Where does Jon Jones and Alex Pereira rank among the oldest UFC champions in history?
Jon Jones and Alex Pereira both hold titles in 2024, and they’re both two-division UFC champions. While they took very different paths to the top, what they do have in common is how they somehow managed to fend off Father Time during their long combat sports careers.
In this list below, we’ll look at the oldest champions in UFC history, but before all of that, here’s a quick pop quiz:
Who is the oldest active UFC champion today?
Most people might guess Jon Jones, since he has been in the UFC for about 16 years, but they would be wrong. The oldest current UFC champion is actually Alex Pereira, who was born on July 7, 1987.
Both Jones and Pereira actually share the same birth year and month, but Pereira is technically older than the longtime UFC star by 12 days.
This makes Pereira the oldest current UFC champion today, but where do these two 37-year-olds rank among the oldest in UFC history?
The oldest champions in UFC history
This list of 15 oldest UFC champions ever is filled with several MMA legends, and it includes Alex Pereira, and Jon Jones right behind him.
Several UFC champions have defied the norm and impressively found success long past what’s typically defined as someone’s athletic prime. Perhaps as a sign of improving training methods aiding longevity, there are also three active champions now that can conceivably move up a couple of spots in this list.
We’ll start this list with an honorable mention from an older era than everyone else listed.
Murilo Bustamante winning his UFC belt in 2002.
Honorable mention: Murilo Bustamante
UFC champion until the age of 36 years, 2 months, and 5 days.
Just outside of this list is Murilo Bustamante, who won and defended the UFC middleweight title back in 2002. He could’ve conceivably made it into the top 15 under slightly different circumstances, since he didn’t really lose his UFC title in the cage.
Bustamante was instead stripped of his UFC belt when he decided to take his talents over to PRIDE, which arguably had the best fighters of that era.
15. Francis Ngannou
UFC champion until the age of 36 years, 4 months, 9 days.
Officially kicking off this list is MMA’s lineal heavyweight champion of the world. Much like Bustamante, Francis Ngannou never lost his UFC title in the Octagon. He was only stripped of his title in 2023, after contract negotiations fell through and he found far better paying opportunities outside the UFC.
After two lucrative fights in boxing, Ngannou still proved to be incredibly dominant in MMA at 38 years old, by recently winning the PFL heavyweight title. If UFC loosened up their purse strings, perhaps Ngannou could’ve jumped several spots up this list, but alas, he stays at number 15.
14. Georges St-Pierre
UFC champion until the age of 36 years, 6 months, 18 days.
After years away from the sport, Georges St-Pierre came out of retirement to move up and take Michael Bisping’s middleweight crown in 2017. He became a two-division UFC champion to add to his all-time great resume, and could’ve easily kept the belt longer and gone higher on this list if he chose to.
St-Pierre struggled and got sick trying to eat his way up a division, and admitted he didn’t plan on defending the title. Ever the nice Canadian, St-Pierre quickly relinquished his title just 34 days after winning it, so he wouldn’t hold up the division longer. With that, Good Guy Georges lands on the 14th spot.
13. Valentina Shevchenko
Active UFC champion: Age 36 and counting.
After seven title defenses in her initial flyweight title reign, Valentina Shevchenko became a two-time UFC champion by dominating her third match with rival Alexa Grasso at UFC 306. She’s already older than when Georges St-Pierre was last champion, and could quickly rise up this list as she’s still an active champion.
Shevchenko should surpass the next champ on this list in a few months.
12. Tyron Woodley
UFC champion until the age of 36 years, 10 months, 23 days.
Tyron Woodley is one of the more underrated UFC champions, with four title defenses to his name and managing to keep the welterweight title for three years. After a reign with wins over Robbie Lawler, Stephen Thompson, Demian Maia and Darren Till, he only dropped his title to another dominant welterweight in Kamaru Usman at UFC 235.
Woodley takes the 12th spot as he was champion until a little over a month shy of his 37th birthday.
11. Jon Jones
Active UFC champion: Age 37 and counting.
