5 UFC champions who took the long road to the top

Raquel Pennington became the UFC’s new bantamweight champion in one of the promotion’s more remarkable feats.

What made Pennington’s title win so impressive was the fact that it took her so long to climb the ladder to the top of the UFC.

Incredibly, though, Pennington’s lengthy journey to claiming gold in the octagon was not in fact the longest in the promotion’s history.

With that in mind, here are five UFC champions who took the long road to the top.

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#5. Sean Strickland – UFC middleweight champion

On the same weekend that Raquel Pennington ascended to the summit in the UFC, Sean Strickland was knocked off the top, losing his middleweight title to Dricus du Plessis.

It seems very likely now that Strickland’s title reign will probably go down as a footnote in the history of the division. However, the fact that ‘Tarzan’ made it to the top was pretty miraculous in the first place.

In many ways, it felt like Strickland’s rise up the ranks at 185 pounds was meteoric. After moving to the division in October 2020, he won seven of his nine bouts before stunning Israel Adesanya to claim the gold last September.

However, many fans forget that 2020 was actually Strickland’s seventh year as part of the UFC’s roster. ‘Tarzan’ actually debuted way back in March 2014, defeating Bubba McDaniel at 185 pounds before quickly dropping to the welterweight division.

Strickland was always a solid, if unspectacular fighter at 170 pounds, but nothing in his dull wins over the likes of Tom Breese and Court McGee – as well as his losses to fighters like Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos – suggested he’d ever become a champion.

Therefore, even if he fails to get back to the top of the middleweight pile, by becoming a titleholder after nine years and six months in the promotion, he’ll always have his spot in history.

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#4. Michael Bisping – UFC middleweight champion

For many years, it looked like Michael Bisping was destined to remain on a list that currently includes the likes of Urijah Faber, Joseph Benavidez and Kenny Florian; great fighters who were never able to win a title in the UFC.

However, in the twilight of his career, ‘The Count’ was able to realise his dream by becoming the promotion’s middleweight champion. Remarkably, he did this in his very first title fight, too.

Although Bisping burst onto the scene during the airing of TUF 3 in early 2006, he made his official octagon debut that June, when he stopped Josh Haynes to win the reality show.

‘The Count’ quickly became a superstar in his home country of the UK. While he eventually proved his worth as a top fighter, though, it seemed like he’d never earn a title shot.

Big wins over the likes of Denis Kang, Dan Miller and Cung Le were seemingly always followed by major losses to the likes of Dan Henderson and Vitor Belfort.

By 2016, Bisping had been competing in the octagon for a decade, and it felt like a win over former champion Anderson Silva that February would be his crowning achievement.

Incredibly, though, four months after that win, ‘The Count’ was offered a late-notice title fight with champ Luke Rockhold.

Despite holding a loss to Rockhold less than two years prior, Bisping then pulled off a miracle knockout win, dispatching him in the first round in one of the octagon’s all-time great upsets.

The win meant that despite all the falls at the final hurdle, ‘The Count’ had finally become a UFC champion after 10 years of competing – a feat which rightfully earned him a spot in the Hall of Fame after his 2017 retirement.

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#3. Raquel Pennington – UFC bantamweight champion

As was previously mentioned, Raquel Pennington ascended to the top of the UFC’s bantamweight division this past weekend.

‘Rocky’ outpointed Mayra Bueno Silva to claim the title vacated last year by Amanda Nunes, and while the fight itself was largely forgettable, it’s hard not to admire Pennington’s journey.

Pennington emerged into the promotion in late 2013 following a stint on the 18th season of The Ultimate Fighter, where she’d gained a reputation as an entertaining brawler.

That reputation stayed with her through her early days in the UFC, but after going 2-2 in her first four bouts, climbing into the upper echelon at 135 pounds seemed unlikely.

A sold four-fight win streak, culminating in a victory over former titleholder Miesha Tate, led her to a title shot in the summer of 2018. However, Pennington was easily beaten by then-titleholder Nunes, and two more losses in her subsequent three bouts saw her slide down the ladder.

However, ‘Rocky’ kept ticking away, and after putting together five wins in a row – including victories over the highly-ranked Aspen Ladd and Ketlen Vieira – moved her back into contention.

Sure, there’d be an argument to suggest that her title reign has only come about because of the lack of newer talent emerging into the division, but that doesn’t matter really.

Any fighter who can plug away for 10 years and two months before finally claiming gold in the octagon deserves a ton of respect, and in that sense, it’s impossible to look down on Pennington’s accomplishment.

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#2. Charles Oliveira – UFC lightweight champion

While Charles Oliveira no longer holds the UFC lightweight title, having lost it to Islam Makhachev in late 2022, it’s fair to say that he is definitely one of the best 155 pound fighters on the planet right now.

At the age of 34, ‘Do Bronx’ appears to be in his physical prime, and aside from Makhachev, he’d probably be favoured to defeat any other lightweight on the roster.

While it felt like Oliveira’s run to the title was meteoric, though, in reality, his rise to the top was anything but it. The fact that the Brazilian holds an incredible 16 submission wins should be a clue to his longevity, but his tenure on the roster still feels surprising.

In fact, ‘Do Bronx’ debuted in the octagon way back in August 2010, some 10 years and nine months before he dispatched Michael Chandler to win the vacant lightweight crown in May 2021.

During that period, Oliveira went from being considered a prospect and then a limited action fighter at 155 pounds to a dangerous yet fragile contender at 145 pounds.

It was only when he returned to lightweight in 2017 that he hit his stride, winning nine of 10 bouts to set up his eventual title victory.

Given that he’s suffered his fair share of nasty losses over the years – eight defeats in total – quite how long he can stay at the top of the mountain remains to be seen.

For now, though, Oliveira remains a very viable threat to the title, making his long and winding journey to the top a truly fascinating one.

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#1. Robbie Lawler – UFC welterweight champion

The fighter who took the longest time to reach the top of the UFC is former welterweight titleholder Robbie Lawler.

While it felt like a lifetime went by in the period between his title loss in 2016 and his eventual retirement in 2023, that period was actually short compared to his initial journey to the top.

‘Ruthless’ debuted in the octagon way back in May 2002. At the time, he had just turned 20 years old, and held an MMA record of just 4-0.

Wins over Aaron Riley, Steve Berger and Tiki Ghosn quickly earned him the label of the “next big thing”, but it quickly became apparent that Lawler was still very raw.

Disappointing losses to Pete Spratt and Nick Diaz revealed a lot of holes in his game, and when an ill-advised move to 185 pounds led to a defeat to Evan Tanner, ‘Ruthless’ found himself out of the UFC entirely.

From there, it looked like he was destined for a career as a journeyman. Lawler competed in promotions like PRIDE, Icon Sport and Elite XC, winning some big fights, losing others, and even claimed a couple of titles along the way.

Fascinatingly, the only reason ‘Ruthless’ made it back to the UFC was essentially because he was in the right place at the right time.

Part of StrikeForce’s roster when the promotion was bought out in 2011, Lawler returned to the octagon in early 2013. Paired with perennial contender Josh Koscheck, many fans believed his second stint with the UFC would be a short one.

However, ‘Ruthless’ surprised everyone by upsetting Koscheck, and then reeled off two more wins, moving into title contention in the process.

And while he lost his initial welterweight title bout against Johny Hendricks, wins over Jake Ellenberger and Matt Brown moved him back up the ladder, and he eventually overcame Hendricks to claim the title in December 2014.

Incredibly, Lawler’s title win came 12 years and seven months after his octagon debut, making his journey to the top probably the most arduous – and awe-inspiring – in UFC history.