be a dominant heavyweight but still make light heavyweight. Rank the two highest weights as even, and drop down form then after each weight class lowers.

 

[Vegeta]

Easy.
1:HW
2:LHW
3:MW
4:WW
5:LW
6:FW
7:BW
8:FW

 

[Plutoburn]

Not all of the UFC's titles are equal. Some have more history and lineage behind them than others. Which is the most and least prestigious in your opinion?
8. Welterweight - Put it low because GSP vacated the title back in 2013. The vacancy kinda ruins it. Not much history other than Lawler/Rory.

Hughes-Trigg
GSP-Hughes
GSP-Penn

These were all good rivalries, saying Lawler/Roy make you sound like a mma newbie.

 

[leatherneck]

EXACTLY THIS:

Easy.
1:HW
2:LHW
3:MW
4:WW
5:LW
6:FW
7:BW
8:FW

PROTIP:
(women's titles aren't prestigious)

 

[DatSamboKid]

It really depends on the state of the divisions, but LW always seemed the hardest to keep so my answer is that one. The other obvious answer would be HW.

 

[TheBrownRanger]

Hughes-Trigg
GSP-Hughes
GSP-Penn

These were all good rivalries, saying Lawler/Roy make you sound like a mma newbie.

1. Welter strap because the GSP reign was great regardless of the vacant thing and when you look at how deep the division use to be to even how deep it is now the belt means alot and has rich history attached to it.

I'm aware of GSP's rivalries.

GSP vacating the title simply means that it is it's own lineage. The current WW lineage and the GSP lineage are not the same due to GSP never actually losing the title, which is why I only mentioned Lawler/Rory. If GSP's lineage was the same as Woodley's, WW would easily be #1 or #2. Calling GSP's rivalries with Diaz, Hughes, and Penn nothing would be a travesty.

In lineal terms, the term "vacant" is basically a big reset button on a title's lineage.

 

[Cheapshart]

LW
HW
WSW
FW
WW
MW
BW
LHW
WBW
FLW
WFW

And that's a FACT in my humble opinion

 

[Fluffernutter]

Interim title. Any weight

 

[Paradigm]

I wouldn't rank WW so low. And most people here are missing the point of your thread.