Longest Tenured UFC Light Heavyweights

Here is an ordered list of the 15 current UFC Middleweights that have been with the company the longest. (No Amateur TUF debut dates are counted). Do any names surprise you? Do the lengths of any of their careers based on their styles surprise you? Who from this list do you think will be the last to still be fighting for the UFC? Personally I thought Shogun would be before even Ed Herman, but this wasn't the case. I also didn't expect Khalil Rountree or Ion Cutelaba either. Anthony Smith being around almost as long as Luke Rockhold also surprised me. Let me know what you make of the list.


#1 Ed Herman. Debut: 6/24/2006
#2 Shogun Rua. Debut: 9/22/2007
#3 Jon Jones. Debut: 8/9/2008
#4 Glover Teixeira. Debut: 5/26/2012
#5 Ovince St. Preux. Debut: 4/27/2013
#6 Luke Rockhold. Debut: 5/18/2013
#7 Anthony Smith. Debut: 6/8/2013
#8 Thiago Santos. Debut: 8/3/2013
#9 Nikita Krylov. Debut: 8/31/2013
#10 Sam Alvey. Debut: 8/16/2014
#11 Jan Blachowitz. Debut: 10/4/2014
#12 Misha Cirkunov. Debut: 8/23/2015
#13 Ion Cutelaba. Debut: 6/18/2016
#14 Khalil Rountree. Debut: 7/8/2016
#15 Devin Clark. Debut: 7/13/2016

Isn't Shogun retired?

Nope, not officially! There was a rumored report that he had retired until he dispelled it. Also DOH, I typoed Light Heavyweights as Middleweights here too. My fault for doing these late at night.

* Edited at 01.15.2021, 9:22 AM ET *

@Drmaxis

It will be interesting to see how much longer Rua's career can go on for but personally I think he's only got about 1 or 2 good fights left in him. If he carries on after that then I can see him suffering some bad losses against some younger fighters.

Agreed about him only having one or two more. I wanna see him fight Ed Herman because I think Shogun could have a good performance against him then retire. It's not that I want him gone to not see him anymore though, but the 2nd Paul Craig wasn't competitive enough for me to want to see him around where he might get matched up with some young lion that could really hurt him at this point. Plus, if they fight then we get to see the two longest tenured light heavies fight. 

@Dmaxis2

Ed Herman vs Shogun Rua would be a great fight! It's a fight he could win but it wouldn't be a walk over either, it would be a fairly competitive fight. As far as I'm concerned, I'd just want to see him retire on a win.

#1 Ed Herman. Debut: 6/24/2006
#2 Shogun Rua. Debut: 9/22/2007
#3 Jon Jones. Debut: 8/9/2008
#4 Glover Teixeira. Debut: 5/26/2012
#5 Ovince St. Preux. Debut: 4/27/2013
#6 Luke Rockhold. Debut: 5/18/2013
#7 Anthony Smith. Debut: 6/8/2013
#8 Thiago Santos. Debut: 8/3/2013
#9 Nikita Krylov. Debut: 8/31/2013
#10 Jan Blachowitz. Debut: 10/4/2014
#11 Ion Cutelaba. Debut: 6/18/2016
#12 Khalil Rountree. Debut: 7/8/2016
#13 Devin Clark. Debut: 7/13/2016
#14 Paul Craig. Debut: 12/17/2016
#15 Volkan Oezdemir. Debut: 2/4/2017

I have to update this list because there's been a startling omission by me that has become apparent recently when I realized this man has also literally gone 6-0-1 this decade so far. Dustin Jacoby should have been on this list at #4 (at the very least) since I've made it. My apologies for forgetting about him, but he was cut so I always forget he's (on and off) been in the promotion since 2011. 


The current correct list:
#1 Ed Herman. Debut: 6/24/2006
#2 Shogun Rua. Debut: 9/22/2007
#3 Dustin Jacoby. Debut: 10/29/2011
#4 Glover Teixeira. Debut: 5/26/2012
#5 Ovince St. Preux. Debut: 4/27/2013
#6 Anthony Smith. Debut: 6/8/2013
#7 Thiago Santos. Debut: 8/3/2013
#8 Nikita Krylov. Debut: 8/31/2013
#9 Jan Blachowitz. Debut: 10/4/2014
#10 Ion Cutelaba. Debut: 6/18/2016
#11 Khalil Rountree. Debut: 7/8/2016
#12 Devin Clark. Debut: 7/13/2016
#13 Tyson Pedro (Since he is now coming back) 11/27/2016
#14 Paul Craig. Debut: 12/17/2016
#15 Volkan Oezdemir. Debut: 2/4/2017

@Drmaxis2

Dustin Jacoby is the UFC version of that work colleague who's been there longer than most but everyone just assumes they're new because they just quietly hang out in the background and don't talk much.

 #1 Ed Herman. Debut: 6/24/2006
#2 Dustin Jacoby. Debut: 10/29/2011
#3 Ovince St. Preux. Debut: 4/27/2013
#4 Anthony Smith. Debut: 6/8/2013
#5 Thiago Santos. Debut: 8/3/2013
#6 Nikita Krylov. Debut: 8/31/2013
#7 Jan Blachowicz. Debut: 10/4/2014
#8 Ion Cutelaba. Debut: 6/18/2016
#9 Khalil Rountree. Debut: 7/8/2016
#10 Devin Clark. Debut: 7/13/2016
#11 Tyson Pedro  11/27/2016
#12 Paul Craig. Debut: 12/17/2016
#13 Volkan Oezdemir. Debut: 2/4/2017 
#14 Dominick Reyes. Debut: 6/25/2017
#15 Aleksandar Rakic. Debut: 9/2/2017