7 Longest Winning Streaks In UFC History

Highlights

• Winning streaks define UFC greatness – respect fighters like Khabib, Volkanovski, and Holloway for their dominance and grit.
• Names like St-Pierre, Silva, and Johnson carved UFC history with epic winning streaks that showcased their unparalleled skill.
• From Jon Jones’ untouchable Light Heavyweight reign to Anderson Silva’s historic Middleweight run, UFC legends make their mark.

The debate rages on as to who the greatest UFC fighter in history is. The likes of Randy Couture, Georges St-Pierre, and Jon Jones are possible contenders, while Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey deserve credit for increasing UFC’s mainstream prominence.

A major criterion that is often considered is the dominance of the said fighter and nothing can be a more accurate representation of fighter dominance than winning streaks. Conor’s arch-nemesis Khabib Nurmagomedov is widely considered to be a better fighter due to his 29-0 MMA record, which also includes a victory over the Irishman. This list exclusively deals with UFC bouts and highlights the fighters with the most consecutive wins in the company.

UPDATE: 2024/04/15 16:58 EST BY ETHAN SCHLABAUGH

With the schedule and physicality of a UFC career, it is all the more impressive when someone is able to secure a long winning streak. Having a dominant winning streak is also an easy way of securing your spot in the GOAT conversation, with names like Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre being some of the greatest. Let’s show some respect to these fighters who put their bodies on the line to entertain the fans and take a look at some of the most insane winning streaks in the UFC.

9 Alexander Volkanovski Broke Into The UFC

Beat Some Of The Best In The Featherweight Scene

Alexander Volkanovski started his UFC career off strong as he burst onto the Featherweight scene, beating names like Jose Aldo, Max Holloway, and Brian Ortega just a couple of years in. He would capture the Featherweight title from Holloway before attempting to become a double champion and targeting Islam Makhachev and the Lightweight title.

That fight would end an impressive streak that could have continued as Alexander earned a win over Yair Rodriguez a few months later. The Featherweight champ would try again against Islam before taking another loss and eventually losing his own title against Ilia Topuria at UFC 298.

8 Islam Makhachev Is Creating His Legacy

Dominates The Lightweight Division

At the time of writing this, Islam Makhachev is still active with his undefeated streak untouched as he earned back-to-back wins over Alexander Volkanovski. He would capture the Lightweight title when he beat Charles Oliveria at UFC 280, after earning numerous wins over names such as Thiago Moises, Davi Ramos, and Bobby Green.

Islam has only been on the losing end of one fight in his UFC career when Adriano Martins secured a KO victory back at UFC 192 in 2015, that being Islam’s second UFC fight.

7 Max Holloway Captured The Featherweight Title

Dominated The Featherweight Division

Featherweight ace Max Holloway joined the UFC as a 21-year-old and enjoyed a mediocre early record, going 3-3 from 2012 to 2013. However, Holloway came out re-energized in 2014 and finished 4 opponents by either knock-out or submission that single year. Holloway continued his fine form, beating the likes of former Lightweight champion Charles Oliviera, Cub Swanson, and Jeremy Stephens to earn an interim featherweight title fight against Anthony Pettis. Another TKO win followed, bringing up his record from 2014 to 10-0.

Holloway would then compete in the most important match of his career, a title unification bout against the champion Jose Aldo in Aldo’s native Brazil. Another TKO in the third round and ‘Blessed’ had unified the featherweight titles. Holloway would TKO Aldo once again six months later and bloodied Brian Ortega to extend his winning streak to 13. His streak would end at the hands of his very first UFC opponent, Dustin Poirier in 2019 when Holloway bumped up one weight class to challenge for the Interim Lightweight title at UFC 236.

6 Demetrious Johnson Succeeded In An Underrated Division

Helped Create The Flyweight Division

Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson is widely regarded as one of the greatest mixed martial artists to ever grace the Octagon. For over 5 years, he was the face of the UFC Flyweight division and carved out a 13-fight winning streak in the company. What makes DJ’s feat even more impressive is the fact that 12 out of his 13 wins were in Flyweight title matches and the other one was in the semifinals of the inaugural flyweight title tournament semifinals.

Johnson started his winning run by defeating Ian McCall in a rematch to earn a Flyweight title shot against Joseph Benavidez, whom he would edge out with a split decision victory. Now champion, Mighty Mouse would run through the division, defeating challenger after challenger. Henry Cejudo would be stopped by TKO, John Dodson would fall twice and Kyoji Horiguchi would be submitted with one second remaining in the fifth round as DJ became firmly established as the No:1 pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC.

DJ’s victory over Ray Borg at UFC 216 extended his streak to 13 and set a UFC record for 11 consecutive title defenses. That would be his final victory in the UFC as Cejudo would narrowly defeat Johnson in a rematch at UFC 227 via split decision to take the title and break his streak. DJ would leave for ONE Championship shortly thereafter and proceeded to win the ONE Flyweight Grand Prix tournament.

