Athletes
The Winners Of The Ultimate Fighter
Take A Trip Down Memory Lane To See Which Fighters Emerged Victorious From The Ultimate Fighter.
The 30th season of The Ultimate Fighter has finally arrived.
UFC women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Peña is set to coach heavyweights and women’s flyweight hopefuls against longtime two division champion Amanda Nunes.
The two TUF coaches met in the Octagon last December, when Peña delivered a stunning upset win over Nunes to claim the bantamweight title. Now the two will go head-to-head on TUF before their highly anticipated rematch.
But before we dive into more information about the historic 30th season of TUF, let’s look back at some of the most iconic winners from the 29 previous seasons of the show:
The Winners
Forrest Griffin
The first season of TUF was brilliant. It had everything - crazy moments, crazy personalities, and even crazier fights. No fight was crazier than the epic finale between Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar, which is known as the most important fight in company history. After the win, Griffin went on to become a UFC champion and have a great UFC career before joining the team at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas.
- Diego Sanchez
- Joe Stevenson
- Rashad Evans
- Kendall Grove
Michael Bisping
When “The Count” won the third season of TUF, it was undeniable that the man was destined to be a star. He would go on to fight many of the best middleweights in the world on his way to becoming a UFC champion in 2016. After his outstanding career, Bisping has stayed heavily involved with the UFC and is frequently the color commentator for UFC broadcasts on ESPN+.
- Matt Serra
- Travis Lutter
Nate Diaz
Stockton stand up! The younger brother of UFC icon Nick Diaz did the 209 proud on the fifth season of TUF. Nate Diaz showed off his incredible toughness and submission skills on the show and in the Octagon on his way to becoming one of the biggest names in the sport.
Diaz has racked up an incredible 14 UFC bonuses, including getting Fight of the Night eight times. Although he lost his only crack thus far at a title against Benson Henderson in 2012, his two fights with Conor McGregor are two of biggest events in UFC history.
- Mac Danzig
- Amir Sadollah
- Efrain Escudero
- Ryan Bader
- Ross Pearson
- James Wilks
- Roy Nelson
- Court McGee
- Jonathan Brookins
Tony Ferguson
There isn’t anyone else in the UFC quite like Tony Ferguson. He was the perfect personality for TUF, and he showed that was talented enough to compete with the best lightweights in the world. “El Cucuy” has been on an amazing run in his UFC career, winning 12 straight at one point and getting eight bonuses along the way. He secured the interim UFC lightweight championship and became one of the most popular fighters in the sport.
Don’t miss his next fight, which comes this Saturday, May 7, against Michael Chandler at UFC 274: Oliveira vs Geathje.
- John Dodson
- Diego Brandão
- Michael Chiesa
- Colton Smith
- Kelvin Gastelum
- Chris Holdsworth
Julianna Peña
“The Venezuelan Vixen” made the impossible a reality when she submitted Amanda Nunes at UFC 269. But before she was a champion, she was an Ultimate Fighter winner. Peña showed the world on season 18 of TUF that she had all the heart and all the skills to be a force in the UFC.
- Eddie Gordon
- Corey Anderson
Carla Esparza
People might not remember this, but Carla Esparza won the inaugural UFC strawweight championship on season 20 of TUF. How did she do it? She submitted Rose Namajunas in the finale with a rear naked choke. On that season Esparza defeated Angela Hill, Tecia Torres, and Jessica Penne before facing Namajunas.
Esparza will get a second crack at Namajunas, who is now the strawweight champion, at UFC 274 this weekend.
Kamaru Usman
When fight fans saw Kamaru Usman on TUF 21, they had to know they were watching one of the best in the world. Usman showed he had all the talent you could ever ask for on the show and proved it once he made it into the UFC. Usman has never been beaten in the UFC and is 20-1 overall as a pro. He’s the reigning UFC welterweight champion and the current pound-for-pound number one fighter in the world today.
It's safe to say that TUF was just the beginning for “The Nigerian Nightmare”.
- Ryan Hall
- Andrew Sanchez
- Tatiana Suarez
- Tim Elliott
- Jesse Taylor
- Nicco Montaño
- Brad Katona
- Michael Trizano
- Juan Espino
- Macy Chiasson
- Ricky Turcios
- Bryan Battle
Don’t miss season 30 of The Ultimate Fighter, which can be streamed on exclusively on ESPN+
UFC 274: Oliveira vs Gaethje took place on Saturday, May 7, 2022, live from a sold out Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses — and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
