document_title: Beauty and the Beast (2017 film)

question_text: who played the beast on beauty and the beast

text: Beauty and the Beast (2017 film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: A beautiful enchantress disguised as an old beggar woman arrives at a castle during a ball and offers the host, a cruel and selfish prince, a rose in return for shelter from a storm. When he refuses, she reveals her identity. To punish the prince for his lack of compassion, the enchantress transforms him into a beast and his servants into household objects, then erases the castle, the prince and his servants from the memories of their loved ones. She casts a spell on the rose and warns the prince that the curse will only be broken if he learns to love another, and earn their love in return, before the last petal falls.

text: Some years later, in the small town of Villeneuve, Belle, the book-loving daughter of a music box maker and artist Maurice, dreams of adventure and brushes off advances from Gaston, an arrogant former soldier. On his way to a convention and lost in the forest, Maurice seeks refuge in the Beast's castle warming himself near the fire then being  scared away by chip after having some food, but the Beast imprisons him for stealing a rose from his garden as a gift to Belle. When Maurice's horse returns without him, Belle ventures out in search for him, and finds him locked in the castle dungeon. The Beast agrees to let her take Maurice's place.

text: Belle befriends the castle's servants, who invite her to a spectacular dinner. When she wanders into the forbidden west wing and finds the rose, the Beast scares her into the woods. She is ambushed by a pack of wolves, but the Beast rescues her, and is injured in the process. As Belle nurses his wounds, a friendship develops between them, also he shows her his library and gives it to her which makes her feel a different way towards the beast unlike before. The Beast shows Belle a gift from the enchantress, a book that transports readers wherever they want. Belle uses the book to visit her childhood home in Paris, where she discovers a plague doctor mask and realizes that she and her father were forced to leave when her mother succumbed to the plague.

text: In Villeneuve, Maurice tries to convince the other villagers of the Beast and Belle's imprisonment but no one believes him. Gaston, seeing rescuing Belle as an opportunity to win her hand in marriage, agrees to help Maurice. When Maurice learns of his ulterior motive and rejects him, Gaston abandons him to be eaten by the wolves. Maurice is rescued by the hermit Agathe, but when he tells the townsfolk of Gaston's crime and is unable to provide solid evidence, Gaston convinces them to send Maurice to an insane asylum.

text: After sharing a romantic dance with the Beast, Belle discovers her father's predicament using a magic mirror. The Beast releases her to save Maurice, giving her the mirror to remember him with. At Villeneuve, Belle reveals the Beast in the mirror to the townsfolk, proving her father's sanity. Realizing that Belle loves the Beast, a jealous Gaston claims she has been charmed by dark magic, and has her thrown into the asylum carriage with her father. He rallies the villagers to follow him to the castle to slay the Beast before he curses the whole village. Maurice and Belle escape, and Belle rushes back to the castle.

text: During the battle, Gaston abandons his companion LeFou, who then sides with the servants to fend off the villagers. Gaston attacks the Beast in his tower, who is too depressed to fight back, but regains his spirit upon seeing Belle return. He defeats Gaston, but spares his life before reuniting with Belle. Ungrateful and unrepentant, Gaston fatally shoots the Beast from a bridge, but it collapses when the castle crumbles, and he falls to his death. The Beast tells belle that he was happy to see her again then he dies as the last petal falls, and the servants become inanimate. As Belle tearfully professes her love to the Beast, Agathe reveals herself as the enchantress and undoes the curse, repairing the crumbling castle, and reviving the beast then turning him and his servants' human making the villagers' remember there loved ones. The Prince and Belle host a ball for the villagers, where they dance happily.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Emma Watson as Belle, a young benevolent bibliophile woman who develops feelings for the Beast and begins to see the humanity within him.
Daisy Duczmal portrays an infant Belle.
Dan Stevens as Beast, a cold-hearted, selfish, unkind prince who is transformed into a beast and forced to earn back his humanity by learning to truly love and be loved in return, as well as to give rather than take. Stevens portrays the character through motion-capture.[13][14]
Adam Mitchell[1] portrays the younger version of the prince.
Luke Evans as Gaston, a narcissistic and arrogant hunter and veteran of the French Royal Army who is willing to go as far as it takes to have Belle as his trophy wife.
Kevin Kline as Maurice, Belle's protective widowed father who works as a music box maker and an artist.[15]
Jolyon Coy portrays the young Maurice.
Josh Gad as LeFou, Gaston's flamboyant and long-suffering sidekick who bolsters his friend's ego but gets very little in return.[16]
Ewan McGregor as Lumière, the Beast's charismatic bouteiller who has been transformed into a candelabra.[17]
Stanley Tucci as Maestro Cadenza, the neurotic court composer and Madame de Garderobe's husband who has been transformed into a harpsichord.[18]
Audra McDonald as Madame de Garderobe, a world-renowned opera singer and Cadenza's wife who has been transformed into a wardrobe.[19]
Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette, one of the castle maids and Lumière's lover who has been transformed into a feather duster.[20]
Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, the Beast's gruff but loyal majordomo and the head of the household staff who has been transformed into a mantel clock.[21]
Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts, the castle's motherly head housekeeper who has been transformed into a teapot.[15]
Hattie Morahan as Agathe, an impoverished hermit and resident of Villeneuve who, in reality, is the enchantress responsible for cursing the Prince.[22] Morahan also narrates the prologue.
Rita Davies portrays the enchantress in her beggar woman form. The film was released posthumously after Davies' death.
Nathan Mack as Chip, Mrs. Potts' plucky son who has been transformed into a teacup.[23]
Adrian Schiller as Monsieur D'Arque, the sly warden of the local asylum who is bribed by Gaston to have Maurice institutionalized.[22]
Gerard Horan as Monsieur Jean Potts, an absent-minded potter and resident of Villeneuve who is later revealed to be Mrs. Potts' husband and Chip's father.
Haydn Gwynne as Clothilde, a fishmonger and resident of Villeneuve who is later revealed to be Cogsworth's wife.
Michael Jibson as the Tavern Keeper, the owner and keeper of Villeneuve's local tavern where Gaston and the village residents drink.
Ray Fearon as Père Robert, Villeneuve's local chaplain who encourages Belle to borrow the books in the chapel's meager library.
Sophie Reid, Rafaëlle Cohen, and Carla Nella as the Village Lasses, a trio of women who fawn over Gaston and have a jealousy for Belle.
Jimmy Johnston, Dean Street, and Alexis Loizon as Tom, Dick, and Stanley, a trio of men who serve as Gaston's henchmen.
Zoe Rainey as Belle's mother, Maurice's late wife who contracted the plague and died when Belle was an infant.
Clive Rowe as Cuisinier, the castle's head chef who has been transformed into a stove.
Gizmo as Frou-Frou, Maestro Cadenza's and Madame de Garderobe's pet Yorkshire Terrier who has been transformed into a footstool.
Thomas Padden as Chapeau, the prince's valet who has been transformed into a coat rack.
Tom Turner[2] as The King, the prince's father who, following his wife's death, raised his son to be just as selfish and arrogant as he was.
Harriet Jones as The Queen, the prince's mother who died of an illness when he was a child.
Dale Branston as Villeneuve's residential baker.
Chris Andrew Mellon as Nasty Headmaster, the unnamed headmaster of an all boys school in Villeneuve that disapproves of Belle teaching a young girl how to read.
Vivian Parry as the Village Lass' mother, an unnamed seamstress.

text: Cast notes[edit]

text: ^  In the initial theatrical release, Mitchell was miscredited as Rudi Gooman in the cast, but listed under his real name in the soundtrack credits

text: ^  In the initial theatrical release, Turner is miscredited as Henry Garrett in the cast.[24]

text: Stephen Merchant also appeared in the film as Monsieur Toilette, a servant who was turned into a toilet. This character was cut from the film, but is featured in the deleted scenes.[25]

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: Previously, Disney had begun work on a film adaptation of the 1994 Broadway musical.[26][27] However, in a 2011 interview, composer Alan Menken stated the planned film version of the Beauty and the Beast stage musical "was canned".[28]

text: By April 2014, Walt Disney Pictures had already begun developing a new live-action version of Beauty and the Beast after making other live-action fantasy films such as Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, Cinderella and The Jungle Book.[29] In June 2014, Bill Condon was signed to direct the film from a script by Evan Spiliotopoulos.[30] Later in September of that same year, Stephen Chbosky (who had previously directed Watson in The Perks of Being a Wallflower) was hired to re-write the script.[31]

text: Before Condon was hired to direct the film, Disney approached him with a proposal to remake the film in a more radical way as Universal Studios had remade Snow White and the Huntsman (2012). Condon later explained that "after Frozen opened, the studio saw that there was this big international audience for an old-school-musical approach. But initially, they said, 'We're interested in a musical to a degree, but only half full of songs.' My interest was taking that film and doing it in this new medium—live-action—as a full-on musical movie. So I backed out for a minute, and they came back and said, 'No, no, no, we get it, let's pursue it that way.'"[32] Walt Disney Pictures president of production Sean Bailey credited Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn with the decision to make the film as a musical: "We worked on this for five or six years, and for 18 months to two years, Beauty was a serious dramatic project, and the scripts were written to reflect that. It wasn't a musical at that time. But we just couldn't get it to click and it was Alan Horn who championed the idea of owning the Disney of it all. We realized there was a competitive advantage in the songs. What is wrong with making adults feel like kids again?"[33]

text: Casting[edit]

text: In January 2015, Emma Watson announced that she would be starring as Belle, the female lead.[34] She was the first choice of Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn, as he had previously overseen Warner Bros. which released the eight Harry Potter films that co-starred Watson as Hermione Granger.[33] Two months later, Luke Evans and Dan Stevens were revealed to be in talks to play Gaston and the Beast respectively,[35][36] and Watson confirmed their casting the following day through tweets.[13][37] The rest of the principal cast, including Josh Gad, Emma Thompson, Kevin Kline, Audra McDonald, Ian McKellen, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ewan McGregor and Stanley Tucci were announced between March and April to play LeFou, Mrs. Potts, Maurice, Madame de Garderobe, Cogsworth, Plumette, Lumière and Cadenza, respectively.[16][15][19][21][20][17][18][38]

text: Susan Egan, who originated the role of Belle on Broadway, commented on the casting of Watson as "perfect".[39] Paige O'Hara, who voiced Belle in the original animated film and its sequels, offered to help Watson with her singing lessons.[40]

text: According to The Hollywood Reporter, Emma Watson was reportedly paid $3 million upfront, together with an agreement that her final take-home pay could rise as high as $15 million if the film generated gross box office income similar to Maleficent's $759 million worldwide gross.[41]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Principal photography on the film began at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, United Kingdom, on May 18, 2015.[15][42][43] Filming with the principal actors concluded on August 21.[44][45] Six days later, co-producer Jack Morrissey confirmed that the film had officially wrapped production.[46]

text: The Beast was portrayed with a "more traditional motion capture puppeteering for the body and the physical orientation", where actor Dan Stevens was "in a forty-pound gray suit on stilts for much of the film". The facial capture for the Beast was done separately in order to "communicate the subtleties of the human face" and "[capture the] thought that occurs to him" which gets "through [to] the eyes, which are the last human element in the Beast." The castle servants who are transformed into household objects were created with CGI animation.[8]

text: Before the release of the film, Bill Condon refilmed one certain sequence in the "Days of the Sun" number, due to confusion among test audiences caused by actress Harriet Jones, who looked similar to Hattie Morahan, who portrayed Agathe. In the original version of the scene, it was Jones's character, the Prince's mother, who sings the first verse of the song, with Rudi Goodman playing the young Prince and Henry Garrett playing his father; but in the reshot version of the scene, the singing part is given to the Prince (now played by Adam Mitchell). The King was also recast to Tom Turner, although Harriet Jones was still the Queen, albeit with dark hair. Both Goodman and Garrett's names were mistakenly featured in the original theatrical release's credits, but was later corrected in home releases.[24]

text: Music[edit]