5 Jon Jones Could Have Broken The Record

Destroyed The Light Heavyweight Division

Jon Jones is undoubtedly the best-ever fighter in the UFC Light Heavyweight division and could have topped this list if it weren’t for some unfortunate circumstances, most of which were of his own making. After a controversial disqualification loss in 2009 against Matt Hamill for using illegal 12-6 elbows, Jones would go on a tear, winning his next 13 fights. He would capture the Light Heavyweight title and, later, the interim title, but each belt would be stripped off Jones on separate occasions, the latter due to a doping violation.

Jones returned from his one-year suspension and defeated Daniel Cormier to recapture the belt, seemingly going 14-0. However, Jones was once again flagged for a doping violation by USADA and the belt was returned to Cormier. The match was reclassified as a no-contest, which officially ended Jones’ winning streak at 13. If that no contest never happened, Jones would be on a 19-fight winning streak after his win over Ciryl Gane at UFC 285.

4 Georges St-Pierre Broke Multiple Records

Ran The Welterweight Division

Considered to be one of the greatest MMA fighters in history, Georges ‘Rush’ St-Pierre dominated the UFC Welterweight division for close to a decade. It took a while for the Canadian to reign over the division, with defeats against Matt Hughes and Matt Serra halting his momentum. Undeterred, GSP bounced back and started his legendary 13-fight winning streak with a victory over Josh Koscheck four months later. Both Hughes and Serra would be TKO’d in rematches and GSP retook his crown.

Subsequently, he would beat the likes of B.J Penn, Thiago Alves, Jake Shields, Carlos Condit, and Nick Diaz to become universally regarded as the best Welterweight of all time. After a controversial split-decision victory over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167, St-Pierre vacated his belt and stepped away from the sport. He would make a comeback four years later, moving up a division and challenging Middleweight champion Michael Bisping for the title at UFC 217. At the event that set a Canadian PPV record, St-Pierre defeated Bisping via rear-naked choke to become a two-division champion, extending his winning run to 13.

3 Khabib Nurmagomedov Never Took A Loss

Became The Biggest Name In The Lightweight Division

One of the very few fighters to retire with an unbeaten record, Khabib Nurmagomedov went 29-0 in his career, with 13 of those victories coming in the UFC. Making his promotional debut on the preliminary card of UFC on FX 1 in 2012, Khabib scored victories over the likes of Abel Trujillo and former Lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos, and a Lightweight title shot seemed a virtual certainty. But champion Eddie Alvarez opted for a money match against ultra-popular Featherweight champion Conor McGregor instead. This lit a fire in Khabib, who proceeded to pummel Michael Johnson and Edson Barboza to go 9-0 in the company.

While interesting match-ups against the likes of Gilbert Melendez, Nate Diaz, and particularly Tony Ferguson fell through during different stages of his UFC run, Khabib finally captured Lightweight gold at UFC 223 after a victory over Al Iaquinta. He then consolidated his grip on the division with a particularly satisfying submission victory over Conor McGregor at UFC 229 which broke all UFC PPV records. Further victories over top contenders Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje followed and Nurmagomedov decided to call it a day on his MMA career with a 13-0 UFC record.

2 Kamaru Usman Almost Reached The Record

Smashed The Welterweight Scene

One of the more recent streaks in UFC history ended when Leon Edwards beat Kamaru Usman for the UFC Welterweight title in Salt Lake City, Utah. Ever since he captured the title from Tyron Woodley at UFC 235, Usman dispatched top contenders in style – including two victories each over Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal as well as a TKO win over Gilbert Burns.

He would also beat top-tier talent like Sean Strickland, Damian Maia, and Rafael dos Anjos prior to his ascent as the Welterweight king. Usman is the current pound-for-pound #1 in the company and looks a good bet to surpass George St-Pierre’s Welterweight title defense record. Since his loss, Usman fought Edwards once more and a match against Khamzat Chimaev, both ending in a majority decision against Usman.

1 Anderson Silva Remains At The Top

Reigned Over The Middleweight Division

Having held the UFC Middleweight title for nearly 2500 consecutive days, Anderson Silva won 16 straight bouts in the company from 2006-2012. This included an absolute destruction of Middleweight champ Rich Franklin, who was outclassed by Silva’s legendary striking defense. Silva’s win kicked off the golden age in the UFC’s middleweight division as he defeated contender after contender, including the likes of Dan Henderson, Chael Sonnen, and Vitor Belfort.

Siva displayed amazing confidence in the ring and would often resort to showboating, which eventually backfired against Chris Weidman during his 17th UFC bout. Silva was taunting Weidman, leaving his chin unprotected and Weidman knocked him out to take the title and end Silva’s unbeaten streak. A leg break in a rematch against Weidman ended Silva’s dominance and the Spider went on to win just one of his next seven UFC bouts, leaving the company in 2020.