By virtue of being one of the first MMA organizations in the world and having an unbroken history that extends to their present day dominance, the title of ‘UFC Champion’ is arguably the most prestigious title that any fighter can hold. ‘UFC Champion’ is by no means the only prestigious title an MMA champion may have won, but it is without a doubt the most consistently meaningful title in the history of our sport. And if being a UFC champion is worth so much, what about victories over those champions? Which fighters in MMA history have defeated the most members of this exclusive club?
To be clear, the criteria for ‘UFC Champion’ is as follows. Interim champions count. Early UFC tournament (Pre UFC 20) winners count as champions, and post UFC 20 tournament winners such as UFC Japan 2 and TUF tournament winners are not counted. Superfight winners count as champs. A win over a champion, future, present, past or at any point in their career counts. That’s the criteria used for this list. I’ve included every fighter with three or more victories over different UFC champions. For a list of all UFC Champions, see here.
| No. of wins | Fighter | UFC Champions Defeated |
| 7 | Kazushi Sakuraba | Carlos Newton, Royce Gracie, Vitor Belfort, Guy Mezger, Quinton Jackson, Kevin Randleman, Ken Shamrock |
| 7 | Matt Hughes | David Menne, Carlos Newton, Royce Gracie, Georges St. Pierre, BJ Penn, Sean Sherk, Matt Serra |
| 6 | Randy Couture | Kevin Randleman, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, Tim Sylvia, Vitor Belfort, Maurice Smith |
| 6 | Chuck Liddell | Tito Ortiz, Vitor Belfort, Murilo Bustamante, Guy Mezger, Kevin Randleman, Randy Couture |
| 6 | Tito Ortiz | Ken Shamrock, Forrest Griffin, Evan Tanner, Vitor Belfort, Guy Mezger, Jerry Bohlander |
| 6 | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira | Mark Coleman, Tim Sylvia, Josh Barnett, Randy Couture, Ricco Rodriguez, Dan Henderson |
| 5 | Fedor Emelianenko | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mark Coleman, Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, Kevin Randleman |
| 5 | Renzo Gracie | Oleg Taktarov, Maurice Smith, Pat Miletich, Carlos Newton, Frank Shamrock |
| 5 | Dan Henderson | Rich Franklin, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Carlos Newton, Murilo Bustamante, Vitor Belfort |
| 5 | Pedro Rizzo | Andrei Arlovski, Josh Barnett, Ricco Rodriguez, Dan Severn, Mark Coleman |
| 4 | Lyoto Machida | Tito Ortiz, Rich Franklin, BJ Penn, Rashad Evans |
| 4 | BJ Penn | Matt Hughes, Sean Sherk, Jens Pulver, Matt Serra |
| 4 | Mirko Filipovic | Kazushi Sakuraba, Kevin Randleman, Josh Barnett, Mark Coleman |
| 4 | Georges St. Pierre | BJ Penn, Matt Hughes, Matt Serra, Sean Sherk |
| 4 | Bas Rutten | Kevin Randleman, Frank Shamrock, Guy Mezger, Maurice Smith |
| 4 | Kiyoshi Tamura | Maurice Smith, David Menne, Patt Miletich, Kazushi Sakuraba |
| 4 | Quinton Jackson | Chuck Liddell, Kevin Randleman, Murilo Bustamante, Dan Henderson |
| 4 | Wanderlei Silva | Quntion Jackson, Guy Mezger, Kazushi Sakuraba, Dan Henderson |
| 4 | Masakatsu Funaki | Frank Shamrock, Ken Shamrock, Bas Rutten, Guy Mezger |
| 4 | Mauricio Rua | Quinton Jackson, Kevin Randleman, Mark Coleman, Chuck Liddell |
| 4 | Anderson Silva | Dan Henderson, Rich Franklin, Carlos Newton, Forrest Griffin |
| 3 | Josh Barnett | Dan Severn, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Randy Couture |
| 3 | Ken Shamrock | Bas Rutten, Dan Severn, Maurice Smith |
| 3 | Frank Shamrock | Bas Rutten, Tito Ortiz, Kevin Jackson |
| 3 | Royce Gracie | Dan Severn, Ken Shamrock, Kazushi Sakuraba |
| 3 | Frank Mir | Tim Sylvia, Brock Lesnar, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira |
| 3 | Dan Severn | Ken Shamrock, Forrest Griffin, Oleg Taktarov |
| 3 | Gary Goodridge | Don Frye, Jerry Bohlander, Oleg Taktarov |
| 3 | Antonio Rogerio Nogueira | Dan Henderson, Kazushi Sakuraba, Guy Mezger |
| 3 | Minoru Suzuki | Ken Shamrock, Maurice Smith, Guy Mezger |
| 3 | Ricardo Arona | Dan Henderson, Kazushi Sakuraba, Guy Mezger |
There are an incredible number of interesting tidbits sorting through this information. For instance, Pedro Rizzo, who was never a UFC or PRIDE champion, nevertheless beat five UFC champions in his career. Fedor has defeated five UFC champions despite never fighting for the UFC, and Kazushi Sakuraba has defeated seven UFC champions, although none of those wins took place in the Octagon. Alternately, there are fighters such as Pat Miletich, who won 5 UFC welterweight title bouts and the UFC 16 tournament, but never defeated another UFC champion in his career.
Check back next week for part two, which will include other organizations’ title-holders, a ‘most losses’ category, and more analysis and statistics pulled from the data.