Most Frequent UFC Headliners

I went through all the UFC events to see who is in the main event most often.  On events that were single night tournaments, I noted the finalists as the headliners, unless there was a Superfight main event.  Here's everyone who had 5 or more:

1. Randy Couture, 18 main events
2. Tito Ortiz, 16 main events
3. Anderson Silva, 13 main events
4. Chuck Liddell, 12 main events
5. B.J. Penn, 11 main events
6. Rich Franklin, 10 main events
7. (tie) Ken Shamrock, 9 main events
7. (tie) Georges St-Pierre, 9 main events
9. (tie) Matt Hughes, 8 main events
9. (tie) Rashad Evans, 8 main events
9. (tie) Rampage Jackson, 8 main events
12. (tie) Vitor Belfort, 7 main events
12. (tie) Diego Sanchez, 7 main events
14. (tie) Dan Severn, 6 main events
14. (tie) Tim Sylvia, 6 main events
14. (tie) Jon Jones, 6 main events
17. (tie) Royce Gracie, 5 main events
17. (tie) Mark Coleman, 5 main events
17. (tie) Kenny Florian, 5 main events
17. (tie) Lyoto Machida, 5 main events

An interesting list. Surprised GSP hasnt had more.

Damn, Jon Jones is already at 6!  

18 Main events is a pretty high number when it comes to main events ALONE. Thats actually awesome!

Also Jon Jones has 6 already. Thats insane.

Thats including fight nights and other ones not just pay per views right?

Wow so 75% of the times he's fought, he's been the main event.

Yes, it includes Fight Nights, TUF Finales, UFC on VS, UFC on FOX, etc.

And just for fun, here's the rest of the list.

21. 4 MAIN EVENTS

• Maurice Smith
• Frank Shamrock
• Kevin Randleman
• Pedro Rizzo
• Andrei Arlovski
• Nate Marquardt
• Keith Jardine
• Dan Henderson
• Michael Bisping
• Brock Lesnar
• Shogun Rua

32. 3 MAIN EVENTS

• Tank Abbott
• Evan Tanner
• Chris Leben
• Matt Serra
• Joe Stevenson
• Melvin Guillard
• Yushin Okami
• Clay Guida
• Minotauro Nogueira
• Forrest Griffin
• Nate Diaz
• Matt Hamill
• Gray Maynard
• Cain Velasquez
• Frankie Edgar

47. 2 MAIN EVENTS

• Oleg Taktarov
• Kimo Leopoldo
• Don Frye
• Jeremy Horn
• Bas Rutten
• Wanderlei Silva
• Vladimir Matyushenko
• Jens Pulver
• Ricco Rodriguez
• Sean Sherk
• Patrick Cote
• David Loiseau
• Nick Diaz
• Stephan Bonnar
• Sam Stout
• Chris Lytle
• Mirko Cro Cop
• Gabriel Gonzaga
• Joe Lauzon
• Jon Fitch
• Josh Koscheck
• Martin Kampmann
• Frank Mir
• Brandon Vera
• Dan Hardy
• Shane Carwin
• Jake Shields
• Junior dos Santos
• Dominick Cruz

76. 1 MAIN EVENT

• Gerard Gordeau
• Patrick Smith
• Steve Jennum
• Harold Howard
• Igor Zinoviev
• John Lober
• Tsuyoshi Kosaka
• Guy Mezger
• Marco Ruas
• Pete Williams
• Tedd Williams
• Steve Judson
• Yuki Kondo
• Elvis Sinosic
• Josh Barnett
• Murilo Bustamente
• Matt Lindland
• Carlos Newton
• Frank Trigg
• Justin Eilers
• Ivan Salaverry
• Paul Buentello
• Nate Quarry
• Assuerio Silva
• Karo Parisyan
• Babalu Sobral
• Joe Riggs
• Sean Salmon
• Travis Lutter
• Spencer Fisher
• Din Thomas
• Roger Huerta
• Mike Swick
• Josh Burkman
• Thiago Alves
• Kendall Grove
• James Irvin
• Josh Neer
• Yoshiyuki Yoshida
• Phillipe Nover
• Jeremy Stephens
• Efrain Escudero
• Carlos Condit
• Thales Leites
• Thiago Silva
• Takanori Gomi
• Demian Maia
• Chael Sonnen
• Rousimar Palhares
• Yoshihiro Akiyama
• Igor Pokrajac
• Evan Dunham
• Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
• Phil Davis
• Anthony Pettis
• Cheick Kongo
• Pat Barry
• Urijah Faber
• Jake Ellenberger
• Demetrious Johnson
• Mark Munoz
• Mayhem Miller
  

* Edited at 12.26.2011, 9:30 PM ET *

lolz at a legend like Urijah Faber having the same amount of main events as Joe Riggs.

Surprised that Kos, Wandy and Cro Cop have so few main events. And which idiot was ok with Ken Shamrock main eventing 9 times?

Ken was main eventing back in the 90's and early 2000's.  I was happy to see Chris Lytle's name on the list... and can't wait to see Cerrone's!  (Even though he headlined some WEC's).

Do co mains count?

I did not count co-mains. 

It's funny the interesting things you notice.  For example, Frank Mir was never in a main event fight until UFC 100.

@Dakej Tim Sylvia vs Frank Mir for the Heavyweight Championship wasn't the main event?

Believe it or not, that event's main event was Ken Shamrock vs Kimo Leopoldo.  It was subtitled "Payback" and was hyped as a rematch between those two.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_48

* Edited at 12.27.2011, 11:12 PM ET *

thats a lot of different people in the main events. kind of crazy.

Cool stats, good research man.

ya jones's percentage is crazy.   also though wandy has only headlined twice??  really?

@putaforkinya Yeah at UFC 25 vs Tito Ortiz and at UFC 99 vs Rich Franklin.

HAHAHAHAHA REALLY?!

KIMO LEOPOLDO WAS PUT AHEAD OF A HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT?!

Hahaha, this is the worst poster ever