The UFC is proud to celebrate Black History Month by acknowledging the achievements of African American and Black UFC athletes throughout our history. UFC will highlight the personal stories of these athletes, past and present, while celebrating their significance in promoting and growing UFC and the sport of mixed martial arts.
All Black UFC fighters hope to make their mark in the company known for having the best mixed martial arts fighters in the world. The high level of competition in UFC will provide the most success for any fighter hoping to make get famous in the MMA world.
As the UFC kept getting bigger, more ethnicities began to enter the UFC. Now the UFC is filled with fighters from different backgrounds and the promotion currently has 4 Black UFC Champions.
The Ethnicity Factor in MMA EXPLAINED Black, Asain, White, Indigenous genetics in UFC.
Pioneers and Trailblazers
November 12 - UFC 1: The Beginning was the inaugural event for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Held in Denver, Colorado, the historic event also featured the first African American athletes to compete in the UFC with Zane Frazier, Art Jimmerson, Patrick Smith and Trent Jenkins all competing inside the Octagon.
February 16 - Gary Goodridge, born in Trinidad and Tobago and representing Canada, made his UFC debut at UFC 8: David vs. Goliath.
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July 13 - Mark Weir made history at UFC 38: Brawl at the Hall as the first Black athlete born in the United Kingdom to compete in the UFC.
April 25 - David Loiseau, born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, made his UFC debut at UFC 42: Sudden Impact, becoming the first Black athlete born in Canada to compete in the UFC.
July 27 - Germaine de Randamie made her UFC debut against Julie Kedzie, which she won by split decision, becoming the first Black female to compete in the UFC at UFC on FOX: Johnson vs.
October 1- Angela Hill became the first African American female to compete on The Ultimate Fighter in the 20th season of the show.
December 12 - Angela Hill also became the first African American female to compete in the UFC.
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September 12 - Angela Hill became the first African American female to headline a UFC event in her bout against Michelle Waterson at UFC Fight Night: Waterson vs.
July 7 - Maurice Smith becomes the first African American athlete to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
UFC Champions and Notable Fighters
May 4 - Carlos Newton, born in Anguilla and representing Canada, defeated champion Pat Miletich by submission to win the UFC welterweight title at UFC 31: Locked and Loaded.
October 14 - Anderson “Spider” Silva defeats Rich Franklin by first-round knockout at UFC 64: Unstoppable to win the UFC middleweight title. During his prime, Silva was considered unstoppable going on a 16 fight win streak in the UFC, the biggest win streak in UFC history. He fought a who’s who in the UFC, with stoppage wins over Chael Sonnen twice, Vitor Belfort, and Dan Henderson. The future Hall of Famer left the UFC in 2020, and is now having a successful boxing career having beat Julio César Chávez Jr.
May 26 - Quinton “Rampage” Jackson defeated Chuck Liddell by TKO to win the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 71: Liddell vs. During his prime ‘Rampage’ was a popular fighter known for his heavy hands and the firefights he’d get into. Jackson was a part of the UFC when the Light Heavyweight division was the deepest division, which means he fought the absolute best sharing the octagon with Jon Jones, Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida and many more fighters.
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April 2 - Quinton “Rampage” Jackson became the first African American coach on The Ultimate Fighter during season 7: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest.
March 19 - Jon Jones defeated Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones at light heavyweight to become the youngest UFC champion at the age of 23 years and 242 days. Jones came to the UFC in 2008 and only has one loss, which many people consider controversial, that came via disqualification. Jones made history at UFC 128 when he stopped Maurício ‘Shogun’ Rua to become the youngest ever UFC Champion at 24 years. He successfully defended his title eight times over the course of his first four-year reign.
February 26 - Benson Henderson defeated Frankie Edgar by unanimous decision to win the UFC lightweight title at UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson. Although Henderson only had a short UFC career he managed to accomplish a lot in his 4 years with the company. One of the main things that made Henderson stand out early on, was that he was one of the first fighters in UFC history to be using calf kicks effectively.
September 22 - Demetrious Johnson defeated Joseph Benavidez by split decision to win the inaugural UFC flyweight championship at UFC 152: Jones vs. Considered by many as one of the greats in UFC history, ‘Might Mouse’ has an incredible 12 title fight wins in the UFC as he held the Flyweight belt for 6 years. Johnson is still actively competing for ONE Championship, he has special rules bout coming up on March 26th against Rodtang Jitmuangnon.
October 13 - Anderson “Spider” Silva defeats Stephan Bonnar with a first-round TKO at UFC 153: Silva vs. Bonnar to set the UFC record for most consecutive victories.
July 5 - Anderson “Spider” Silva sets the UFC record for longest title reign.
May 23 - Daniel Cormier defeated Anthony Johnson by third-round submission to win the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 187: Johnson vs. Cormier. Cormier was an all-American wrestler known for his mauling style where he would continuously take people down and dominate. He got his first taste of UFC gold by submitting Anthony Johnson at UFC 187 in the third round to win the Light Heavyweight strap.
July 30 - Tyron Woodley defeated Robbie Lawler by first-round knockout to win the UFC welterweight title at UFC 201: Lawler vs. Woodley. One of the hardest hitters in UFC welterweight history, Woodley had a lot of success in his time in the UFC. He brutally knocked out Robbie Lawler in the first round at UFC 201 to win the Welterweight belt and then went on to defend his belt 4 times. Woodley wasn’t always a fan favorite due to his less than exciting fight style that caused him to fall out with UFC president Dana White.
October 1 - Daniel Cormier became the first African American color commentator for a UFC event, during the Zuffa era, at UFC Fight Night 96: Lineker vs.
February 11 - Germaine de Randamie defeated Holly Holm at UFC 208: Holm vs.
