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The Ultimate Fighter reality show has produced tons of top-level UFC stars over the years, but beginning with the inaugural season in 2005, fans and fighters alike often doubted the products of TUF.
The fact that many TUF winners have been doubted in the UFC proper has meant that plenty of them have been responsible for some of the biggest upsets in the promotion’s history.
Whether it’s been toppling heavily favored opponents, or even winning a UFC title itself, we’ve seen TUF winners shocking the world for well over 15 years now.
With that considered, here are five TUF winners who shocked the world in the UFC.
#5. Julianna Pena vs. Amanda Nunes – UFC 269
The most recent TUF winner to leave the jaws of UFC fans across the world on the floor was Julianna Pena, who came out on top in the women’s bantamweight tournament on the 18th season of the reality show.
‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ looked excellent in her run on TUF, defeating a far more seasoned veteran in Shayna Baszler before overcoming Sarah Moras and Jessica Rakoczy. She was widely tipped for UFC success afterwards.
However, in the years that followed her TUF victory, Pena’s tenure in the octagon became one largely built on frustration.
She picked up some big wins, including victories over Jessica Eye and Cat Zingano, but also suffered a serious knee injury that kept her on the shelf for the best part of a year.
When she lost to Valentina Shevchenko in a title eliminator in early 2017, it looked like any aspirations of becoming a UFC champion were done, particularly when she then took a leave of absence to start a family.
While she looked decent upon her return in 2019, when the UFC announced that she’d be challenging Amanda Nunes for the bantamweight title at UFC 269, it felt like she was another hand-picked victim for ‘The Lioness’.
Instead, Pena stunned everyone by surviving a tricky first round before taking the fight to Nunes on the feet, landing some heavy punches to bust her up before taking her down and submitting her with a rear naked choke.
The win was immediately christened as one of the UFC’s greatest-ever upsets,. Pena had not only become the latest TUF winner to claim gold in the octagon, but the latest reality star to shock the world, too.
#4. Forrest Griffin vs. Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua – UFC 76
The winner of the light heavyweight bracket during the first season of TUF back in 2005, Forrest Griffin was always a little underrated by some UFC fans.
Written off as nothing but a reality show product by some, Griffin already had big wins over Chael Sonnen and Jeff Monson prior to his UFC career. He immediately proved he belonged in the big time with wins over Bill Mahood and Elvis Sinosic.
However, although he impressed in his loss against Tito Ortiz, that defeat, along with a KO at the hands of Keith Jardine, suggested that Griffin had reached his ceiling.
When the UFC matched him with the incoming Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, then, nobody really gave the TUF star a chance. After all, Shogun was widely recognized as PRIDE’s best 205lber, with wins over top-level fighters like Ricardo Arona, Alistair Overeem and then-UFC champion Quinton Jackson.
However, Griffin was determined to prove everyone wrong, and he did just that in a truly stirring victory.
The TUF winner basically outfought Shogun in all areas, never letting him get comfortable and taking the fight to him both on the feet and on the ground. Eventually, the Brazilian wilted, allowing Griffin to secure a third-round rear-naked choke to finish him off.
Naturally, the UFC’s fans were blown away by the performance and the win meant that nobody would doubt Griffin, who went onto win the UFC light heavyweight title in his next fight, again.
#3. Rashad Evans vs. Chuck Liddell – UFC 88
After TUF's first season was hugely well-received, the second season was always going to struggle to live up to the standard. Although it featured some high points, for the most part, TUF 2 was indeed a disappointment.
In particular, the winner of the season’s heavyweight bracket, Rashad Evans, instantly came under criticism from UFC fans due to his wrestling-heavy style.
Evans outworked four opponents to claim his TUF victory, but it wasn’t until he knocked out Jason Lambert in his fourth octagon appearance that UFC fans began to buy into him as a potential prospect.
However, a controversial draw with Tito Ortiz, a fight Evans would’ve lost had Ortiz not been deducted a point, suggested that ‘Suga’ was not quite ready for the big time.
That meant that when he was signed to fight former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell in the main event of UFC 88, he was largely written off by the UFC’s fanbase.
Evans had an ace up his sleeve, though, in the fact that he’d taken a year away from the octagon prior to the fight to hone his skills. He came into the fight looking sharper and, more importantly, faster than ever.
It soon became clear that ‘Suga’ had much faster hands than Liddell. After tagging him with a number of punches in the first round, he landed a crushing counter right in the second that left ‘The Iceman’ unconscious in one of the scariest UFC knockouts of all time.
The UFC fans were naturally stunned by the result, with very few figuring that the maligned TUF winner could take out a legend of the octagon in that way.
As for Evans? He went on to win the UFC light heavyweight title in his very next bout and would go on to be recognized as one of the best 205lbers of his generation.
#2. Michael Bisping vs. Luke Rockhold – UFC 199
Perhaps no TUF winner faced as much doubt from UFC fans as Michael Bisping. ‘The Count’ won the third season of the reality show at 205 pounds, but immediately faced criticism that the UFC were protecting him in order to make him into their UK poster boy.
Bisping was able to prove those doubters wrong with his impressive wins over fighters like Denis Kang, Chris Leben and Yoshihiro Akiyama. Despite that, he still faced plenty of questions from the fans.
‘The Count’ was largely written off as a fighter who simply couldn’t win the big one, with his losses to Wanderlei Silva, Chael Sonnen and Vitor Belfort used as evidence. He also came under fire for a supposed lack of knockout power and also because of his abrasive personality.
However, Bisping kept plugging away, and as the years ticked by, he continued to win fights to keep himself afloat in the UFC’s middleweight rankings. By 2016, though, ‘The Count’ was 38 years old and with injuries racking up, it seemed like he’d never achieve his dream of becoming a UFC champion.
Incredibly, that was about to change. After edging a win over UFC legend Anderson Silva, Bisping stepped in on late notice to face off with reigning middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, a fighter who’d defeated him just months earlier.
Nobody was really giving Bisping a chance, but Rockhold had made the mistake of underestimating him too. When he dropped his hands a little, ‘The Count’ came through with a crushing left hook and ended up knocking the champion senseless.
Not only had Bisping become one of the most unlikely UFC champions in the promotion’s history, he’d also proven all of his doubters, dating all the way back to his TUF days, absolutely wrong.
#1. Matt Serra vs. Georges St-Pierre – UFC 69
Widely recognized as the greatest upset in UFC history by many fans, Matt Serra’s knockout of Georges St-Pierre remains the gold standard for TUF winners shocking the world inside the octagon.
Serra won the welterweight section of TUF 4, an odd season of the reality show that brought back veteran fighters rather than introducing new ones and promised an instant title shot to the winners.
However, it was easy to doubt ‘The Terror’, as not only had he washed out of the UFC off the back of some disappointing losses prior to his TUF run, but he also didn’t really impress that heavily during the reality show, particularly in the final bout against Chris Lytle.
More to the point, UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre had been running through every fighter he’d faced, from tough veterans like Sean Sherk and Frank Trigg, all the way through to legendary former champion Matt Hughes.
Essentially, nobody was giving Serra a chance of dethroning ‘Rush’ and many fans felt like the fight was practically a waste of St-Pierre’s time.
However, Serra proved everyone wrong with a stunning first-round knockout. He caught GSP with a wild punch behind the ear that wrecked the champion’s equilibrium and then didn’t let up until the Canadian was forced to tap out to strikes.
To say this was a shocking result would be an understatement and while Serra didn’t make a single title defense before dropping the title back to St-Pierre a year later, the victory turned him into a genuine star for a time. Not bad for a written-off TUF winner!