Jon Jones is the youngest ever to become a UFC champion when he won the belt at 23 years old, making it pretty insane that he’s also on this list of the oldest champions in history. Well over a decade into his light heavyweight rule, Jones moved up a division and captured the heavyweight crown in 2023.
He can conceivably continue to move up this list as an active champion, but he has indicated plans to retire soon after his
UFC 309
bout with Stipe Miocic, who also happens to be on this list.
Next up is the aforementioned fellow two-division champion that’s only 12 days older than Jon Jones.
Related:
Before Jon Jones was champion: Top 3 forgotten fights
10. Alex Pereira
Active UFC champion: Age 37 and counting.
Alex Pereira already had a full career in kickboxing as a two-division champ in Glory, before going on an incredible speed run to the UFC Hall of Fame.
Despite the late start, Pereira is achieving great things at an unparalleled pace. He won the UFC middleweight title at 35 years old, then the light heavyweight belt at 36, before defending it multiple times. He has since become the fastest ever to become a two-division UFC champion, and the fastest to three title defenses.
Alex Pereira seems to be really maximizing the time he has left in the spotlight, and with him still being an active champion, it seems like he’ll be able to climb a couple of spots at the minimum.
It’s also worth pointing out that one of the main coaches that’s helping Pereira achieve all this, is also near the top of this list.
Related:
Alex Pereira's next UFC fight? 3 most likely options
9. Chuck Liddell
UFC champion until the age of 37 years, 5 months and 9 days.
Chuck Liddell was by far the biggest star and face of the UFC during his prime, and he held the UFC light heavyweight title from 2005-2007. “The Iceman” had several iconic knockouts to his name, and storied rivalries with the likes of Tito Ortiz, who he stopped for the second time in his final title defense.
Liddell eventually lost his title against Rampage Jackson at UFC 71, effectively ending both his reign and time at the top of the sport at age 37.
8. Anderson Silva
UFC champion until the age of 38 years, 2 months, 22 days.
Another iconic star and MMA great is on this list, with Anderson Silva and his incredible reign from 2006-2013 putting him at number eight. Silva had the longest ever reign in UFC history, as he defended his title 10 straight times during that span.
He won the title against Rich Franklin back at UFC 64, before ruling the middleweight division and even dabbling at light heavyweight for several years. He only ended up losing his belt to Chris Weidman seven years later at UFC 162, when he was already over 38 years old.
What’s even more impressive in Silva’s skills and longevity, is that he transitioned to boxing several years later. He got a couple of wins in a different sport, including an upset over former WBC champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at age 46.
7. Stipe Miocic
UFC champion until the age of 38 years, 7 months, 8 days.
Considered as arguably the all-time best UFC heavyweight, Stipe Miocic had two title reigns in the division, a couple of records, and wins over several former champions in his resume. Belts constantly change hands at heavyweight, but Miocic has the UFC record of four title defenses combined.
His last reign was ended by Francis Ngannou in 2021, when he was 38 years old. He also has the opportunity to skyrocket up to the top 3 of this list, after being granted a UFC 309 title fight with Jon Jones at age 42.
Related:
Before Stipe Miocic was UFC champion - Top 3 forgotten fights
6. Jan Blachowicz
UFC champion until the age of 38 years, 8 months, 6 days.
Former KSW champ Jan Blachowicz entered the UFC at 31 years old, but initially had a rough start in the promotion. After losing four of his first six UFC fights, he eventually went on a career resurgence and eventually won the vacant UFC light heavyweight title in 2020 at age 37.
He won a champion vs. champion super-fight with Israel Adesanya, before dropping his belt at age 38, and against a fighter near the top of this list. More on that later.
5th oldest UFC champion: Michael Bisping
UFC champion until the age of 38 years, 8 months, 7 days.
Michael Bisping joined the UFC from the Ultimate Fighter and spent a decade as a mid-level contender. Not many believed could win the title, but he went on to complete a Cinderella story late in his career.
After wins over Thales Leites and Anderson Silva, Bisping scored an incredible upset KO over Luke Rockhold to become champion at age 37. He avenged his loss to Dan Henderson to defend his middleweight title once, before eventually dropping his belt in the 2017 match with Georges St-Pierre that we mentioned earlier.
