Champions haven’t been out of the shadows long of late in UFC, before losing their belts. Tyron Woodley, who earned a belt Saturday night, seems to understand that, campaigning for an immediate showdown designed to be a big payday. (John Locher/AP)

Domination used to reign in the UFC. Used to.

Anderson Silva ruled the middleweight division for nearly seven years, bobbing and juking his way through 10 title defenses. George St-Pierre bossed around welterweights through six years and nine defenses. Jon Jones vanquished a murderers’ row of light heavyweight challengers — eight of them over four years — and made it look like child’s play.

But those stars shine no more. And what are we left with? There’s just one long-reigning champion, flyweight Demetrious Johnson, who has defended his Size XS title belt eight times. (“Mighty Mouse” has been top dog at 125 pounds since the division was born four years ago.) Aside from him, though, the UFC has one belt holder with three defenses and two more with one apiece.

The other six champs? They have a combined zero title defenses. All have been crowned since December, three of them this very month.

The latest to join the newbie club is Tyron Woodley, who needed barely two minutes to knock out Robbie Lawler and grab the welterweight belt on Saturday night in Atlanta.

Patience paid off for the 34-year-old Woodley (16-3). He was promised a title shot last October in the immediate aftermath of his No. 1 contender showdown being canceled when Johny Hendricks couldn’t make weight. Woodley then endured months of speculation that, while he waited on the sideline, other 170-pounders might be jumping ahead of him in line. The UFC does have a history of allowing title shot promises to evaporate.

But Woodley’s night finally came, in the main event of UFC 201 at Philips Arena — and then he exhibited even more patience. The two-time NCAA all-American wrestler, who is a teammate of Lawler’s at the American Top Team gym in South Florida but trained elsewhere for this fight, stalked the champ from the start but didn’t launch a reckless attack, as he has been known to do. Two minutes in, he’d landed just two inconsequential punches.

Then Woodley waded in with a range-finding jab and Lawler (27-11, 1 NC) flinched just enough to leave an opening for a flinging overhand right hand, which dropped the champ stiffly on the mat. The challenger quickly pounced — patience be damned this time — and rained down mind-rattling punches until refereree Dan Miragliotta pulled him off at 2 minutes 12 seconds of Round 1.

“You say ‘And new . . . ’ and I say, ‘My God!’” Woodley said in the octagon after the result was announced to the crowd. “I was in the back, and I was relaxed — I was extremely relaxed. I was nervous that I wasn’t nervous.”

Woodley did seize his moment on the stage like a boss, and that spirit continued when he met the media afterward backstage. Rather than talk about clear No. 1 challenger Stephen Thompson — the guy who some thought should have leapfrogged Woodley for this title shot in the first place — the new champ had a different sort of matchmaking in mind. “This is a sport where we can make cash now,” said Woodley. “So instead of just saying this person deserves it, he worked his way through the ranks, you know, I think Nick Diaz comes off suspension in two days, I would love to fight him at [UFC] 202.”

How appropriate that Woodley would be proposing an appearance on a fight card headlined by Conor McGregor, because his callout exemplifies the McGregor-ization of MMA. What shimmers most nowadays is not the shiny brass of a title belt but the gold coins stacked up in front of a big-money fighter. This is and always has been prizefighting, and fighters have their eyes fixed on a prize they can take to the bank.

Woodley had his marketing pitch all worked out. “I know his brother’s fighting,” he said, referring to Diaz and his UFC 202 main eventer sibling, Nate, who rematches McGregor that night later this month in Las Vegas. “I think he deserves it. He’s a guy that’s been around the sport. He’s put a lot of butts in the seats, sold a lot of pay-per-views, so why not put him on a big card with Conor and his brother? I know he’s training already. Let him cash out. I’m willing to give him the opportunity.”

Translation: I’m willing to seize the opportunity to cash out myself by fighting a popular draw on the undercard of a fight featuring the sport’s most popular draw.

Nice try, Tyron, but it won’t happen. UFC 202 is less than three weeks away, and while the behemoth fight promotion is nimble enough to turn on a dime out of necessity when matchmaking takes an unforeseen twist, there’s no way Dana White and Co. would make this Plan A.

Woodley understands this, so he offered a Plan B: “Or I’d like to fight Georges St-Pierre in New York City.”

That is more feasible. The UFC’s debut in New York is Nov. 12, leaving enough time to promote what would be a megafight. It would be unfair to “Wonderboy” Thompson, who earned his shot, but a GSP title bout would not be the miscarriage of meritocracy that a Diaz challenge would be. Diaz, who has been out for 18 months while serving a suspension for testing positive for marijuana, lost his last three fights (although the most recent was changed to a no-contest after Anderson Silva was popped for anabolic steroids). The 35-year-old St-Pierre, though out for over 2½ years, walked away as welterweight champion on a 12-fight win streak.

Ironically, a championship fight involving St-Pierre would be another step away from what MMA was when GSP ruled. It all revolves around McGregor, who won his featherweight belt just last December but now has reigned longer than six other champs. In part, that is because the Irishman has yet to defend his strap, choosing instead to take “money weight” matchups. But the overall volatility of the championship picture is kind of a vindication of the McGregor approach. Without dominant champions, the UFC now has another way to build stars.

It should not be ignored, however, that while McGregor has allowed his 145-pound belt to sit idle, he has not dishonored his weight class by making title defenses built mainly by the marketing department. He’s made his cash in a different division, and now that he’s ready to return to the featherweight stage, he’ll share it with the best challenger there is.

Tyron Woodley should learn from the master. The time for callouts and self-managed matchmaking is when you’re on the way up. Once you’ve reached the top of the mountain, your job is to defend the shiny belt against the most deserving challenger out there. You know, the guy you once were.