5 UFC champions who made moving up in weight look easy

If recent reports are to be believed, former featherweight champ Ilia Topuria will be moving up to 155 pounds at UFC 317. His opponent will be former lightweight king Charles Oliveira.

Ilia Topuria will be faced with a huge challenge at UFC 317, but if he can win, he'll join a short list of champions who made moving up in weight look easy.

When you consider that greats such as Israel Adesanya and Joanna Jedrzejczyk struggled with moving up, if Topuria can pull it off, his legendary status would be assured.

Here, then, are five UFC champions who made moving up in weight look easy.

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#5. Jon Jones - UFC heavyweight champion

Widely recognized as one of the greatest fighters in UFC history, Jon Jones absolutely made his move up to heavyweight look easy in 2023.

'Bones' had ran roughshod over the light heavyweight division for basically a decade, going unbeaten there outside of a controversial disqualification from his debut in 2008 to 2020.

He claimed the light heavyweight title on three occasions, only ever giving it up due to the promotion stripping it from him following positive drug tests.

At his best, he beat a who's who of 205-pound legends, including Shogun Rua, Rampage Jackson, Rashad Evans, Daniel Cormier, and Alexander Gustafsson.

Jones' huge frame always meant that a move up to heavyweight was a viable one, and when he finally made the jump in 2023, he showed exactly why.

He made light work of former interim champ Ciryl Gane to claim the vacant heavyweight title, submitting him in a matter of minutes with a guillotine choke. More recently, he dominated and dispatched former champ Stipe Miocic via TKO.

Given his apparent avoidance of current interim champ Tom Aspinall, there are some questions over Jones' legacy at heavyweight. However, only a fool would claim that he's made the move there look anything but easy.

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#4. Alex Pereira - former UFC light heavyweight champion

Few fighters have made as big an impact in a short period of time as former light-heavyweight and middleweight champion Alex Pereira.

'Poatan' only debuted in the UFC in 2021, but the legendary kickboxer is already considered a legend of not just the octagon, but MMA in general.

Part of that legendary status comes from the ease in which he moved up from 185 pounds to 205 pounds in 2023.

Pereira stunned fans by dethroning longtime middleweight champ Israel Adesanya in 2022, but lost his title back to 'The Last Stylebender' in their instant rematch.

It was unclear where he could go from there, so he decided to make the move up in weight, feeling that he was already cutting a huge amount to make 185 pounds.

Incredibly, for as good as 'Poatan' had been at middleweight, he was somehow even better at 205 pounds. After edging Jan Blachowicz out in his divisional debut, he claimed the vacant title by knocking out former champ Jiri Prochazka and then went on a tear.

The Brazilian finished Jamahal Hill, Prochazka again and Khalil Rountree Jr in a banner 2024, taking his overall record to 12-2 and giving him no fewer than six wins over fellow UFC titleholders.

He has since lost his title to Magomed Ankalaev, but is likely to receive a rematch later this year. Essentially, few champions in octagon history have made a move up in weight look easier.

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#3. Henry Cejudo - former UFC bantamweight champion

In many ways, Henry Cejudo's move from 125 pounds to 135 pounds was unplanned. After all, 'Triple C' had only just begun his reign as flyweight champ when it happened.

The 2008 Olympic gold medalist famously dethroned longtime 125-pound kingpin Demetrious Johnson in the summer of 2018, shocking most fans in the process.

His first defense turned out to be a fascinating one. He was matched with bantamweight champ TJ Dillashaw, who was making a rare move down in weight to attempt to become a double champ.

Cejudo spoiled those plans, though, and knocked Dillashaw out in under a minute, pulling off an all-time great victory. When Dillashaw then tested positive for EPO after the bout and was suspended, it only made sense for 'Triple C' to go after the then-vacant 135-pound title too.

Matched with dangerous top contender Marlon Moraes in the title bout, Cejudo ended up producing one of his greatest-ever showings to claim the gold.

He roared back from a sticky start to destroy Moraes with ground-and-pound, making the adjustment to his new weight class seem simple.

When he then knocked out former champ Dominick Cruz in his first defense, it felt like a legendary title run was ahead of him.

Unfortunately, 'Triple C' instead chose to enter a self-imposed retirement, giving up both of his titles, and hasn't quite been the same since returning in 2023.

Still, his success upon moving to 135 pounds initially means he absolutely classes as a champion who made moving up seem easy.

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#2. Amanda Nunes - former UFC bantamweight champion

Amanda Nunes is widely considered the greatest female fighter in MMA history, and it's with good reason. Not only is 'The Lioness' one of just four fighters in UFC history to claim two titles in different weight classes simultaneously, but her record is basically untouchable.

During her 10-year run with the promotion, Nunes managed to defeat a ridiculous eight other titleholders, including bantamweight greats Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate and Holly Holm.

Her greatest achievement, though, came in 2018, when she moved up to 145 pounds for the first time to challenge then-featherweight queen Cris Cyborg.

At the time, Cyborg was arguably the most feared female fighter on the planet, having not lost a fight in 13 years. She'd torn through every foe she'd ever faced, usally destroying them with serious violence.

However, 'The Lioness' was unafraid, and incredibly, she went toe-to-toe with her fellow Brazilian. Nunes' faster hands proved to be the ultimate weapon, and she needed less than a minute to pull off one of the biggest wins ever seen in the octagon, knocking Cyborg out.

Nunes went onto hold the featherweight title until her retirement in 2023, defending it twice whilst also defending her bantamweight title too. Not only did she make moving up in weight look easy, she somehow made dominating two weight classes look simple, too.

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#1. Anderson Silva - former UFC middleweight champion

Former middleweight champion Anderson Silva remains one of the biggest legends in the history of the UFC.

A two-time entrant into the Hall of Fame, 'The Spider' still holds numerous promotional records, including the longest winning streak in octagon history, with 16 wins in a row to his name.

One thing that Silva never did, though, was become a two-division champion. However, the truth is that had 'The Spider' decided to move up to 205 pounds, the light-heavyweight title could've been his.

After all, when he did move up in weight, he made things look so easy that it was actually scary.

Silva's first foray into the 205 pound division came in 2008, when he needed just a minute to dispatch the dangerous James Irvin. His crowning achievement there, though, came in 2009.

That summer saw him face former light-heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin, a fighter who'd beaten the likes of Shogun Rua and Rampage Jackson and gone toe-to-toe with Tito Ortiz and Rashad Evans.

Against Silva, though, Griffin was painfully outgunned. 'The Spider' produced an all-time virtuoso performance, easily dodging his foe's slower strikes and embarrassing him with multiple knockdowns en route to a first round KO win.

Why didn't the Brazilian attempt to become a two-division champion, then? Largely because he didn't want to fight his teammate Lyoto Machida, who claimed the light-heavyweight title in 2009, and also because he always had plenty of challengers at 185 pounds.

Given how easily he defeated Griffin, though, it's safe to say that this legend had absolutely no issues with moving up in weight, and made it look as easy as anything he ever did.