Bisping took the 5th spot on this list after being just a day older than Blachowicz, when his improbable UFC title reign came to an end.
4th oldest UFC champion: Fabricio Werdum
UFC champion until the age of 38 years, 9 months, 14 days.
Even after stints in PRIDE and Strikeforce, Fabricio Werdum was somehow at peak form from 2012 to 2015. A 37-year-old Werdum beat Mark Hunt to win the interim UFC heavyweight belt, then unified the titles by pulling off an upset and submitting Cain Velasquez. He would only lose his UFC title in 2016, when he faced an all-time great in Stipe Miocic a couple of months shy of his 39th birthday.
Werdum has a very underrated resume, having fought just about every heavyweight legend from different eras. Apart from Fedor, Cain, Hunt and Miocic mentioned above, he has victories over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Alistair Overeem, and Alexander Gustafsson. He also dropped fights with ex-UFC champions like Junior dos Santos and Andrei Arlovski.
Seems like the only heavyweight champion in his era that Werdum didn’t face is the one higher up on this list.
3rd oldest UFC champion: Daniel Cormier
UFC champion until the age of 40 years, 4 months, 28 days.
The top three in this list are all outliers that found success long after the supposed limits to athletic primes. Coming in at number three is Daniel Cormier, who started MMA late after his Olympic wrestling career.
Cormier was already 30 when he had his first pro MMA fight, but that didn’t stop him from achieving great things in the sport. He won the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix at 33 years old, and followed up by winning the UFC light heavyweight title at 36. He had four title defenses of that belt at 205 lbs, and already qualified for this list by then, but “DC” was not done.
Daniel Cormier then moved up and knocked out Stipe Miocic at UFC 220 to become a simultaneous two-division champion. He would defend his belt once, before losing a rematch to Miocic in 2019. When that ended his title reign, Cormier was already over 40 years old.
2nd oldest UFC champion: Glover Teixeira
UFC champion until the age of 42 years, 7 months, 15 days.
Glover Teixeira’s first crack at a UFC title was against Jon Jones, when he was 34 years old. He lost, then eventually hit a rough patch in his late 30s, leading to most people thinking his career was just about over.
Somehow, Teixeira turned back the clock very late in his career, and won six straight bouts against far younger opponents. This culminated with an upset submission win in 2021 over the previously mentioned champion at the time in Jan Blachowicz. Teixeira won the belt at age 42, and a few months later, he went to war with Jiri Prochazka, who was 13 years his junior. He lost a back-and-forth match, which ended up as
the 2022 Fight of the Year.
Teixeira had another shot at the title at age 43, but he lost a competitive decision to Jamahal Hill in 2023. He has since retired and is now coaching Alex Pereira, seemingly teaching him the secrets to beating Father Time as they’re now both on this list.
1. The oldest UFC champion ever: Randy Couture
Randy Couture is the oldest UFC champion in history, holding the belt until the age of 45 years, 4 months, 24 days.
Holding the number one spot on this list is an extreme outlier in Randy Couture. Much like Cormier on the number three spot, Couture also started MMA very late at age 34, after a highly regarded wrestling career.
He joined the UFC in 1997, back in its early days. During his long and illustrious career, Randy Couture managed to become the promotion’s first ever two-division champion with a UFC record of five separate title reigns – six if you count his UFC tournament win.
When he lost his light heavyweight belt in 2005 and got knocked out twice by Chuck Liddell, he was already in his forties. Instead of hanging up the gloves, he just moved up in weight and pulled off a shocking and now iconic upset over the 6-foot-8 Tim Sylvia.
Winning the UFC heavyweight belt at age 43 would’ve made him top this list already, but Couture still went on to have two more championship fights. This fifth and final UFC title reign was ended in 2008 by Brock Lesnar, who was 14 years younger and around 50 pounds heavier.
Randy Couture was 45 then, but still continued to compete. He won three of his next five fights before retiring at 48 years old.
The UFC Hall of Famer holds a lot of records from his five championship reigns, but it seems like this distinction as the oldest UFC champion ever could be the toughest one to break.
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