Top 5 UFC Champions With Most Title Defenses

As Althea Gibson stated, ‘’You simply aren’t considered a real champion until you have defended your title successfully.’’ Some of the champions in the UFC have secured multiple championship wins en route to becoming a dominant titleholder in their weight class. 

And title defenses make UFC odds interesting, though MMA betting may not always include championships.

From the record-setting reign of Jon Jones, up to the superior flyweight run of Demetrious Johnson, the middleweight supremacy of Anderson Silva, welterweight dominance of Georges St-Pierre and featherweight run of Jose Aldo, we have a list of their past title defenses and future online MMA betting.

Jon Jones – 13 title defenses

Before relinquishing the light heavyweight title in March 2020 to move in the heavyweight division, Jones was an unstoppable force in the 205-pound division. He captured it by defeating Shogun Rua in 2011 in UFC 128 and became the youngest UFC champion in history at age 23. ‘’Bones’’ also holds the record for the most wins, most submission victories and longest win streak in the weight class.

Since then, he never lost a title match and defended it 13 times against Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, Alexander Gustafsson (two times), Glover Teixeira, Daniel Cormier, Ovince Saint Preux, Anthony Smith, Thiago Santos and Dominick Reyes.

THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME IS NOW THE HEAVYWEIGHT WORLD CHAMP 🏆

JON JONES SUBMITS CIRYL GANE!! #UFC285 pic.twitter.com/JOiAnweVJ5

— UFC (@ufc) March 5, 2023

Demetrious Johnson – 11 title defenses

Johnson began his reign in the flyweight title reign in 2012 after beating Joseph Benavidez via split decision at UFC 152. Since then, he has defended his championship 11 times over John Dodson (two times), John Morga, Joseph Benavidez (rematch), Ali Bagautinov, Chris Cariaso, Kyoji Horiguchi, Henry Cejudo, Tim Elliot, Wilson Reis and Ray Borg.

#AndStill x11

@MightyMouseUFC #UFC216 | B2YB @7Eleven pic.twitter.com/Bl6Y8gwJt0

— UFC (@ufc) October 8, 2017

His dominance was halted by Cejudo in their rematch in August 2018 at UFC 227 via a split decision loss. After absorbing the defeat, he was traded to ONE Championship for Ben Askren and won the ONE Flyweight Grand Prix tournament.

Anderson Silva – 10 title defenses

Although Silva only sits at the No. 3 spot in the most number of title defenses in UFC history with 10, he holds the most finishes in title fights with nine and the most number of fights in the middleweight division with 13. Silva won the middleweight title in October 2006 after stopping Rich Franklin.

🕷 Anderson Silva 🕸

👑 Longest championship reign in UFC history – 2457 days.
💪 Longest win streak in UFC history – 16
👊 Most finishes in UFC title fights – 9
🙌 Most fights in middleweight division – 13
🏅 10 title defences in a row
💰 14 fight bonuses
📺 17 PPV Main Events pic.twitter.com/Vew7TvpYUc

— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) October 29, 2020

The ‘’Spider’’ defended his title against the likes of Nate Marquardt, Rich Franklin (rematch), Dan Henderson, Patrick Cote, Thales Leites, Demian Maia, Chael Sonnen (two times), Vitor Belfort and Yushin Okami. Chris Weidman ended his rule in the 185-pound division in the championship showdown in July 2013.

Georges St-Pierre – 9 title defenses

Despite losing his first-ever title defense to Matt Serra in August 2007, St-Pierre managed to get his belt back in their rematch in April 2008 with a stoppage of his own in just two rounds. The greatest Canadian MMA athlete of all time retained his championship nine times.

He defeated the likes of Jon Fitch, BJ Penn, Thiago Alves, Dan Hardy, Josh Koscheck, Jake Shields, Carlos Condit, Nick Diaz and Johnny Hendricks during his time as the middleweight champion. GSP renounced his title in 2013 and had a four-year hiatus before coming back to claim the middleweight championship after defeating Michael Bisping in November 2017.

∙ 13 wins in title bouts.
∙ Nine consecutive title defences.
∙ Most wins and fight time in the UFC welterweight division.
∙ Fourth two-weight UFC champ ever.
∙ 2,237 days as a UFC champion.

GSP enters the UFC Hall of Fame 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/xyPOEhfbxW

— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) September 24, 2021

Jose Aldo and Valentina Shevchenko – 7 title defenses

Arguably the greatest featherweight champion in UFC history, Aldo recorded seven title defenses in the 145-pound division since the WEC merged with the UFC in 2010. Aldo killed the championship aspirations of Mark Hominick, Kenny Florian, Chad Mendes, Frankie Edgar, Chan Jung Sung and Ricardo Lamas.

However, the King of Rio succumbed to Conor McGregor in his eighth title defense in 2015. As McGregor was stripped of the featherweight title, he was given another chance to reclaim it against Frankie Edgar in July 2016 and seized the opportunity to become a two-time titleholder. Aldo triumphantly returned from retirement in May at UFC 301 and defeated ranked bantamweight contender Jonathan Martinez via unanimous decision.

After her latest win against Talia Santos in June 2022, Valentina Shevchenko officially joined the top five list of UFC champions with the most title defenses. The ‘’Bullet’’ began her reign in the women’s flyweight division after winning against Joana Jedrzejczyk in December 2018. She now has seven successive title victories.

Shevchenko’s reign in the 125-pound division is nothing short of dominance as she knocked out Jessica Eye in June 2019, lopsidedly defeated Liz Carmouche in August 2019, TKO’ed Katlyn Chookagian in February 2020, dominated Jennifer Maia in November 2020, TKO’ed Jessica Andrade in April 2021 and stopped Lauren Murphy in September 2021.

The Kyrgyz MMA star narrowly escaped the challenge from Talia Santos in June 2022 to match Aldo’s total number of title defenses in UFC with seven.

Valentina Shevchenko got her Demetrious Johnson moment with all her belts from 7 title defenses in the UFC pic.twitter.com/XvLUUuCdv7

— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) April 7, 2024