text: When released in 1991, Beauty and the Beast, marked a turning point for Walt Disney Pictures by appealing to millions of fans with its Oscar-winning musical score by lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken. In Bill Condon's opinion, that original score was the key reason he agreed to direct a live-action version of the movie. "That score had more to reveal", he says, "You look at the songs and there's not a clunker in the group. In fact, Frank Rich described it as the best Broadway musical of 1991. The animated version was already darker and more modern than the previous Disney fairytales. Take that vision, put it into a new medium, make it a radical reinvention, something not just for the stage because it's not just being literal, now other elements come into play. It's not just having real actors do it".[47]

text: Condon initially prepared on only drawing inspiration from the original film, but he also planned to include most of the songs composed by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice from the Broadway musical, with the intention of making the film as a "straight-forward, live-action, large-budget movie musical".[48] Menken returned to score the film's music, which features songs from the original film by him and Howard Ashman, plus new material written by Menken and Tim Rice.[49] Menken said the film would not include songs that were written for the Broadway musical and instead, created four new songs.[50] However, an instrumental version of the song "Home", which was written for the musical, is used during the scene where Belle first enters her room in the castle.[51]

text: On January 19, 2017, it was confirmed by both Disney and Céline Dion—singer of the original 1991 "Beauty and the Beast" duet song, with singer Peabo Bryson—that Dion would be performing one of the new original songs "How Does a Moment Last Forever" to play over the end titles.[52] She originally had doubts about whether or not to record the song due to the recent death of her husband and manager René Angélil, who had previously helped her secure the 1991 pop duet. While ultimately accepting the opportunity, she said: "[The] first Beauty and the Beast decision was made with my husband. Now I'm making decisions on my own. It's a little bit harder. I couldn't say yes right away, because I felt like I was kind of cheating in a way". She eventually felt compelled to record the song because of the impact Beauty and the Beast has had on her career. According to Dion, "I was at the beginning of my career, it put me on the map, it put me where I am today". Also, Josh Groban was announced to be performing the new original song "Evermore" on January 26, 2017.[53][54][55][56]

text:
The 2017 film features a remake of the 1991 original song recorded as a duet by Ariana Grande and John Legend.[57][58] Grande and Legend's updated version of the title song is faithful to the original, Grammy-winning duet, performed by Céline Dion and Peabo Bryson for the 1991 Disney film.[59]
Disney debuted the music video for Ariana Grande and John Legend's interpretation of the title song on Freeform television network on March 5, 2017, and it has since been viewed over 100 million views on the Vevo video-hosting service.[60]

text: Emma Thompson also performed a rendition of the title song, which was performed by Angela Lansbury in the original 1991 animated film.[60]

text: Release[edit]

text: On March 16, 2015, Disney announced the film would be released in 3D on March 17, 2017.[15] The first official presentation of the film took place at Disney's three-day D23 Expo in August 2015.[61]

text: The world premiere of Beauty and the Beast took place at Spencer House in London, United Kingdom on February 23, 2017;[62] and the film later premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California, on March 2, 2017. The stream was broadcast onto YouTube.

text: A sing along version of the film released in over 1,200 US theaters nationwide on April 7, 2017.[63] The United Kingdom received the same version on April 21, 2017.[64]

text: The film was re-released in New York and Los Angeles for a one-week engagement starting December 1, 2017. The move was an awards push as awards season heats up.[65]

text: Marketing[edit]

text: Disney spent around $140 million to market the film worldwide.[66] Following an announcement on May 22, 2016,[67] Disney premiered the first official teaser trailer on Good Morning America the next day.[68] In its first 24 hours, the teaser trailer reached 91.8 million views, which was the largest number ever seen for a trailer in that amount of time.[69] This record has since been broken by Thor: Ragnarok,[70] It and Avengers: Infinity War.[71][72] The first official teaser poster was released on July 7, 2016.[73] On November 2, 2016, Entertainment Weekly debuted the first official image on the cover of their magazine, along with nine new photos.[74][75] One week later, Emma Watson and Disney debuted a new poster.[76] On November 14, 2016, the first theatrical trailer was released, again on Good Morning America.[77] This reached 127.6 million views in its first 24 hours, setting a new record for the most views in one day, beating Fifty Shades Darker;[78] this record has since been broken by The Fate of the Furious.[79] A TV spot with Watson singing was shown during the 74th Golden Globe Awards.[80] Disney released the final trailer on January 30, 2017.[81]

text: Home media[edit]

text: Beauty and the Beast was released on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD on June 6, 2017.[82] The film debuted at No. 1 on the NPD VideoScan overall disc sales chart, with all other titles in the top 20, collectively, selling only 40% as many units as Beauty and the Beast.[83] The movie regained the top spot on the national home video sales charts during its third week of release.[84] The movie became available on Netflix on September 19, 2017.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: Beauty and the Beast grossed $504 million in the United States and Canada and $759.5 million in other countries for a worldwide gross of $1.263 billion.[6] With a production budget of $254 million, it is the most expensive musical ever made.[86][5] In just ten days, it became the highest-grossing live-action musical of all time, beating the nine-year-old record held by Mamma Mia!. It is currently the second-biggest musical ever overall, behind Disney's Frozen (2013).[87] Worldwide, the film proved to be a global phenomenon, earning a total of $357 million over its four-day opening weekend from 56 markets. Critics said the film was playing like superhero movies amongst women. It was the second-biggest March global opening, behind only Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the thirteenth-biggest worldwide opening ever and the seventh-biggest for Disney.[88] This includes $21 million from IMAX plays on 1,026 screens, a new record for an IMAX PG title.[89] It surpassed the entire lifetime total of the original film in just six days.[90][91]

text: Beauty and the Beast was the 300th digitally remastered release in IMAX company's history, which began with the re-release of Apollo 13 in 2002. Its robust global debut helped push the company past $6 billion for the first time,[92] and led to analysts believing that the film had a shot of passing $1 billion worldwide from theatrical earnings.[93][94][95][96] On April 12, it passed the $1 billion threshold, becoming the first film of 2017, the fourteenth Disney film, and the twenty-ninth film overall to pass the mark. It became the first film since Rogue One (also a Disney property) in December 2016 to make over a billion dollars, and did so on its 29th day of release.[97][98][99] It is currently the second-highest-grossing film of 2017 (behind Star Wars: The Last Jedi),[100] the highest-grossing March release,[101] the highest-grossing remake of all time,[102] and the sixth-biggest Disney film.[103] Even after inflation adjusted, it is still ahead of the $425 million gross ($760 million in 2017 dollars) of the original film.[102] Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $414.7 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues, making it the second-most profitable release of 2017.[104]

text: United States and Canada[edit]

text: In the United States and Canada, Beauty and the Beast topped Fandango's pre-sales and became the fastest-selling family film in the company's history, topping the studio's own animated film Finding Dory released the previous year. Early tracking had the film grossing around $100 million in its opening weekend, with some publications predicting it could reach $130 million.[105][106][107] By the time the film's release was 10 days away, analysts raised projections to as high as $150 million.[108][109] It earned $16.3 million from Thursday previews night, marking the biggest of 2017 (breaking Logan's record), the biggest ever for a Disney live-action film (breaking Maleficent's record), the second-biggest ever for both a G- or PG-rated film (behind the sixth Harry Potter film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince which also starred Watson), and the third-biggest ever in the month of March (behind Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and The Hunger Games).[110] An estimated 41% of the gross came from IMAX, 3D and premium large format screenings which began at 6 pm, while the rest—59%—came from regular 2D shows which began at 7 pm.[111] The numbers were considered more impressive given that the film played during a school week.[112]

text: On its opening day, the film made $63.8 million from 4,210 theaters across 9,200 screens, marking the third biggest in the month of March, trailing behind Batman v Superman ($81.5 million) and The Hunger Games ($67 million).[113][114] It was also the biggest opening day ever for a film that wasn't PG-13, displacing the $58 million opening Wednesday of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Its opening day alone (which includes Thursday's previews) almost matched the entire opening weekend of previous Disney live-action films, Maleficent ($69.4 million) and Cinderella ($67.9 million).[115] Unlike all previous four Disney live-action films witnessing a hike on their second day, Saturday, Beauty and the Beast actually fell 2% but, nevertheless, the dip was paltry, and the grosses are so much bigger compared to the other titles.[92] Earning a total of $174.8 million on its opening weekend, it defied all expectations and went on to set numerous notable records.[116] This includes the biggest opening of the year as well as the biggest for the month of March and pre-summer/spring opening, beating Batman v Superman,[117][118] the biggest start ever for a PG title (also for a family film), surpassing Finding Dory which later surpassed by Incredibles 2,[119] the biggest debut of all time for a female-fueled film, ahead of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,[120] the biggest for a Disney live-action adaptation, ahead of Alice in Wonderland[120] and the biggest musical debut ever, supplanting Pitch Perfect 2. Furthermore, it is also Watson's highest-opening, beating Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 same with Emma Thompson, director Bill Condon's biggest debut ever ahead of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 and the biggest outside of summer, save for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, not accounting for inflation.[116]

text: It became the forty-third film to debut with over $100 million and the fifteenth film to open above $150 million. Its three-day opening alone surpassed the entire original North American run of the first film ($146 million; before the 3D re-release), instantly becoming the second-biggest film of the year, behind Logan ($184 million), and also the second-highest-grossing musical, behind Grease's $188 million cumulative gross in 1978.[121] Seventy percent of the total ticket sales came from 2D showings signifying that people who don't go to theaters frequently came out in bulk to watch the film. About 26% of the remaining tickets were for 3D. IMAX accounted for 7% ($12.5 million) of the total weekend's gross, setting a new record for a PG title, ahead of Alice in Wonderland ($12.1 million) while PLF repped 11% of the box office.[92] Seventy percent of the film's opening day demographic was female, dropping to 60% through the weekend.[120] According polling service PostTrak, about 84 percent of American parents who saw the film on its opening day said they would "definitely" recommend it for families.[122][123] The film's opening was credited to positive word of mouth from audiences, good reviews from critics, effective marketing which sold the title not just as a family film but also as a romantic drama, the cast's star power (especially Emma Watson), lack of competition, being the first family film since The Lego Batman Movie a month earlier, nostalgia, and the success and ubiquity of the first film and Disney's brand.[122][123]

text: On Monday, its fourth day of release, the film fell precipitously by 72% earning $13.5 million. The steep fall was due to a limited marketplace where only 11% K-12 and 15% colleges were off per ComScore. Nevertheless, it is the second-biggest March Monday, behind Batman v Superman ($15 million).[124] This was followed by the biggest March and pre-summer Tuesday with $17.8 million, a 32% increase from its previous day. The same day, the film passed $200 million in ticket sales.[125] It earned $228.6 million in the first week of release, the sixth-biggest seven-day gross of all time.[126] In its second weekend, the film continued to maintain the top positioning and fell gradually by 48% earning another $90.4 million to register the fourth-biggest second weekend of all time, and the third-biggest for Disney.[127] In terms of percentage drop, its 48% decline is the third-smallest drop for any film opening above $125 million (behind Finding Dory and The Force Awakens).[87] The hold was notable considering how the film was able to fend off three new wide releases: Power Rangers, Life, and CHiPs.[128] As a result, it passed the $300 million threshold becoming the first film of 2017 the pass said mark.[129] The film grossed $45.4 million in its third weekend, finally being overtaken for the top spot by newcomer The Boss Baby ($50.2 million).[130] On April 4, 2017, its nineteenth day of release, it passed the $400 million threshold becoming the first film of 2017 to do so.[131] By its fourth weekend, the film began was playing in 3,969 cinemas, a fall of 241 theaters from its previous weekend. Of those, approximately 1,200 cinemas were sing-along versions. It earned $26.3 million (−48%) and retained second place. By comparison, previous Disney films Moana (−8%) and Frozen (−2%) both witnessed mild percentage declines the weekend their sing-alone versions were released.[132] Its seventh weekend of release was in contemporaneous with another Emma Watson-starring new film The Circle.[133] That weekend, The Circle was number four, while Beauty and the Beast was at number six.[134] By May 28, the film had earned over $500 million in ticket sales becoming the first film of 2017 (until it was later surpassed by The Last Jedi),[135][136] the third female-fueled film (after The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story followed by Wonder Woman and The Last Jedi) and the eighth overall film in cinematic history to pass the mark.[137][138][139][140]

