Thought I would look into which belt is the most actively defended in the last 3 years. Times title defended since June 2011 (Includes Interim Title's) HW: 5 times, average 1.67 times per year LHW: 7 times, average 2.33 times per year MW: 4 times, average 1.33 times per year WW: 5 times, average 1.67 times per year LW: 6 times, average 2.00 times per year FW: 5 times, average 1.67 times per year BW: 7 times, average 2.33 times per year FLW: 4 times, average 2.00 times per year (Since creation) Womens: 4 times, average 2.67 times per year (Since creation) Make of this what you will. Rousey has been the most active champion, with Barao and Jones behind. The least active champion has been Silva, with GSP and Aldo behind him.
Silva was definitely very inactive in his last couple years. No doubt the age thing. He used to fight 3 times a year in his earlier UFC days.
The women's BW title has been defended 6 times since June 2011, going back to when it was in SF, fwiw. Since two of the three women involved in those two matches are in the UFC and have since fought for the UFC belt in a rematch, it makes sense to include that, imo.
That LW average is on the down slide with Pettis as champion. nothing against him but his body is having a hard time staying healthy.
I mean, he fought as much as GSP did before (and after) his surgery. Neither of them really felt the need to push themselves super hard, prob, because they were already the best for so long and had that...
I don't think so, but she did have two fairly long layoffs between defenses. Between Kaufman (her last SF fight) and Liz (her first UFC fight) there was a 6-month gap (August 2012 to February 2013). Then between Liz and the Tate rematch there was a 10-month gap (February 2013 to December 2013). She made up for that by taking the McMann fight only two months after Tate2 and then the Davis fight (assuming it goes forward as planned) a little more than 4 months after that.
Since returning from ACL surgery, GSP won as many UFC title fights as the following fighters won throughout their entire careers: Rhonda Rousey, Brock Lesnar, Rich Franklin, Andrei Arlovski, Frankie Edgar, Jens Pulver and all the champs that only won only 1 or 2 title fights. *Source Since returning from ACL surgery, GSP defended his UFC title as many times as the following fighters defended throughout their entire careers: Baby Jay, Renan Barao, Ben Henderson, Frank Edgar, Demetrious Johnson, Cain Velasquez, Dominic Cruz, Brock Lesnar, Tim Sylvia, Rich Franklin, Andre Arlovski, Jens Pulver, Randy Couture and all the champs that defended only once. *Source
Why stop there? He also won more UFC title fights since coming back from his ACL injury than Roy Nelson, Houston Alexander, Cro Cop and Josh Koscheck COMBINED. He won three more UFC title fights since his injury than Fedor has ever been in!
Unfortunately, despite more divisions than ever, we aren't getting as many title fights. Partly, this is due to so many cards. However, a lot of champs aren't fighting. GSP liked to fight twice a year, and when he was out with his first ACL tear, Condit didn't defend the interim belt once. He used it to cement his "top contender" status. Hendricks hasn't fought since beating Lawler. Cain, Aldo, and Pettis seem to be injured more than they're healthy. MW has been a mess with determining who can fight and when. Between Vitor's TRT, Weidman's injury, and Machida popping into the mix, that belt has been stagnant for a while. Jones and Rousey are more active, and I have no reason to doubt Dillshaw. DJ was more active, but I'm not sure what's going on in FLW now.