March 2 - Kamaru Usman (Nigeria) defeated Tyron Woodley at UFC 235: Jones vs. Smith to become the UFC welterweight champion and the first African-born UFC champion. The ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ first made a name for himself in 2015 when he won his season of the Ultimate Fighter. Beating Tyron Woodley at UFC 235 made Usman the first African-born champion in the UFC. Usman is currently the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC with 5 title defenses so far. The Welterweight champion is on a 15 fight win streak in the UFC and is looking to get his record-tying 16th UFC win when he rematches Leon Edwards next in July.
October 6 - Israel Adesanya defeated Robert Whittaker by second-round knockout to win the undisputed UFC middleweight title at UFC 243: Whittaker vs. Adesanya quickly rose to fame thanks to his unique fight style. It took him 14 months to get his first title shot in the UFC, beating Kelvin Gastelum in the fight of the night at UFC 236 to capture the interim Middleweight belt. ‘The Last Stylebender’ is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Robert Whittaker at UFC 271 and looks to fight at least two more times this year.
Hall of Fame Inductees
March 7 - On March 7, 2020, it was announced that Jon Jones was to be inducted into the Fight Wing of the UFC Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2020 for his 2013 fight against light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson.
May 16 - On May 16, 2020, it was announced that Kevin Randleman has been posthumously named to the UFC Hall of Fame Pioneer Wing as a member of the class of 2020.
Other Notable Fighters
- Rashad Evans: A UFC veteran with over 20 UFC fights, Evans never shied away from a fight and fought everyone in his time in the Light Heavyweight division. His status as a legendary fighter was confirmed in 2019 when he was inducted into the UFC hall of fame. After going through the worst skid of his career Evans announced his retirement in 2018.
- Yoel Romero: A fan favorite for all fight fans, Yoel Romero was known in the UFC for his explosive style that could finish the fight anytime with 8 post-fight bonuses in 13 fights. Romero is also tied for the second most knockout wins in UFC Middleweight history with 7 stoppages. Romero was involved in one of the greatest middleweight fights ever, losing a close decision vs Robert Whittaker in the rematch at UFC 225, I’d recommend everyone to watch the fight if you didn’t!
- Aljamain Sterling: Sterling is one of the best BJJ black belts in the 135-pound division and has many different submissions in his arsenal, such as the Suloev stretch which he used to stop Cody Stamann at UFC 228. Currently riding a 6 fight win streak, Sterling is one of the most underrated fighters in MMA today and tied for second-most wins in Bantamweight history with 11.
- Francis Ngannou: Ngannou is known for being one of the greatest knockout artists in UFC history with 10 knockouts so far. He knocked out Stipe Miocic to win the UFC Heavyweight title in March of 2021. Francis is now on a 6 fight win streak and is set to be out of action for the remainder of this year due to having to recover from knee surgery. The UFC champion’s contract is also expiring at the end of the year, so it will be interesting to see what the future holds for Ngannou. The Cameroonian has expressed massive interest in competing in a boxing match against Tyson Fury early next year, with Fury also wanting the fight.
- Derrick Lewis: Lewis is the greatest knockout artist in UFC history, he leads the way for knockout wins in the UFC with 13. The two-time title challenger is a fan favorite not just because of his knockouts, but also for his funny post-fight interviews. Now aged 37, Lewis is ranked number 5 in the Heavyweight division and is still looking to add more knockouts to his resume. He is still at the top of the division, having fought for the interim title last August at UFC 265.
- Alistair Overeem: One of the most accomplished fighters in combat sports history, Overeem is a legend in both MMA and kickboxing. Overeem has had many notable wins in his 10 years in the UFC with wins over legends such as Fabrício Werdum, Junior Dos Santos and Mark Hunt. Overeem was released from his UFC contract after losing a main event bout vs Alexander Volkov at UFC Vegas 18.
The "Championship Fighting Trio"
Daniel “DC” Cormier, Tyron “The Chosen One” Woodley and Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson are all reigning UFC world champions, with Cormier’s and Johnson’s names often being tossed around in the conversation of the greatest of all time in mixed martial arts.
“It’s very fulfilling to be in this position, because anybody that starts a sport wants to be remembered and go down as one of the best to do it,” Cormier said while preparing for his megafight.
The trio has held their title belts simultaneously the past 705 consecutive days and have combined to hold their world titles for 3,956 days in their careers, with Cormier (1,139) and Johnson (2,112) each holding the belt for more than 1,000 days.
Each fighter is a household name in MMA circles, but their names have failed to register in the African-American community because youths have been more focused on becoming the next LeBron James, Dak Prescott or Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“I feel it is all three of our responsibilities to help grow the sport and show kids in the inner city there are different avenues to being successful, because kids today think they only have drugs, gangs, basketball, football and boxing to get a life,” said the 36-year-old Woodley.
“I’d love to be an ambassador for MMA and help the sport reach the kids in the inner city, because there is so much talent in these areas which need to be exposed to the sport,” Cormier said.
The fight to grow MMA with African-American audiences hasn’t come without challenges for the championship fighting trio. Although growing the sport in the African-American community isn’t as high on Johnson’s priority list as it is for Cormier and Woodley, Johnson is an example of how an African-American can become a star in a sport that is not necessarily set up for African-Americans to become stars.
“It’s awesome to be considered one of the best of all time and on video games, but it’s not something that weighs on my mind, because all I do is go to the gym every day and work my butt off, and what people perceive me as is what it is,” Johnson said.
“I got into MMA because I love the sport and love to learn.
T.J. Kendrick Johnson writes for a weekly newspaper and is an independent print journalist and sports television reporter who has covered the NBA Finals, NFL, NCAA football, MLB, NHL, championship boxing and UFC.