text: It has already become the biggest March release, dethroning The Hunger Games (2012),[141] the biggest musical film (both animated and live-action),[142] as well as the biggest film of 2017 (alongside The Last Jedi).[143]

text: Other countries[edit]

text: Outside the US and Canada, the film began playing on Thursday, March 16, 2017. Through Sunday, March 19, it had a total international opening of $182.3 million from 55 markets, 44 of which were major territories, far exceeding initial estimations of $100 million and opened at No. 1 in virtually all markets except Vietnam, Turkey, and India. Its launch is the second-biggest for the month of March, behind Batman v Superman ($256.5 million). In IMAX, it recorded the biggest debut for a PG-rated title (although it carried varying certificate amongst different markets) with $8.5 million from 649 screens, the second-biggest for a PG title behind The Jungle Book.[144] In its second weekend, it fell just by 35% earning another $120.6 million and maintaining its first position hold. It added major markets like France and Australia.[145] It topped the international box office for three consecutive weekends[146] before finally being dethroned by Ghost in the Shell and The Boss Baby in its fourth weekend. Despite the fall, the film helped Disney push past the $1 billion thresold internationally for the first time in 2017.[147][99]

text: It scored the biggest opening day of the year in Hong Kong and the Philippines, the biggest March Thursday in Italy ($1 million, also the biggest Disney Thursday debut), the biggest March opening day in Austria, and the second-biggest in Germany ($1.1 million), Disney's biggest March in Denmark, the biggest Disney live-action debut in China ($12.6 million), the UK ($6.2 million), Mexico ($2.4 million) and Brazil ($1.8 million) and the third-biggest in South Korea with $1.2 million, behind only Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.[148][149] In terms of opening weekend, the largest debut came from China ($44.8 million), followed by the UK ($24.3 million), Korea ($11.8 million), Mexico ($11.8 million), Australia ($11.1 million), Brazil ($11 million), Germany ($10.7 million), France ($8.4 million), Italy ($7.6 million), Philippines ($6.3 million), Russia ($6 million), and Spain ($5.8 million).[144][145]

text: In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the film recorded the biggest opening ever for a PG-rated film, the biggest Disney live-action opening of all time, the biggest March opening weekend, the biggest opening for a musical (ahead of 2012's Les Misérables), the number one opening of 2017 to date and the fifth-biggest-ever overall with £19.7 million ($24.5 million) from 639 theatres and almost twice that of The Jungle Book (£9.9 million).[150] This included the second-biggest Saturday ever (£7.9 million), only behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens.[151] It witnessed a decline in its second weekend, earning £12.33 million ($15.4 million). Though the film was falling at a faster rate than The Jungle Book, it had already surpassed the said film and its second weekend is the third-biggest ever (behind the two James Bond films Skyfall (2012) and Spectre).[152][145] In India, despite facing heavy competitions from four new Hindi releases, two Tamils films and a Malayalam and a Punjabi release, the film managed to take an occupancy of 15% on its opening day, an impressive feat despite tremendous competitions.[153][154][155] It earned around ₹15 million (US$220,000) nett on its opening day from an estimated 600 screens which is more than the three Hindi releases—Machine, Trapped, and Aa Gaya Hero—combined.[156] Disney reported a total of ₹92.6 million (US$1.3 million) gross for its opening weekend there. It was ahead of all new releases and second overall behind Bollywood film Badrinath Ki Dulhania.[157][158][159] In Russia, despite receiving a restrictive 16 rating, the film managed to deliver a very successful opening with $6 million.[160]

text: In China, expectations were high for the film. The release date was announced on January 24, giving Disney and local distributor China Film Group Corporation ample time—around two months—to market the film nationwide. The release date was strategically chosen to coincide with White Day. Preliminary reports suggested that it could open to $40–60 million in its opening weekend. Largely driven by young women, its opening day pre-sales outpaced that of The Jungle Book.[161] The original film was, however, never widely popular in the country.[162] Although China has occasionally blocked gay-themed content from streaming video services, in this case, Chinese censors decided to leave the gay scene intact. According to local box office tracker Ent Group, the film grossed an estimated $12.1 million on its opening day (Friday), representing 70% of the total receipts. Including previews, it made a total of $14.5 million from 100,000 screenings, which is 43% of all screenings in the country.[163] It climbed to $18.5 million on Saturday (102,700 showings) for a three-day total of $42.6 million, securing 60% of the total marketplace. Disney on the other hand reported a different figure of $44.8 million.[164][165] Either ways, it recorded the second-biggest opening for a Disney live-action film,[162] with $3.4 million coming from 386 IMAX screens.[144] Japan—a huge Disney market—served as the film's final market and opened there on April 21.[145] It debuted with a better-than-expected $12.5 million on its opening weekend helping the film push past the $1.1 billion threshold. An estimated $1.1 million came from IMAX screenings, the fourth-biggest ever in the country.[166][167] The two-day gross was $9.7 million, outstripping Frozen's previous record of $9.5 million.[168] Due to positive reviews, good word-of-mouth and benefitting from the Golden Week, the film saw a 9% increase on its second weekend. The hold was strong enough to fend off newcomer The Fate of the Furious from securing the top spot. The total there is now over $98 million after seven weekends[169][170][171] and is the biggest film release of the year and, overall, the eleventh-biggest of all time.[172] It topped the box office there for eight consecutive weekends.[173][174]

text: The only markets where the film did not top the weekend charts were Vietnam (behind Kong: Skull Island), Turkey (with two local movies and Logan ahead) and India (where Badrinath Ki Dulhania retained No. 1).[144] It topped the box office for four straight weekends in Germany, Korea, Austria, Finland, Poland, Portugal, Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, Switzerland and the UK (exclusive of previews).[147][175] In the Philippines, it emerged as the most successful commercial film of all time—both local and foreign—with over $13.5 million.[176] In just five weeks, the film became one of the top 10 highest-grossing film of all time in the United Kingdom and Ireland, ahead of all but one Harry Potter film (Deathly Hallows – Part 2) and all three The Lord of the Rings movies (which also starred Ian McKellen).[177] It is currently the eighth-biggest grosser with £70.1 million ($90 million), overtaking Mamma Mia! to become the biggest musical production ever there.[166][178] The biggest international earning markets following the UK are Japan ($108 million), China ($85.8 million), Brazil ($41.5 million), Korea ($37.5 million), and Australia ($35 million).[173] In Europe alone, the cumulative total is $267 million, which led it to become the second-highest-grossing film in the past year (behind Rogue One: A Star Wars Story).[166][169][179]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: Beauty and the Beast received generally positive reviews, with praise for its ensemble cast, visuals, production values, musical score, songs, and faithfulness to the original film with a few elements of the Broadway musical version, while the designs of the Beast and the servants' household object forms received mixed reviews.[11][12] On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, as of April, 2018, the film had an approval rating of 70% based on 324 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's critical consensus read, "With an enchanting cast, beautifully crafted songs, and a painterly eye for detail, Beauty and the Beast offers a faithful yet fresh retelling that honors its beloved source material."[180] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 65 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[181] In CinemaScore polls, audiences gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[182][183]

text: Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "It's a Michelin-triple-starred master class in patisserie skills that transforms the cinematic equivalent of a sugar rush into a kind of crystal-meth-like narcotic high that lasts about two hours." Felperin also praised the performances of Watson and Kline as well the special effects, costume designs and the sets, while commending the inclusion of Gad's character of LeFou as the first LGBT character in Disney.[184] Owen Gleiberman of Variety, in his positive review of the film, wrote: "It's a lovingly crafted movie, and in many ways a good one, but before that it's an enraptured piece of old-is-new nostalgia." Gleiberman compared Steven's character of the Beast to a royal version of the titular character in The Elephant Man and the 1946 version of the Beast in Jean Cocteau's original adaptation.[185] A. O. Scott of The New York Times praised the performances of both Watson and Stevens, and wrote: "It looks good, moves gracefully and leaves a clean and invigorating aftertaste. I almost didn't recognize the flavor: I think the name for it is joy."[186]

text: Likewise, The Washington Post's Ann Hornaday complimented Watson's performance, describing it as "alert and solemn" while noting her singing ability as "serviceable enough to get the job done".[187] Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film three and a half stars, lauded the performances of Watson and Thompson which he drew a comparison to Paige O'Hara's and Angela Lansbury's performances in the 1991 animated version while appreciating the performances of the other cast and also pointing out on its usage of the combination of motion capture and CGI technology as a big advantage which he stated: "Almost overwhelmingly lavish, beautifully staged and performed with exquisite timing and grace by the outstanding cast".[188] Mike Ryan of Uproxx praised the cast, production design and the new songs while noting the film doesn't try anything different, saying: "There's certainly nothing that new about this version of Beauty and the Beast (well, except it isn't a cartoon anymore), but it's a good recreation of a classic animated film that should leave most die-hards satisfied."[189] In her A- review, Nancy Churnin of The Dallas Morning News praised the film's emotional and thematic depth, remarking: "There's an emotional authenticity in director Bill Condon's live-action Beauty and the Beast film that helps you rediscover Disney's beloved 1991 animated film and 1994 stage show in fresh, stirring ways."[190] James Berardinelli of ReelViews described the 2017 version as "enthralling".[191]

text: Brian Truitt of USA Today commended the performances of Evans, Gad, McGregor and Thompson alongside Condon's affinity with musicals, the production design, visual effects featured in some of the song numbers including new songs made by the composers Alan Menken and Tim Rice, particularly Evermore which he described the new song with a potential for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.[192] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone rated the film three out of four stars which he deemed it as an "exhilarating gift" while he remarked that "Beauty and the Beast does justice to Disney's animated classic, even if some of the magic is M.I.A (Missing in Action)".[193] Stephanie Zacharek of Time magazine gave a positive review with a description as "Wild, Vivid and Crazy-Beautiful" as she wrote "Nearly everything about Beauty and the Beast is larger than life, to the point that watching it can be a little overwhelming." and added that "it's loaded with feeling, almost like a brash interpretive dance expressing the passion and elation little girls (and some boys, too) must have felt upon seeing the earlier version."[194] The San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle struck an affirmative tone, calling it one of the joys of 2017, stating that "Beauty and the Beast creates an air of enchantment from its first moments, one that lingers and builds and takes on qualities of warmth and generosity as it goes along" while referring the film as "beautiful" and also praised the film for its emotional and psychological tone as well Steven's motion capture performance.[195]

text: Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph gave the film four stars out of five and wrote that "It dazzles on this chocolate box of a picture that feels almost greedy yet to make this film work, down to a sugar-rush finale to grasp the nettle and make an out-an-out, bells-and-whistles musical" while he praised the performances of Watson, McKellen, Thompson, McGregor, Evans and Gad.[196] Mark Hughes of Forbes also similarly praised the film which he wrote that "it could revive the story in a faithful but entirely new and unique way elevating the material beyond expectations, establishing itself as a cinematic equal to the original" and also complimented the importance of undertaking a renowned yet problematic masterpiece as well addressing changes in the elements of the story while acknowledging the film's effectiveness in resonating to the audiences.[197] Stephen Whitty of the New York Daily News called it "this year's best new old musical" and "the most magical thing of all" while describing Watson's performance of Belle as "breakthrough".[198]

text: Several critics regarded the film as inferior to its 1991 animated predecessor. David Sims of The Atlantic wrote that the 2017 film "feels particularly egregious, in part, because it's so slavishly devoted to the original; every time it falls short of its predecessor (which is quite often), it's hard not to notice".[199] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune said that the 2017 film "takes our knowledge and our interest in the material for granted. It zips from one number to another, throwing a ton of frenetically edited eye candy at the screen, charmlessly." Phillips wrote that the film featured some "less conspicuously talented" performers who are "stuck doing karaoke, or motion-capture work of middling quality", though he praised Kline's performance as the "best, sweetest thing in the movie; he brings a sense of calm, droll authority".[200] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian praised Watson's performance and wrote that the film was "lit in that fascinatingly artificial honey-glow light, and it runs smoothly on rails—the kind of rails that bring in and out the stage sets for the lucrative Broadway touring version." In the same newspaper, Wendy Ide criticized the film as "ornate to the point of desperation" in its attempt to emulate the animated film.[201][202]

text: Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B-, writing that while the film looks "exceptionally great", he said the new songs were "not transporting". He felt the film needed more life and depth, but praised Watson's and Steven's performances as the "film's stronger elements".[203] Dana Schwartz of The New York Observer felt that some of the characters, such as Gaston and the Beast, had been watered down from the 1991 film, and that the additional backstory elements failed to "advance the plot or theme in any meaningful way" while adding considerable bloat. Schwartz considered the singing of the cast to be adequate but felt that their voices should have been dubbed over, especially for the complex songs.[204]

text: Accolades and awards[edit]

text:
Award

Date of ceremony

Category

Recipient(s) and nominee(s)

Result

Ref.

