Let's go ahead and tick off any "champions" who never defended once.

Seriously, they should be stricken from the list

Mark Coleman
Bas Rutten
Josh Barnett
Ricco Rodriguez
Frank Mir
Fabrício Werdum
Vitor Belfort
Forrest Griffin
Rashad Evans
Maurício Rua
Dave Menne
Evan Tanner
Luke Rockhold
Carlos Newton
Matt Serra
Johny Hendricks
Conor McGregor
Holly Holm
Miesha Tate
Carla Esparza

Too many!!

you shouldn't ever be considered a champ unless you've defended the belt ONCE AT LEAST

 

first

 

no.

 

Their names are taking up space on the list and you know it.

 

Well, to be fair, McGregor hasn't actually had a title fight since he won the belt.

 

Is that so? Says who?

You get the belt, you're the champion.

 

He's on the list until he stops playing welterweight with a fucking featherweight belt.

 

technically werdum defended

 

Can you really declare Rockhold as a champ without snickering?

 

hmmm???

 

Shogun defended in my books.

Won the first fight against Machida and then knock him out in the rematch.

 

I feel the same way

But still :/

 

Let's not

 

this is so stupid, you beat the champion, then you are the champion, it's literally so simple that a 2 year old could grasp it, but not some Sherdogger

 

Decent list. Imo, you aren't champ if you haven't at least defended twice.

 

he won the interim belt then beat cain

 

Now that makes for a much more manageable list that looks like this:

Randy Couture
Tim Sylvia
Brock Lesnar
Cain Velasquez
Frank Shamrock
Tito Ortiz
Chuck Liddell
Jon Jones
Rich Franklin
Anderson Silva
Chris Weidman
Pat Miletich
Matt Hughes
Georges St-Pierre
Robbie Lawler
Jens Pulver
B.J. Penn
Frankie Edgar
Benson Henderson
José Aldo
Dominick Cruz
Renan Barão
T.J. Dillashaw
Demetrious Johnson
Ronda Rousey
Joanna Jędrzejczyk

 

INTERIM BELTS DON'T FUCKIN COUNT!!!!

 

Yes. He beat Weidman, he was the champion.