UFC Editorial

TUF Lineal titles: Who are the real Ultimate Fighters?

Tim B. takes a look at who the current lineal title holder is for every single Ultimate Fighter show over the years.

By Tim Burke@TB_Money Mar 4, 2015, 5:00pm EST

Do you ever find yourself sitting around thinking "I wonder who the TUF lineal champs are right now"? No? Well neither did I until I saw my buddy @pdlmma on Twitter mentioning it today. It got me thinking that it would be a fun research project that could be turned into an article. Partially for my own amusement, and partially to help build fights.

Build fights, you say? For instance, the UFC 185 main event has a total of four lineal TUF titles on the line. When Ryan LaFlare fights Demian Maia in a few weeks, did you know that the TUF 16 and TUF Smashes lineal titles are on the line? I didn't either until about 15 minutes ago.

It's fun to trace the lineage of these things, and it shouldn't be surprising that a lot of them have worked their way into the title picture. In fact, the first seven seasons and nine of out of first ten all have lineal titles that are currently held by champions or retired champions.

So who has the most? That would be Jon Jones, with five. Georges St-Pierre retired four of them (unless he fights again). Anthony Pettis has three. Chris Weidman and Jose Aldo have two, along with...yeah, Ryan LaFlare. I know, it's weird. In total there are 30 different lineal title holders, and 10 of them are still with the original winner. Only one other one besides GSP's is retired (you may or may not be surprised to see who it is). Current champions Fabricio Werdum (interim), Robbie Lawler, T.J. Dillashaw and Ronda Rousey have no lineal TUF titles.

So without further ado, here's what I came up with. If I screwed up, please let me know and I'll change it.

Note - I only did this for UFC reality shows, obviously. But it should be noted that our buddy Ben Saunders is the lineal Bellator Fight Master champion. I'm sure he's going to add that to fight resume.

Season 1

Winner: Diego Sanchez

Diego Sanchez - Josh Koscheck (UFC 69) - Georges St-Pierre (UFC 74) - retired

Winner - Forrest Griffin

Forrest Griffin - Tito Ortiz (UFC 59) - Chuck Liddell (UFC 66) - Quinton Jackson (UFC 71) - Forrest Griffin (UFC 86) - Rashad Evans (UFC 92) - Lyoto Machida (UFC 98) - Mauricio Rua (UFC 113) - Jon Jones (UFC 128)

Season 2

Winner: Joe Stevenson

Joe Stevenson - Josh Neer (UFN 4) - Josh Burkman (UFC 61) - Karo Parisyan (UFC 71) - Thiago Alves (UFN 13) - Georges St-Pierre (UFC 100) - retired

Winner: Rashad Evans

Rashad Evans - Lyoto Machida (UFC 98) - Mauricio Rua (UFC 113) - Jon Jones (UFC 128)

Season 3

Winner: Michael Bisping

Michael Bisping - Rashad Evans (UFC 78) - Lyoto Machida (UFC 98) - Mauricio Rua (UFC 113) - Jon Jones (UFC 128)

Winner: Kendall Grove

Kendall Grove - Patrick Cote - (UFC 74) - Anderson Silva - (UFC 90) - Chris Weidman (UFC 162)

Season 4

Winner: Matt Serra

Matt Serra - Georges St-Pierre (UFC 83) - retired

Winner: Travis Lutter

Travis Lutter - Anderson Silva (UFC 67) - Chris Weidman (UFC 162)

Season 5

Winner: Nate Diaz

Nate Diaz - Clay Guida (UFC 94) - Diego Sanchez (TUF 9 Finale) - B.J. Penn (UFC 107) - Frankie Edgar - (UFC 112) - Ben Henderson (UFC 144) - Anthony Pettis (UFC 164)

Season 6

Winner: Mac Danzig

Mac Danzig - Clay Guida (UFN 15) - Diego Sanchez (TUF 9 Finale) - B.J. Penn (UFC 107) - Frankie Edgar - (UFC 112) - Ben Henderson (UFC 144) - Anthony Pettis (UFC 164)

Season 7

Winner: Amir Sadollah

Amir Sadollah - Johny Hendricks (UFC 101) - Rick Story (UFC 117) - Charlie Brenneman (UFC on Versus 4) - Anthony Johnson (UFC on Versus 6) - Vitor Belfort (UFC 142) - Jon Jones (UFC 152)

Season 8

Winner: Efrain Escudero

Efrain Escudero - Evan Dunham (UFN 20) - Sean Sherk (UFC 119) - retired

Winner: Ryan Bader

Ryan Bader - Jon Jones (UFC 126)

Season 9

Winner: Ross Pearson

Ross Pearson - Cole Miller - UFN 22) - Matt Wiman (FFTT 2) - Dennis Siver (UFC 132) - Donald Cerrone (UFC 137) - Nate Diaz (UFC 141) - Ben Henderson (UFC on Fox 5) - Anthony Pettis (UFC 164)

Winner: James Wilks

James Wilks - Matt Brown (UFC 105) - Ricardo Almeida (UFC 111) - Matt Hughes (UFC 117) - B.J. Penn (UFC 123) - Nick Diaz (UFC 137) - Carlos Condit (UFC 143) - Georges St-Pierre (UFC 154) - retired

Season 10

Winner: Roy Nelson

Roy Nelson - Junior dos Santos (UFC 117) - Cain Velasquez (UFC 155)

Season 11

Winner: Court McGee

Court McGee - Costas Philippou (UFC on FX 2) - Francis Carmont (UFC 165) - Ronaldo Souza (UFN 36)

Season 12

Winner: Jonathan Brookins

Jonathan Brookins - Erik Koch (UFN 25) - Ricardo Lamas (UFC on Fox 6) - Jose Aldo (UFC 169)

Season 13

Winner: Tony Ferguson

Tony Ferguson - Michael Johnson (UFC on Fox 3) - Myles Jury (UFC 155) - Donald Cerrone (UFC 182)