Three UFC heavyweight champions in a row have given up the belt without losing it

Francis Ngannou, Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall each stopped being champion without being beaten for the title. The mechanism differed each time — the pattern did not.

Tom Aspinall's decision to vacate the UFC heavyweight title this week completes an unusual run: three consecutive undisputed champions have given up the belt without losing it in the cage.

Francis Ngannou, 2023. Ngannou's reign ended when he left the UFC after contract talks collapsed, rather than in a title fight. How that ending is described depends on who is describing it — the UFC's own account says he vacated, while the Associated Press reported that Dana White stripped him of the belt. What is not in dispute is that he left and the title became vacant in January 2023.

Jon Jones, 2025. Jones won the vacant title and held it until 21 June 2025, when Dana White announced that Jones had retired and that Aspinall was elevated to undisputed champion. Jones had not lost the belt in a fight. He later said he was not retired, but that reversal did not return the title to him.

Tom Aspinall, 2026. Aspinall announced on 14 September that he was vacating, saying ongoing eye complications had left him unable to obtain medical clearance and that he did not want to hold up the division. The problems followed his UFC 321 bout with Ciryl Gane on 25 October 2025, ruled a no contest after an accidental eye poke.

A note on the word: "vacated" is doing broad work here. Only Jones and Aspinall gave the belt up in a way that everyone describes as voluntary. Ngannou's exit is reported both ways depending on the source. The common thread is narrower and more interesting than the word suggests — three reigns in a row ended without a defeat.

Our rankings page currently lists the heavyweight title as vacant. Several outlets describe Ciryl Gane as the champion, but we could not locate a UFC announcement formally elevating him, so we are not naming one.