Academy Awards

March 4, 2018

Best Production Design

Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer

Nominated

[205]

Best Costume Design

Jacqueline Durran

Nominated

Art Directors Guild Awards

January 27, 2018

Excellence in Production Design for a Fantasy Film

Sarah Greenwood

Nominated

[206]

British Academy Film Awards

February 18, 2018

Best Production Design

Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer

Nominated

[207]

Best Costume Design

Jacqueline Durran

Nominated

Casting Society of America

January 18, 2018

Big Budget – Comedy

Lucy Bevan, Bernard Telsey and Tiffany Little Canfield

Nominated

[208]

Chicago Film Critics Association

December 12, 2017

Best Art Direction

Sarah Greenwood

Nominated

[209][210]

Costume Designers Guild Awards

February 20, 2018

Excellence in Fantasy Film

Jacqueline Durran

Nominated

[211]

Critics' Choice Movie Awards

January 11, 2018

Best Art Direction

Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer

Nominated

[212]

Best Costume Design

Jacqueline Durran

Nominated

Best Hair & Makeup

Beauty and the Beast

Nominated

Best Song

"Evermore"

Nominated

Empire Awards

March 18, 2018

Best Actress

Emma Watson

Nominated

[213][214]

Best Soundtrack

Beauty and the Beast

Nominated

Best Make-up and Hairstyling

Won

Golden Trailer Awards

June 6, 2017

Best Animation/Family

Nominated

[215]

Best Original Score

Nominated

Best Animation/Family TV Spot

Nominated

Best Fantasy Adventure TV Spot

Nominated

Guild of Music Supervisors Awards

February 8, 2018

Best Music Supervision for Film: Budgeted Over 25 Million Dollars

Matt Sullivan

Nominated

[216]

Hollywood Film Awards

November 5, 2017

Costume Design Award

Jacqueline Durran[a]

Won

[217]

Make-Up & Hair Styling Award

Jenny Shircore

Won

Hollywood Music in Media Awards

November 16, 2017

Best Original Song – Animated Film

"How Does a Moment Last Forever" – Alan Menken and Tim Rice

Nominated

[218][219]

Best Original Song – Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror Film

Won

"Evermore" – Alan Menken and Tim Rice

Nominated

Best Soundtrack Album

Beauty and the Beast

Nominated

Hollywood Post Alliance

Outstanding Color Grading – Feature Film

Stefan Sonnenfeld

Nominated

[220][221]

Outstanding Visual Effects – Feature Film

Kyle McCulloch, Glen Pratt, Richard Hoover, Dale Newton, Neil Weatherley and Framestore

Nominated

Houston Film Critics Society

January 6, 2018

Best Original Song

"Evermore" – Alan Menken and Tim Rice

Nominated

[222]

Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild

February 24, 2018

Feature Motion Picture: Best Period and/or Character Hair

Jenny Shircore, Marc Pilcher and Charlotte Hayward

Nominated

[223]

MTV Movie & TV Awards

May 7, 2017

Movie of the Year

Beauty and the Beast

Won

[224]

Best Actor in a Movie

Emma Watson

Won

Best Kiss

Emma Watson and Dan Stevens

Nominated

Best Duo

Josh Gad and Luke Evans

Nominated

NAACP Image Awards

January 15, 2018

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture

Audra McDonald

Nominated

[225]

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards

March 24, 2018

Favorite Movie

Beauty and the Beast

Nominated

[226]

Favorite Movie Actress

Emma Watson

Nominated

Publicists Guild Awards

March 2, 2018

Motion Picture

Beauty and the Beast

Nominated

[227][228]

San Diego Film Critics Society

December 11, 2017

Best Production Design

Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer

Nominated

[229][230]

Best Visual Effects

Beauty and the Beast

Runner-up[b]

Best Costume Design

Jacqueline Durran

Won[c]

Best Use of Music

Beauty and the Beast

Nominated

Satellite Awards

February 10, 2018

Best Costume Design

Jacqueline Durran

Nominated

[231]

Saturn Awards

June 27, 2018

Best Fantasy Film

Beauty and the Beast

Nominated

[232]

Best Actress

Emma Watson

Nominated

Best Production Design

Sarah Greenwood

Nominated

Best Costume Design

Jacqueline Durran

Won

Seattle Film Critics Society

December 18, 2017

Best Costume Design

Jacqueline Durran

Nominated

[233][234]

St. Louis Film Critics Association

December 17, 2017

Best Production Design

Sarah Greenwood

Nominated

[235]

Best Visual Effects

Beauty and the Beast

Nominated

Teen Choice Awards

August 13, 2017

Choice Movie: Fantasy

Won

[236][237]

Choice Movie: Fantasy Actor

Dan Stevens

Nominated

Choice Movie: Fantasy Actress

Emma Watson

Won

Choice Movie Villain

Luke Evans

Won

Choice Movie Ship

Emma Watson and Dan Stevens

Won

Choice Liplock

Won

Choice Scene Stealer

Josh Gad

Nominated

Choice Hissy Fit

Luke Evans

Nominated

Dan Stevens

Nominated

Visual Effects Society Awards

February 13, 2018

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project

Shannon Justison, Casey Schatz, Neil Weatherley and Claire Michaud for "Be Our Guest"

Nominated

[238]

Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association

December 8, 2017

Best Motion Capture Performance

Dan Stevens

Nominated

[239]

Best Production Design

Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer

Nominated

Women Film Critics Circle

December 17, 2017

Best Family Film

Beauty and the Beast

Nominated

[240][241]

text: Controversies[edit]

text: Gay character[edit]

text: Controversy erupted after director Bill Condon said there was a "gay moment" in the film, when LeFou briefly waltzes with Stanley, one of Gaston's friends.[242] Afterwards in an interview with Vulture.com, Condon stated, "Can I just say, I'm sort of sick of this. Because you've seen the movie—it's such a tiny thing, and it's been overblown." Condon also added that Beauty and the Beast features much more diversity than just the highly talked-about LeFou: "That was so important. We have interracial couples—this is a celebration of everybody's individuality, and that's what’s exciting about it.”[243] GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis praised the move stating, "It is a small moment in the film, but it is a huge leap forward for the film industry."[244]

text: In Russia, Vitaly Milonov agitated the culture minister for banning the film,[245] but instead it was given a 16+ rating (children under the age of 16 can only be admitted to see it in theaters with accompanying adults).[246] Additionally, a theater in Henagar, Alabama did not screen the film because of the subplot.[247] In Malaysia, the Film Censorship Board insisted the "gay moment" scene be cut, prompting an indefinite postponement of its release by Disney, followed by their decision to withdraw it completely if it could not be released uncensored.[248][249][250] The studio moved the release date to March 30, to allow more time for Malaysia's censor board to make a decision on whether or not to release the film without changes.[251] The distributors and producers then submitted an appeal to the Film Appeal Committee of Malaysia, which allowed the film to be released without any cuts and a P13 rating on the grounds that "the gay element was minor and did not affect the positive elements featured in the film".[252][253] In Kuwait, the movie was withdrawn from cinemas by National Cinema Company which owns most of the cinemas in the country. A board member of the company stated that the Ministry of Information's censorship department had requested it to stop its screening and edit it for things deemed offensive by it.[254]

text: The film also received criticism over its portrayal of LeFou, as many felt that it relied on stereotypes[255] and was used as a way of teasing LGBT+ viewers without providing adequate representation.[256] LeFou's status as a sidekick to the main villain brought about criticism over Disney's queercoding of villains in the past, and his infatuation with Gaston was seen as relying on a stereotype of gay men being predatory towards straight men.[257] Furthermore, the only gay interaction LeFou has is a three-second clip of him dancing with another man at the end of the film. Many saw this as Disney cheating its LGBT+ audiences.[258]

text: Belle and the Beast's relationship[edit]

text: Disney has sought to portray Belle as an empowered young woman,[259] but a debate questioning whether it is possible for a captor to fall in love with their prisoner, and whether this is a problematic theme, has resulted.[260] As was the case with the original animated film, one argument is that Belle suffers from Stockholm syndrome (a condition that causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity). Emma Watson studied whether Belle is trapped in an abusive relationship with the Beast before signing on and concluded that she does not think the criticism fits this version of the folk tale.[261][262] Watson described Stockholm Syndrome as "where a prisoner will take on the characteristics of and fall in love with the captor. Belle actively argues and disagrees with [Beast] constantly. She has none of the characteristics of someone with Stockholm Syndrome because she keeps her independence, she keeps that freedom of thought", also adding that Belle defiantly "gives as good as she gets" before forming a friendship and romance with the Beast.[263]

text: Psychiatrist Frank Ochberg, who coined the term "Stockholm syndrome", said he does not think Belle exhibits the trauma symptoms of prisoners suffering from the syndrome because she does not go through a period of feeling that she is going to die.[264] Some therapists, while acknowledging that the pairing's relationship does not meet the clinical definition of Stockholm syndrome, argue that the relationship depicted is dysfunctional and abusive and does not model healthy romantic relationships for young viewers.[265][266] Constance Grady of Vox writes that Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's Beauty and the Beast was a fairy tale originally written to prepare young girls in 18th-century France for arranged marriages, and that the power disparity is amplified in the Disney version.[267] Anna Menta of Elite Daily argued that the Beast does not apologize to Belle for imprisoning, hurting, or manipulating her, and his treatment of Belle is not painted as wrong.[268]

text: Notes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ Also credited for Darkest Hour.

Jump up ^ Tied with Dunkirk.

Jump up ^ Tied with Mark Bridges for Phantom Thread.

tag: ol


document_title: List of UFC champions

question_text: who has the light heavyweight belt in ufc

root

text: List of UFC champions

text: Current champions[edit]

tag: p

text:
Men[13]

Division
Champion
Since
Defenses

Heavyweight

 Daniel Cormier

Jul 7, 2018

0

Light Heavyweight

May 23, 2015

3

Middleweight

 Robert Whittaker

Dec 7, 2017

0

Welterweight

 Tyron Woodley

Jul 30, 2016

3

 Colby Covington (Interim Champion)

Jun 9, 2018

0

Lightweight

 Khabib Nurmagomedov

Apr 7, 2018

0

Featherweight

 Max Holloway

Jun 3, 2017

1

Bantamweight

 T.J. Dillashaw

Nov 4, 2017

1

Flyweight

 Henry Cejudo

Aug 4, 2018

0

tag: table

text:
Women[13]

Division
Champion
Since
Defenses

Featherweight

 Cris Cyborg

Jul 29, 2017

2

Bantamweight

 Amanda Nunes

Jul 9, 2016

3

Flyweight

 Nicco Montaño

Dec 1, 2017

0

Strawweight

 Rose Namajunas

Nov 4, 2017

1

text: Men's championship history[edit]

text: Heavyweight Championship[edit]

text:
206 to 265 lb (93 to 120 kg)
The UFC Superfight Championship was unified with the UFC Tournament Championship to determine the inaugural UFC Heavyweight Champion on February 7, 1997, when Mark Coleman defeated Dan Severn at UFC 12.[4]

text:
No.
Name
Event
Date
Reign(Total)
Defenses

1

 Mark Colemandef. Dan Severn

UFC 12Dothan, AL, US

Feb 7, 1997

170 days

2

 Maurice Smith

UFC 14Birmingham, AL, US

Jul 27, 1997

147 days

1. def. Tank Abbott at UFC 15 on Oct 17, 1997

3

 Randy Couture

UFC JapanYokohama, Japan

Dec 21, 1997

502 days

Couture was stripped of the title in January 1998 when he left the UFC due to a contract dispute.

