Last year produced a slew of new Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) titleholders from the smallest divisions to the largest. New kings and queens were crowned while former champions took a back seat entering the new year.
While there were a bunch of new champions in 2021 a few fighters stood out more than the rest. The first is Francis Ngannou, who finally captured the undisputed UFC heavyweight title with a knockout win over Stipe Miocic at UFC 260. Newly crowned UFC women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Pena is the second as “Venezuelan Vixen” shocked the combat sports world with a submission win over Amanda Nunes at UFC 269. Last but not least is Rose Namajunas, who found a way to head kick finish Zhang Weili at UFC 261 and then beat her at UFC 268 in a rematch just six months later.
Fortunately, UFC has compiled a pretty cool video montage of all of the new UFC champions crowned in 2021. It can be seen in the above video player.
As we enter 2022 which fighters do you think will hoist UFC gold over the next 12 months? Will Khamzat Chimaev continue his dominance and claim the welterweight title? Will Conor McGregor return to action to reclaim the lightweight championship?
Let us know in the comments below!