4

 Bas Rutten def. Kevin Randleman

UFC 20Birmingham, AL, US

May 7, 1999

194 days

Rutten vacated the title in June 1999 in order to drop down to Light heavyweight. He retired soon after due to  training injuries.[14]

5

 Kevin Randlemandef. Pete Williams

UFC 23Tokyo, Japan

Nov 19, 1999

364 days

1. def. Pedro Rizzo at UFC 26 on Jun 9, 2000

6

 Randy Couture (2)

UFC 28Atlantic City, NJ, US

Nov 17, 2000

490 days(992 days)

1. def. Pedro Rizzo at UFC 31 on May 4, 2001
2. def. Pedro Rizzo at UFC 34 on Nov 2, 2001

7

 Josh Barnett

UFC 36Las Vegas, NV, US

Mar 22, 2002

126 days

Barnett was stripped of the title on July 26, 2002, after testing positive for anabolic steroids in a post-fight drug test.[15]

8

 Ricco Rodriguezdef. Randy Couture

UFC 39Uncasville, CT, US

Sep 27, 2002

154 days

9

 Tim Sylvia

UFC 41Atlantic City, NJ, US

Feb 28, 2003

229 days

1. def. Gan McGee at UFC 44 on Sep 26, 2003

Sylvia was stripped of the title on October 15, 2003, after testing positive for anabolic steroids in a post-fight drug test.[16]

10

 Frank Mirdef. Tim Sylvia

UFC 48Las Vegas, NV, US

Jun 19, 2004

419 days

-

 Andrei Arlovskidef. Tim Sylvia for interim title

UFC 51Las Vegas, NV, US

Feb 5, 2005

—

1. def. Justin Eilers at UFC 53 on Jun 4, 2005

Mir was stripped of the title on August 12, 2005, for inactivity resulting from injuries he sustained in a road accident.[17]

11

 Andrei Arlovskipromoted to undisputed champion

—

Aug 12, 2005

246 days

1. def. Paul Buentello at UFC 55 on Oct 7, 2005

12

 Tim Sylvia (2)

UFC 59Anaheim, CA, US

Apr 15, 2006

322 days(551 days)

1. def. Andrei Arlovski at UFC 61 on Jul 8, 2006
2. def. Jeff Monson at UFC 65 on Nov 18, 2006

13

 Randy Couture (3)

UFC 68Columbus, OH, US

Mar 3, 2007

623 days(2,105 days)

1. def. Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 74 on Aug 25, 2007

-

 Antônio Rodrigo Nogueiradef. Tim Sylvia for interim title

UFC 81Las Vegas, NV, US

Feb 2, 2008

—

14

 Brock Lesnar

UFC 91Las Vegas, NV, US

Nov 15, 2008

707 days

1. def. interim champion Frank Mir at UFC 100 on Jul 11, 2009
2. def. interim champion Shane Carwin at UFC 116 on Jul 3, 2010

-

 Frank Mir def. interim champion Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira

UFC 92Las Vegas, NV, US

Dec 27, 2008

—

-

 Shane Carwindef. Frank Mir for interim title

UFC 111Newark, NJ, US

Mar 27, 2010

—

15

 Cain Velasquez

UFC 121Anaheim, CA, US

Oct 23, 2010

385 days

16

 Junior dos Santos

UFC on Fox: Velasquez vs. dos SantosAnaheim, CA, US

Nov 12, 2011

413 days

1. def. Frank Mir at UFC 146 on May 26, 2012

17

 Cain Velasquez (2)

UFC 155Las Vegas, NV, US

Dec 29, 2012

896 days(1,281 days)

1. def. Antônio Silva at UFC 160 on May 25, 2013
2. def. Junior dos Santos at UFC 166 on Oct 19, 2013

-

 Fabrício Werdumdef. Mark Hunt for interim title

UFC 180Mexico City, Mexico

Nov 15, 2014

—

18

 Fabrício Werdum

UFC 188Mexico City, Mexico

Jun 13, 2015

336 days

19

 Stipe Miocic

UFC 198Curitiba, Brazil

May 14, 2016

785 days

1. def. Alistair Overeem at UFC 203 on Sep 10, 2016
2. def. Junior dos Santos at UFC 211 on May 13, 2017
3. def. Francis Ngannou at UFC 220 on Jan 20, 2018

20

 Daniel Cormier

UFC 226Las Vegas, NV, US

Jul 7, 2018

48 days(incumbent)

text: Light Heavyweight Championship[edit]

text:
186 to 205 lb (84 to 93 kg)
The Light Heavyweight Title was known as the Middleweight Title prior to UFC 31 (May 4, 2001).
The Pride World Middleweight Title (209.4 lb) was unified with the UFC Light Heavyweight Title on September 8, 2007, when Quinton Jackson defeated Dan Henderson at UFC 75.[4]

text:
No.
Name
Event
Date
Reign(Total)
Defenses

1

 Frank Shamrockdef. Kevin Jackson

UFC JapanYokohama, Japan

Dec 21, 1997

703 days

1. def. Igor Zinoviev at UFC 16 on Mar 13, 1998
2. def. Jeremy Horn at UFC 17 on May 15, 1998
3. def. John Lober at UFC Brazil on Oct 16, 1998
4. def. Tito Ortiz at UFC 22 on Sep 24, 1999

Shamrock vacated the title on November 24, 1999, when he retired from the UFC, citing a lack of competition.[1]

2

 Tito Ortizdef. Wanderlei Silva

UFC 25Tokyo, Japan

Apr 14, 2000

1,260 days

1. def. Yuki Kondo at UFC 29 on Dec 16, 2000
2. def. Evan Tanner at UFC 30 on Feb 23, 2001
3. def. Elvis Sinosic at UFC 32 on Jun 29, 2001
4. def. Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC 33 on Sep 28, 2001
5. def. Ken Shamrock at UFC 40 on Nov 22, 2002

-

 Randy Couturedef. Chuck Liddell for interim title

UFC 43Las Vegas, NV, US

Jun 6, 2003

—

3

 Randy Couture

UFC 44Las Vegas, NV, US

Sep 26, 2003

127 days

4

 Vitor Belfort

UFC 46Las Vegas, NV, US

Jan 31, 2004

203 days

5

 Randy Couture (2)

UFC 49Las Vegas, NV, US

Aug 21, 2004

238 days(365 days)

6

 Chuck Liddell

UFC 52Las Vegas, NV, US

Apr 16, 2005

770 days

1. def. Jeremy Horn at UFC 54 on Aug 20, 2005
2. def. Randy Couture at UFC 57 on Feb 4, 2006
3. def. Renato Sobral at UFC 62 on Aug 26, 2006
4. def. Tito Ortiz at UFC 66 on Dec 30, 2006

7

 Quinton Jackson

UFC 71Las Vegas, NV, US

May 26, 2007

406 days

1. def. Dan Henderson at UFC 75 on Sep 8, 2007

8

 Forrest Griffin

UFC 86Las Vegas, NV, US

Jul 5, 2008

175 days

9

 Rashad Evans

UFC 92Las Vegas, NV, US

Dec 27, 2008

147 days

10

 Lyoto Machida

UFC 98Las Vegas, NV, US

May 23, 2009

350 days

1. def. Maurício Rua at UFC 104 on Oct 24, 2009

11

 Maurício Rua

UFC 113Montreal, QC, Canada

May 8, 2010

315 days

12

 Jon Jones

UFC 128Newark, NJ, US

Mar 19, 2011

1,501 days

1. def. Quinton Jackson at UFC 135 on Sep 24, 2011
2. def. Lyoto Machida at UFC 140 on Dec 10, 2011
3. def. Rashad Evans at UFC 145 on Apr 21, 2012
4. def. Vitor Belfort at UFC 152 on Sep 22, 2012
5. def. Chael Sonnen at UFC 159 on Apr 27, 2013
6. def. Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165 on Sep 21, 2013
7. def. Glover Teixeira at UFC 172 on Apr 26, 2014
8. def. Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 on Jan 3, 2015

Jones was stripped of the title on April 28, 2015, due to his involvement and arrest in a felony hit-and-run.[18]

13

 Daniel Cormierdef. Anthony Johnson

UFC 187Las Vegas, NV, US

May 23, 2015

1189 days(incumbent)

1. def. Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 192 on Oct 3, 2015
2. def. Anthony Johnson at UFC 210 on Apr 8, 2017
3. def. Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 220 on Jan 20, 2018

-

 Jon Jonesdef. Ovince Saint Preux for interim title

UFC 197Las Vegas, NV, US

Apr 23, 2016

—

Jones was stripped of the interim title on November 9, 2016, due to his 1-year suspension related to a failed pre-fight drug test.[19]

Jones won the title at UFC 214 on July 29, 2017, but was stripped on September 13, 2017, after his win was overturned to a no-contest due to a failed pre-fight drug test. Cormier was then reinstated as champion.[20]

text: Middleweight Championship[edit]

text:
171 to 185 lb (77 to 84 kg)
The Pride World Welterweight Title (176.4 lb) was unified with the UFC Middleweight Title on March 1, 2008, when Anderson Silva defeated Dan Henderson at UFC 82.[21]

text:
No.
Name
Event
Date
Reign
Defenses

1

 Dave Mennedef. Gil Castillo

UFC 33Las Vegas, NV, US

Sep 28, 2001

105 days

2

 Murilo Bustamante

UFC 35Las Vegas, NV, US

Jan 11, 2002

267 days

1. def. Matt Lindland at UFC 37 on May 10, 2002

Bustamante was stripped of the title on October 5, 2002 when he left the UFC for Pride.[1]

3

 Evan Tannerdef. David Terrell

UFC 51Las Vegas, NV, US

Feb 5, 2005

119 days

4

 Rich Franklin

UFC 53Atlantic City, NJ, US

Jun 4, 2005

497 days

1. def. Nate Quarry at UFC 56 on Nov 19, 2005
2. def. David Loiseau at UFC 58 on Mar 4, 2006

5

 Anderson Silva

UFC 64Las Vegas, NV, US

Oct 14, 2006

2,457 days

1. def. Nate Marquardt at UFC 73 on Jul 7, 2007
2. def. Rich Franklin at UFC 77 on Oct 20, 2007
3. def. Dan Henderson at UFC 82 on Mar 1, 2008
4. def. Patrick Côté at UFC 90 on Oct 25, 2008
5. def. Thales Leites at UFC 97 on Apr 18, 2009
6. def. Demian Maia at UFC 112 on Apr 10, 2010
7. def. Chael Sonnen at UFC 117 on Aug 7, 2010
8. def. Vitor Belfort at UFC 126 on Feb 5, 2011
9. def. Yushin Okami at UFC 134 on Aug 27, 2011
10. def. Chael Sonnen at UFC 148 on Jul 7, 2012

6

 Chris Weidman

UFC 162Las Vegas, NV, US

Jul 6, 2013

888 days

1. def. Anderson Silva at UFC 168 on Dec 28, 2013
2. def. Lyoto Machida at UFC 175 on Jul 5, 2014
3. def. Vitor Belfort at UFC 187 on May 23, 2015

7

 Luke Rockhold

UFC 194Las Vegas, NV, US

Dec 12, 2015

175 days

8

 Michael Bisping

UFC 199Inglewood, CA, US

Jun 4, 2016

518 days

1. def. Dan Henderson at UFC 204 on Oct 8, 2016

-

 Robert Whittakerdef. Yoel Romero for interim title

UFC 213Las Vegas, NV, US

Jul 8, 2017

—

9

 Georges St-Pierre

UFC 217New York City, NY, US

Nov 4, 2017

33 days

St-Pierre vacated the title on December 7, 2017, due to suffering from ulcerative colitis.[22][23]

10

 Robert Whittakerpromoted to undisputed champion

—

Dec 7, 2017

260 days(incumbent)

text: Welterweight Championship[edit]

text:
156 to 170 lb (70 to 77 kg)
The Welterweight Title was known as the Lightweight Title prior to UFC 31 (May 4, 2001).

text:
No.
Name
Event
Date
Reign(Total)
Defenses

1

 Pat Miletichdef. Mikey Burnett

UFC BrazilSão Paulo, Brazil

Oct 16, 1998

931 days

1. def. Jorge Patino at UFC 18 on Jan 8, 1999
2. def. André Pederneiras at UFC 21 on Jul 16, 1999
3. def. John Alessio at UFC 26 on Jun 9, 2000
4. def. Kenichi Yamamoto at UFC 29 on Dec 16, 2000

2

 Carlos Newton

UFC 31Atlantic City, NJ, US

May 4, 2001

183 days

3

 Matt Hughes

UFC 34Las Vegas, NV, US

Nov 2, 2001

820 days

1. def. Hayato Sakurai at UFC 36 on Mar 22, 2002
2. def. Carlos Newton at UFC 38 on Jul 13, 2002
3. def. Gil Castillo at UFC 40 on Nov 22, 2002
4. def. Sean Sherk at UFC 42 on Apr 25, 2003
5. def. Frank Trigg at UFC 45 on Nov 21, 2003

4

 B.J. Penn

UFC 46Las Vegas, NV, US

Jan 31, 2004

107 days

Penn was stripped of the title on May 17, 2004, when he left the UFC for K-1.[24]

5

 Matt Hughes (2)def. Georges St-Pierre

UFC 50Atlantic City, NJ, US

Oct 22, 2004

757 days(1,577 days)

1. def. Frank Trigg at UFC 52 on Apr 16, 2005
2. def. B.J. Penn at UFC 63 on Sep 23, 2006

6

 Georges St-Pierre

UFC 65Sacramento, CA, US

Nov 18, 2006

140 days

7

 Matt Serra

UFC 69Houston, TX, US

Apr 7, 2007

378 days

-

 Georges St-Pierredef. Matt Hughes for interim title

UFC 79Las Vegas, NV, US

Dec 29, 2007

—

8

 Georges St-Pierre (2)

UFC 83Montreal, QC, Canada

Apr 19, 2008

2,064 days(2,204 days)

1. def. Jon Fitch at UFC 87 on Aug 9, 2008
2. def. B.J. Penn at UFC 94 on Jan 31, 2009
3. def. Thiago Alves at UFC 100 on Jul 11, 2009
4. def. Dan Hardy at UFC 111 on Mar 27, 2010
5. def. Josh Koscheck at UFC 124 on Dec 11, 2010
6. def. Jake Shields at UFC 129 on Apr 30, 2011
7. def. interim champion Carlos Condit at UFC 154 on Nov 17, 2012
8. def. Nick Diaz at UFC 158 on Mar 16, 2013
9. def. Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 on Nov 16, 2013

-

 Carlos Conditdef. Nick Diaz for interim title

UFC 143Las Vegas, NV, US

Feb 4, 2012

—

St-Pierre vacated the title on December 13, 2013, when he decided to take time off from the sport.[25]

9

 Johny Hendricksdef. Robbie Lawler

UFC 171Dallas, TX, US

Mar 15, 2014

266 days

10

 Robbie Lawler

UFC 181Las Vegas, NV, US

Dec 6, 2014

602 days

1. def. Rory MacDonald at UFC 189 on Jul 11, 2015
2. def. Carlos Condit at UFC 195 on Jan 2, 2016

11

 Tyron Woodley

UFC 201Atlanta, GA, US

Jul 30, 2016

755 days(incumbent)

1. drew with Stephen Thompson at UFC 205 on Nov 12, 2016
2. def. Stephen Thompson at UFC 209 on Mar 4, 2017
3. def. Demian Maia at UFC 214 on Jul 29, 2017

-

 Colby Covingtondef. Rafael dos Anjos for interim title

UFC 225Chicago, IL, US

Jun 9, 2018

76 days(incumbent)

text: Lightweight Championship[edit]

text:
146 to 155 lb (66 to 70 kg)
The Lightweight Title was known as the Bantamweight Title prior to UFC 31 (May 4, 2001).
The Strikeforce Lightweight Title was unified (perhaps unofficially) with the UFC Lightweight Title on April 20, 2013, when Benson Henderson defeated Gilbert Melendez at UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Melendez.[26]

text:
No.
Name
Event
Date
Reign
Defenses

1

 Jens Pulverdef. Caol Uno

UFC 30Atlantic City, NJ, US

Feb 23, 2001

393 days

1. def. Dennis Hallman at UFC 33 on Sep 28, 2001
2. def. B.J. Penn at UFC 35 on Jan 11, 2002

Pulver was stripped of the title on March 23, 2002 when he left the UFC due to a contract dispute.[1]

B.J. Penn and Caol Uno fought to a draw on February 28, 2003 at UFC 41 in Atlantic City, NJ, US in the finale of a 4-man tournament for the vacant title.[1]

2

 Sean Sherkdef. Kenny Florian

UFC 64Las Vegas, NV, US

Oct 14, 2006

420 days

1. def. Hermes França at UFC 73 on Jul 7, 2007

Sherk was stripped of the title on December 8, 2007 after testing positive for anabolic steroids in a post-fight drug test.[27]

3

 B.J. Penndef. Joe Stevenson

UFC 80Newcastle, England, UK

Jan 19, 2008

812 days

1. def. Sean Sherk at UFC 84 on May 24, 2008
2. def. Kenny Florian at UFC 101 on Aug 8, 2009
3. def. Diego Sanchez at UFC 107 on Dec 12, 2009

4

 Frankie Edgar

UFC 112Abu Dhabi, UAE

Apr 10, 2010

687 days

1. def. B.J. Penn at UFC 118 on Aug 28, 2010
2. drew with Gray Maynard at UFC 125 on Jan 1, 2011
3. def. Gray Maynard at UFC 136 on Oct 8, 2011

5

 Benson Henderson

UFC 144Saitama, Japan

Feb 26, 2012

552 days

1. def. Frankie Edgar at UFC 150 on Aug 11, 2012
2. def. Nate Diaz at UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Diaz on Dec 8, 2012
3. def. Gilbert Melendez at UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Melendez on Apr 20, 2013

6

 Anthony Pettis

UFC 164Milwaukee, WI, US

Aug 31, 2013

560 days

1. def. Gilbert Melendez at UFC 181 on Dec 6, 2014

7

 Rafael dos Anjos

UFC 185Dallas, TX, US

Mar 14, 2015

481 days

1. def. Donald Cerrone at UFC on Fox: dos Anjos vs. Cerrone 2 on Dec 19, 2015

8

 Eddie Alvarez

UFC Fight Night: dos Anjos vs. AlvarezLas Vegas, NV, US

Jul 7, 2016

128 days

9

 Conor McGregor

UFC 205New York City, NY, US

Nov 12, 2016

511 days

-

 Tony Fergusondef. Kevin Lee for interim title

UFC 216Las Vegas, NV, US

Oct 7, 2017

—

Both McGregor and Ferguson were stripped of their titles on April 7, 2018 due to inactivity and injury, respectively.[28]

10

 Khabib Nurmagomedovdef. Al Iaquinta

UFC 223Brooklyn, NY, US

Apr 7, 2018

139 days(incumbent)

text: Featherweight Championship[edit]

text:
136 to 145 lb (61 to 66 kg)
Prior to the UFC-WEC merger, José Aldo was the WEC Featherweight Champion.  Aldo was awarded the inaugural UFC Featherweight Championship on November 20, 2010, at UFC 123 in a ceremony prior to the event.[29]

text:
No.
Name
Event
Date
Reign
Defenses

1

 José Aldopromoted to undisputed champion

UFC 123Auburn Hills, MI, US

Nov 20, 2010

1,848 days

1. def. Mark Hominick at UFC 129 on Apr 30, 2011
2. def. Kenny Florian at UFC 136 on Oct 8, 2011
3. def. Chad Mendes at UFC 142 on Jan 14, 2012
4. def. Frankie Edgar at UFC 156 on Feb 2, 2013
5. def. Chan Sung Jung at UFC 163 on Aug 3, 2013
6. def. Ricardo Lamas at UFC 169 on Feb 1, 2014
7. def. Chad Mendes at UFC 179 on Oct 25, 2014

-

 Conor McGregordef. Chad Mendes for interim title

UFC 189Las Vegas, NV, US

Jul 11, 2015

—

2

 Conor McGregor

UFC 194Las Vegas, NV, US

Dec 12, 2015

350 days

-

 José Aldodef. Frankie Edgar for interim title

UFC 200Las Vegas, NV, US

Jul 9, 2016

—

McGregor was stripped of the title on November 26, 2016 after winning the lightweight title.[30][31]

3

 José Aldo (2)promoted to undisputed champion

—

Nov 26, 2016

189 days(2,037 days)

-

 Max Hollowaydef. Anthony Pettis for interim title

UFC 206Toronto, ON, Canada

Dec 10, 2016

—

4

 Max Holloway

UFC 212Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Jun 3, 2017

447 days(incumbent)

1. def. José Aldo at UFC 218 on Dec 2, 2017

text: Bantamweight Championship[edit]

text:
126 to 135 lb (57 to 61 kg)
Prior to UFC-WEC merger, Dominick Cruz was the WEC Bantamweight Champion. At WEC 53, Cruz defeated Scott Jorgensen to retain the WEC Bantamweight Championship and was awarded the inaugural UFC Bantamweight Championship.[32]

text:
No.
Name
Event
Date
Reign
Defenses

1

 Dominick Cruzdef. Scott Jorgensen

WEC 53Glendale, AZ, US

Dec 16, 2010

1,117 days

1. def. Urijah Faber at UFC 132 on Jul 2, 2011
2. def. Demetrious Johnson at UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson on Oct 1, 2011

-

 Renan Barãodef. Urijah Faber for interim title

UFC 149Calgary, AB, Canada

Jul 21, 2012

—

1. def. Michael McDonald at UFC on Fuel TV: Barao vs. McDonald on Feb 16, 2013
2. def. Eddie Wineland at UFC 165 on Sep 21, 2013

Cruz vacated the title on January 6, 2014, after repeated injuries prevented him from returning to competition to defend his title.[33]

2

 Renan Barãopromoted to undisputed champion

—

Jan 6, 2014

138 days

1. def. Urijah Faber at UFC 169 on Feb 1, 2014

3

 T.J. Dillashaw

UFC 173Las Vegas, NV, US

May 24, 2014

603 days

1. def. Joe Soto at UFC 177 on Aug 30, 2014
2. def. Renan Barão at UFC on Fox: Dillashaw vs. Barão 2 on Jul 25, 2015

4

 Dominick Cruz (2)

UFC Fight Night: Dillashaw vs. CruzBoston, MA, US

Jan 17, 2016

348 days(1,465 days)

1. def. Urijah Faber at UFC 199 on Jun 4, 2016

5

 Cody Garbrandt

UFC 207Las Vegas, NV, US

Dec 30, 2016

309 days

6

 T.J. Dillashaw (2)

UFC 217New York City, NY, US

Nov 4, 2017

293 days(incumbent)

1. def. Cody Garbrandt at UFC 227 on Aug 4, 2018

text: Flyweight Championship[edit]

text:
116 to 125 lb (53 to 57 kg)
Demetrious Johnson defeated Joseph Benavidez on September 22, 2012, at UFC 152 in Toronto, ON, Canada in the finale of a 4-man tournament for the inaugural title.[34]

text:
No.
Name
Event
Date
Reign
Defenses

1

 Demetrious Johnsondef. Joseph Benavidez

UFC 152Toronto, ON, Canada

Sep 22, 2012

2,142 days

1. def. John Dodson at UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Dodson on Jan 26, 2013
2. def. John Moraga at UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Moraga on Jul 27, 2013
3. def. Joseph Benavidez at UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Benavidez 2 on Dec 14, 2013
4. def. Ali Bagautinov at UFC 174 on June 14, 2014
5. def. Chris Cariaso at UFC 178 on Sep 27, 2014
6. def. Kyoji Horiguchi at UFC 186 on Apr 25, 2015
7. def. John Dodson at UFC 191 on Sep 5, 2015
8. def. Henry Cejudo at UFC 197 on Apr 23, 2016
9. def. Tim Elliott at The Ultimate Fighter: Tournament of Champions Finale on Dec 3, 2016
10. def. Wilson Reis at UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Reis on Apr 15, 2017
11. def. Ray Borg at UFC 216 on Oct 7, 2017

2

 Henry Cejudo

UFC 227Los Angeles, CA, US

Aug 4, 2018

20 days(incumbent)

text: Women's championship history[edit]

text: Women's Featherweight Championship[edit]

text:
136 to 145 lb (62 to 66 kg)
The inaugural title was contested on February 11, 2017 in Brooklyn, NY, US at UFC 208.[35]

text:
No.
Name
Event
Date
Reign
Defenses

1

 Germaine de Randamiedef. Holly Holm

UFC 208Brooklyn, NY, US

Feb 11, 2017

128 days

De Randamie was stripped of the title on June 19, 2017, after she refused to defend the title against Cris Cyborg.[36]

2

 Cris Cyborgdef. Tonya Evinger

UFC 214Anaheim, CA, US

Jul 29, 2017

391 days(incumbent)

1. def. Holly Holm at UFC 219 on Dec 30, 2017
2. def. Yana Kunitskaya at UFC 222 on Mar 3, 2018

text: Women's Bantamweight Championship[edit]

text:
126 to 135 lb (57 to 61 kg)
Prior to its folding and absorption by the UFC, Ronda Rousey was the Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion. Rousey was awarded the inaugural UFC Women's Bantamweight Championship on December 6, 2012, at a UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Diaz pre-event press conference.[37]

text:
No.
Name
Event
Date
Reign
Defenses

1

 Ronda Rouseypromoted to undisputed champion

UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Diaz press conferenceSeattle, WA, US

Dec 6, 2012

1,074 days

1. def. Liz Carmouche at UFC 157 on Feb 23, 2013
2. def. Miesha Tate at UFC 168 on Dec 28, 2013
3. def. Sara McMann at UFC 170 on Feb 22, 2014
4. def. Alexis Davis at UFC 175 on Jul 5, 2014
5. def. Cat Zingano at UFC 184 on Feb 28, 2015
6. def. Bethe Correia at UFC 190 on Aug 1, 2015

2

 Holly Holm

UFC 193Melbourne, Australia

Nov 15, 2015

111 days

3

 Miesha Tate

UFC 196Las Vegas, NV, US

Mar 5, 2016

126 days

4

 Amanda Nunes

UFC 200Las Vegas, NV, US

Jul 9, 2016

776 days(incumbent)

1. def. Ronda Rousey at UFC 207 on Dec 30, 2016
2. def. Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 215 on Sep 9, 2017
3. def. Raquel Pennington at UFC 224 on May 12, 2018

text: Women's Flyweight Championship[edit]

text:
116 to 125 lb (53 to 57 kg)
The inaugural title was contested on December 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada at The Ultimate Fighter: A New World Champion Finale. The inaugural title fight was between two fighters who appeared on the 26th season of The Ultimate Fighter.

text:
No.
Name
Event
Date
Reign
Defenses

1

 Nicco Montañodef. Roxanne Modafferi

The Ultimate Fighter: A New World Champion FinaleLas Vegas, NV, US

Dec 1, 2017

266 days(incumbent)

text: Women's Strawweight Championship[edit]

text:
106 to 115 lb (48 to 52 kg)
Previously the Invicta FC strawweight champion, Carla Esparza defeated Rose Namajunas for the inaugural title on December 12, 2014 in the tournament finale for The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned.[11]

text:
No.
Name
Event
Date
Reign
Defenses

1

 Carla Esparzadef. Rose Namajunas

The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned FinaleLas Vegas, NV, US

Dec 12, 2014

92 days

2

 Joanna Jędrzejczyk

UFC 185Dallas, TX, US

Mar 14, 2015

966 days

1. def. Jessica Penne at UFC Fight Night: Jędrzejczyk vs. Penne on Jun 20, 2015
2. def. Valérie Létourneau at UFC 193 on Nov 15, 2015
3. def. Cláudia Gadelha at The Ultimate Fighter: Team Joanna vs. Team Cláudia Finale on Jul 8, 2016
4. def. Karolina Kowalkiewicz at UFC 205 on Nov 12, 2016
5. def. Jéssica Andrade at UFC 211 on May 13, 2017

3

 Rose Namajunas

UFC 217New York City, NY, US

Nov 4, 2017

293 days(incumbent)

1. def. Joanna Jędrzejczyk at UFC 223 on Apr 7, 2018

text: Superfight Championship (defunct)[edit]

text: An openweight title used before the introduction of weight classes in 1997. It was designed to create a reigning UFC Champion for the UFC tournament winners to challenge.[38]

text:
No.
Name
Event
Date
Reign
Defenses

Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie fought to a draw on April 7, 1995 at UFC 5 in Charlotte, NC, US for the inaugural Superfight title.[1]

1

 Ken Shamrockdef. Dan Severn

UFC 6Casper, WY, US

Jul 14, 1995

308 days

1. drew with Oleg Taktarov at UFC 7 on Sep 8, 1995
2. def. Kimo Leopoldo at UFC 8 on Feb 16, 1996

2

 Dan Severn

UFC 9Detroit, MI, US

May 17, 1996

266 days

Mark Coleman defeated Severn on February 7, 1997 at UFC 12 in Dothan, AL, US. This bout unified the UFC Superfight Championship with the UFC Tournament Championship to determine the inaugural UFC Heavyweight Champion.[4]

text: Tournament winners[edit]

text:
Event
Date
Division
Winner
Runner-up

UFC 1

Nov 12, 1993

None

 Royce Gracie

 Gerard Gordeau

UFC 2

Mar 11, 1994

None

 Royce Gracie (2)

 Patrick Smith

UFC 3

Sep 9, 1994

None

 Steve Jennum

 Harold Howard

UFC 4

Dec 16, 1994

None

 Royce Gracie (3)

 Dan Severn

UFC 5

Apr 7, 1995

None

 Dan Severn

 Dave Beneteau

UFC 6

Jul 14, 1995

None

 Oleg Taktarov

 David Abbott

UFC 7

Sep 8, 1995

None

 Marco Ruas

 Paul Varelans

The Ultimate Ultimate

Dec 16, 1995

None

 Dan Severn (2)

 Oleg Taktarov

UFC 8

Feb 16, 1996

None

 Don Frye

 Gary Goodridge

UFC 10

Jul 12, 1996

None

 Mark Coleman

 Don Frye

UFC 11

Sep 20, 1996

None

 Mark Coleman (2)

 Scott Ferrozzo

The Ultimate Ultimate 2

Dec 7, 1996

None

 Don Frye (2)

 David Abbott

UFC 12

Feb 7, 1997

Heavyweight

 Vitor Belfort

 Scott Ferrozzo

Lightweight

 Jerry Bohlander

  Nick Sanzo

UFC 13

May 30, 1997

Heavyweight

 Randy Couture

  Steven Graham

Lightweight

 Guy Mezger

 Tito Ortiz

UFC 14

Jul 27, 1997

Heavyweight

 Mark Kerr

 Dan Bobish

Middleweight

 Kevin Jackson

 Tony Fryklund

UFC 15

Oct 17, 1997

Heavyweight

 Mark Kerr (2)

  Dwayne Cason

Ultimate Japan

Dec 21, 1997

Heavyweight

 Kazushi Sakuraba

  Marcus Silveira

UFC 16

Mar 13, 1998

Lightweight

 Pat Miletich

 Chris Brennan

UFC 17

May 15, 1998

Middleweight

 Dan Henderson

 Carlos Newton

UFC 23

Nov 19, 1999

Middleweight

 Kenichi Yamamoto

 Katsuhisa Fujii

UFC 39  UFC 41

Feb 28, 2003

Lightweight

B.J. Penn drew with Caol Uno in the finale of the 4-man tournament.

UFC on FX 2  UFC on FX 3  UFC 152

Sep 22, 2012

Flyweight

 Demetrious Johnson

 Joseph Benavidez

text: The Ultimate Fighter[edit]

text: The Ultimate Fighter is a reality television series and mixed martial arts competition produced by the UFC. The show features professional fighters living together and competing against one another in a tournament for a contract with the UFC.

text:
Season
Finale
Division
Winner
Runner-up

TUF 1: Team Couture vs. Team Liddell

Apr 9, 2005

Light Heavyweight

 Forrest Griffin

 Stephan Bonnar

Middleweight

 Diego Sanchez

 Kenny Florian

TUF 2: Team Hughes vs. Team Franklin

Nov 5, 2005

Heavyweight

 Rashad Evans

 Brad Imes

Welterweight

 Joe Stevenson

 Luke Cummo

TUF 3: Team Ortiz vs. Team Shamrock

Jun 24, 2006

Middleweight

 Kendall Grove

 Ed Herman

Light Heavyweight

 Michael Bisping

 Josh Haynes

TUF 4: The Comeback

Nov 11, 2006

Middleweight

 Travis Lutter

 Patrick Côté

Welterweight

 Matt Serra

 Chris Lytle

TUF 5: Team Pulver vs. Team Penn

Jun 23, 2007

Lightweight

 Nate Diaz

 Manvel Gamburyan

TUF 6: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra

Dec 8, 2007

Welterweight

 Mac Danzig

 Tommy Speer

TUF 7: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest

Jun 21, 2008

Middleweight

 Amir Sadollah

 C.B. Dollaway

TUF 8: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir

Dec 13, 2008

Light Heavyweight

 Ryan Bader

 Vinicius Magalhães

Lightweight

 Efrain Escudero

 Phillipe Nover

TUF 9: United States vs. United Kingdom

Jun 20, 2009

Lightweight

 Ross Pearson

 Andre Winner

Welterweight

 James Wilks

 DaMarques Johnson

TUF 10: Heavyweights

Dec 5, 2009

Heavyweight

 Roy Nelson

 Brendan Schaub

TUF 11: Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz

Jun 19, 2010

Middleweight

 Court McGee

 Kris McCray

TUF 12: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck

Dec 4, 2010

Lightweight

 Jonathan Brookins

 Michael Johnson

TUF 13: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos

Jun 4, 2011

Welterweight

 Tony Ferguson

 Ramsey Nijem

TUF 14: Team Bisping vs. Team Miller

Dec 3, 2011

Bantamweight

 John Dodson

 T.J. Dillashaw

Featherweight

 Diego Brandao

 Dennis Bermudez

TUF 15: Live

Jun 1, 2012

Lightweight

 Michael Chiesa

 Al Iaquinta

TUF: Brazil

Jun 23, 2012

Featherweight

 Rony Mariano Bezerra

 Godofredo Pepey

Middleweight

 Cezar Ferreira

 Sergio Moraes

TUF 16: Team Carwin vs. Team Nelson

Dec 15, 2012

Welterweight

 Colton Smith

 Mike Ricci

TUF: The Smashes

Dec 15, 2012

Lightweight

 Norman Parke

 Colin Fletcher

Welterweight

 Robert Whittaker

 Brad Scott

TUF 17: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen

Apr 13, 2013

Middleweight

 Kelvin Gastelum

 Uriah Hall

TUF: Brazil 2

Jun 8, 2013

Welterweight

 Leonardo Santos

 William Macario

TUF 18: Team Rousey vs. Team Tate

Nov 30, 2013

Bantamweight

 Chris Holdsworth

 David Grant

Women's Bantamweight

 Julianna Peña

 Jessica Rakoczy

TUF: China

Mar 1, 2014

Featherweight

 Ning Guangyou

 Yang Jianping

Welterweight

 Zhang Lipeng

 Wang Sai

TUF Nations: Canada vs. Australia

Apr 16, 2014

Welterweight

 Chad Laprise

 Olivier Aubin-Mercier

Middleweight

 Elias Theodorou

 Sheldon Westcott

TUF: Brazil 3

May 31, 2014

Middleweight

 Warlley Alves

 Márcio Alexandre Júnior

Heavyweight

 Antônio Carlos Júnior

 Vitor Miranda

TUF 19: Team Edgar vs. Team Penn

Jul 6, 2014

Middleweight

 Eddie Gordon

 Dhiego Lima

Light Heavyweight

 Corey Anderson

 Matt Van Buren

TUF: Latin America

Nov 15, 2014

Bantamweight

 Alejandro Pérez

 José Alberto Quiñónez

Featherweight

 Yair Rodríguez

 Leonardo Morales

TUF 20: A Champion Will Be Crowned

Dec 12, 2014

Women's Strawweight

 Carla Esparza

 Rose Namajunas

TUF 21: American Top Team vs. Blackzilians

Jul 12, 2015

Welterweight

 Kamaru Usman

 Hayder Hassan

TUF: Brazil 4

Aug 1, 2015

Bantamweight

 Reginaldo Vieira

 Dileno Lopes

Lightweight

 Glaico França

 Fernando Bruno

TUF: Latin America 2

Nov 21, 2015

Lightweight

 Enrique Barzola

 Horacio Gutiérrez

Welterweight

 Erick Montaño

 Enrique Marín

TUF 22: Team McGregor vs. Team Faber

Dec 11, 2015

Lightweight

 Ryan Hall

 Artem Lobov

TUF 23: Team Joanna vs. Team Cláudia

Jul 8, 2016

Women's Strawweight

 Tatiana Suarez

 Amanda Cooper

Light Heavyweight

 Andrew Sanchez

 Khalil Rountree

TUF: Latin America 3

Nov 5, 2016

Lightweight

 Martín Bravo

 Claudio Puelles

TUF 24: Tournament of Champions

Dec 3, 2016

Flyweight

 Tim Elliott

 Hiromasa Ogikubo

TUF 25: Redemption

Jul 7, 2017

Welterweight

 Jesse Taylor

 Dhiego Lima

TUF 26: A New World Champion

Dec 1, 2017

Women's Flyweight

 Nicco Montaño

 Roxanne Modafferi

TUF 27: Undefeated

Jul 6, 2018

Featherweight

 Brad Katona

 Jay Cucciniello

Lightweight

 Mike Trizano

 Joe Giannetti

text: Champions by nationality[edit]

text: Division champions are the primary separation criteria due to being non-closed competition. It includes title holders and interim title holders. Interim champions who become undisputed champions are listed only once. People with multiple title reigns will have each of them counted. Tournament wins are secondary due to many tournaments being country specific and thus not generally a national achievement to win. Runners-up and The Ultimate Fighter runners-up are not included.

text:
Country
Divisionchampions
Tournamentchampions
TUFWinners
Total

 United States

67
16
30
113

 Brazil

14
5
8
27

 Canada

4
-
3
7

 Ireland

2
-
-
2

 Netherlands

2
-
-
2

 England

1
-
3
4

 Australia

1
-
1
2

 Russia

1
1
-
2

 Belarus

1
-
-
1

 Poland

1
-
-
1

 Mexico

-
-
5
5

 China

-
-
2
2

 Japan

-
2
-
2

 Jamaica

-
-
1
1

 Nigeria

-
-
1
1

 Northern Ireland

-
-
1
1

 Peru

-
-
1
1

text: Most wins in title bouts[edit]

text: Fighters with four or more championship and/or interim championship title wins.[39] Fighters with the same number of title wins are arranged in order of most title fights. Tournament championships and The Ultimate Fighter winners are not included.

text:
Title wins
Champion
Division
Record in title fights

13

 Georges St-Pierre

Middleweight Welterweight

1 - 0 - 0  12 - 2 - 0

12

 Demetrious Johnson

Bantamweight Flyweight

0 - 1 - 0  12 - 1 - 0

11

 Anderson Silva

Middleweight

11 - 2 - 0

10

 Jon Jones

Light Heavyweight

10 - 0 - 0 (1)

9

 Randy Couture

Heavyweight Light Heavyweight

6 - 3 - 0  3 - 3 - 0

 Matt Hughes

Welterweight

9 - 3 - 0

8

 José Aldo

Featherweight

8 - 3 - 0

6

 Tito Ortiz

Light Heavyweight

6 - 3 - 0

 Ronda Rousey

Women's Bantamweight

6 - 2 - 0

 Joanna Jędrzejczyk

Women's Strawweight

6 - 2 - 0

5

 B.J. Penn

Welterweight Lightweight

1 - 2 - 0  4 - 3 - 1

 Tim Sylvia

Heavyweight

5 - 4 - 0

 Chuck Liddell

Light Heavyweight

5 - 2 - 0

 Daniel Cormier

HeavyweightLight Heavyweight

1 - 0 - 04 - 1 - 0 (1)

 Pat Miletich

Welterweight

5 - 1 - 0

 Dominick Cruz

Bantamweight

5 - 1 - 0

 T.J. Dillashaw

Bantamweight

5 - 1 - 0

 Frank Shamrock

Light Heavyweight

5 - 0 - 0

4

 Cain Velasquez

Heavyweight

4 - 2 - 0

 Renan Barão

Bantamweight

4 - 2 - 0

 Benson Henderson

Lightweight

4 - 1 - 0

 Chris Weidman

Middleweight

4 - 1 - 0

 Stipe Miocic

Heavyweight

4 - 1 - 0

 Amanda Nunes

Women's Bantamweight

4 - 0 - 0

text: Most consecutive title defenses[edit]

text: The following includes all UFC champions who were able to consecutively defend their title three times or more. Fighters with the same number of title defenses are listed chronologically.[40]

text:
Defenses
Champion
Division
Period

11

 Demetrious Johnson

Flyweight

Sep 22, 2012 – Aug 4, 2018

10

 Anderson Silva

Middleweight

Oct 14, 2006 – Jul 6, 2013

9

 Georges St-Pierre

Welterweight

Apr 19, 2008 – Dec 13, 2013

8

 Jon Jones

Light Heavyweight

Mar 19, 2011 – Apr 28, 2015

7

 José Aldo

Featherweight

Nov 20, 2010 – Dec 12, 2015

6

 Ronda Rousey

Women's Bantamweight

Dec 6, 2012 – Nov 15, 2015

5

 Tito Ortiz

Light Heavyweight

Apr 14, 2000 – Sep 26, 2003

 Matt Hughes

Welterweight

Nov 2, 2001 – Jan 31, 2004

 Joanna Jędrzejczyk

Women's Strawweight

Mar 14, 2015 – Nov 4, 2017

4

 Frank Shamrock

Light Heavyweight

Dec 21, 1997 – Nov 24, 1999

 Pat Miletich

Welterweight

Oct 16, 1998 – May 4, 2001

 Chuck Liddell

Light Heavyweight

Apr 16, 2005 – May 26, 2007

3

 B.J. Penn

Lightweight

Jan 19, 2008 – Apr 10, 2010

 Frankie Edgar[a]

Lightweight

Apr 10, 2010 – Feb 26, 2012

 Benson Henderson

Lightweight

Feb 26, 2012 – Aug 31, 2013

 Renan Barão[b]

Bantamweight

Jul 21, 2012 – May 24, 2014

 Chris Weidman

Middleweight

Jul 6, 2013 – Dec 12, 2015

 Tyron Woodley[c]

Welterweight

Jul 30, 2016 – present

 Daniel Cormier[d]

Light Heavyweight

May 23, 2015 – present

 Stipe Miocic

Heavyweight

May 14, 2016 – Jul 7, 2018

 Amanda Nunes

Women's Bantamweight

Jul 9, 2016 – present

text:
Jump up ^ Edgar successfully defended the UFC Lightweight Championship twice and retained the title once following a draw against Gray Maynard at UFC 125.

Jump up ^ Barão successfully defended the interim UFC Bantamweight Championship twice before being promoted to undisputed champion and defending his title once more.

Jump up ^ Woodley successfully defended the UFC Welterweight Championship twice and retained the title once following a draw against  Stephen Thompson at UFC 205.

Jump up ^ Cormier lost to Jon Jones attempting his 3rd consecutive defense. However, Jones' win was later overtuned to a no-contest due to a failed pre-fight drug test. Cormier was later reinstated as champion and made his 3rd successful title defense at UFC 220.

text: Longest reigning champions[edit]

text: The following is a list of the ten longest reigning UFC champions.

text: Longest individual reigns[edit]

text:
Name
Title Reign
Weight class
Successful defenses

1.
 Anderson Silva
2,457 days
Middleweight
10

2.
 Demetrious Johnson
2,142 days
Flyweight
11

3.
 Georges St-Pierre
2,064 days
Welterweight
9

4.
 José Aldo
1,848 days
Featherweight
7

5.
 Jon Jones
1,501 days
Light Heavyweight
8

6.
 Tito Ortiz
1,260 days
Light Heavyweight
5

7.
 Daniel Cormier
1,189 days(incumbent)
Light Heavyweight
3

8.
 Dominick Cruz
1,117 days
Bantamweight
2

9.
 Ronda Rousey
1,074 days
Women's Bantamweight
6

10.
 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
966 days
Women's Strawweight
5

text: Longest combined reigns[edit]

text:
Name
Days as champion
Number of reigns
Weight class
Cumulative title defenses

1.
 Anderson Silva
2,457 days
1
Middleweight
10

2.
 Georges St-Pierre
2,237 days
3
Welterweight,Middleweight
9

3.
 Demetrious Johnson
2,142 days
1
Flyweight
11

4.
 José Aldo
2,037 days
2
Featherweight
7

5.
 Matt Hughes
1,577 days
2
Welterweight
7

6.
 Jon Jones
1,501 days
1
Light Heavyweight
8

7.
 Randy Couture
1,478+ days
5
Heavyweight,Light Heavyweight
3

8.
 Dominick Cruz
1,465 days
2
Bantamweight
3

9.
 Cain Velasquez
1,281 days
2
Heavyweight
2

10.
 Tito Ortiz
1,260 days
1
Light Heavyweight
5

text: Multi-division champions[edit]

text: Fighters who have won championships in multiple weight classes.[41] Tournament championships and The Ultimate Fighter winners are not included.

text: Randy Couture is notably the first champion to hold belts in two different divisions, and one of the few to reclaim a title after being defeated. Conor McGregor was the first fighter to hold multiple titles simultaneously. Daniel Cormier is both the reigning Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight Champion.

text:
Champion
Division
Won
Lost
Defenses
Reign
Total reign

 Randy Couture

Heavyweight

Dec 21, 1997 (UFC Japan)

Jan ?, 1998 (stripped)

0

00? days

1,478+ days

Nov 17, 2000 (UFC 28)

Mar 22, 2002 (UFC 36)

2

490 days

Light Heavyweight

Sep 26, 2003 (UFC 44)

Jan 31, 2004 (UFC 46)

0

127 days

Aug 21, 2004 (UFC 49)

Apr 16, 2005 (UFC 52)

0

238 days

Heavyweight

Mar 3, 2007 (UFC 68)

Nov 15, 2008 (UFC 91)

1

623 days

 B.J. Penn

Welterweight

Jan 31, 2004 (UFC 46)

May 17, 2004 (stripped)

0

107 days

919 days

Lightweight

Jan 19, 2008 (UFC 80)

Apr 10, 2010 (UFC 112)

3

812 days

 Conor McGregor

Featherweight

Dec 12, 2015 (UFC 194)

Nov 26, 2016 (stripped)

0

350 days

861 days

Lightweight

Nov 12, 2016 (UFC 205)

Apr 7, 2018 (stripped)

0

511 days

 Georges St-Pierre

Welterweight

Nov 18, 2006 (UFC 65)

Apr 7, 2007 (UFC 69)

0

140 days

2,237 days

Apr 19, 2008 (UFC 83)

Dec 13, 2013 (vacated)

9

2,064 days

Middleweight

Nov 4, 2017 (UFC 217)

Dec 7, 2017 (vacated)

0

33 days

 Daniel Cormier

Light Heavyweight

May 23, 2015 (UFC 187)

Incumbent

3

1,189 days

Ongoing

Heavyweight

Jul 7, 2018 (UFC 226)

0

48 days