Longest Tenured UFC Featherweights

Here is an ordered list of the 15 current UFC Bantamweights 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? This one was fascinating because of the crazy competition level. There were like 8 guys that also debuted in 2014/early 2015 that still didn't even crack the top 15. Also, the fact that Nik Lentz debuted in 2009 tripped me out a lot. I knew that Alex Caceres was an OG too, but I for sure didn't anticipate that he goes as far back as Zombie and further than Swanson, Pineda, Fili, or Holloway. Let me know what you make of the list.


#1 Jeremy Stephens. Debut: 5/26/2007
#2 Nik Lentz. Debut: 9/19/2009
#3 Darren Elkins. Debut: 3/21/2010
#4 Edson Barboza. Debut: 11/20/2010
#5 TIE Korean Zombie and Alex Caceres. Debuts: 3/26/2011
#7 Cub Swanson. Debut: 11/12/2011
#8 Max Holloway. Debut: 2/4/2012
#9 Daniel Pineda. Debut: 3/2/2012
#10 Andre Fili. Debut: 10/19/2013
#11 TIE (they even debuted against one another) Zubaira Tukhugov and Douglas Andrade. Debuts: 2/15/2014
#13 TIE (they even debuted against one another) Mirsad Bektic and Chas Skelly. Debuts: 4/19/2014
#15 Brian Ortega. Debut: 7/26/2014

Coming up on 14 years for Stephens. That's a long time for anyone to stay around and not get let go.

Yeah, Stephens is a work horse. People fault him for having the most losses in UFC history too, but with that long of a tenure, I think it'd be more unusual for somebody to not be at least one of the fighters with the most losses. By the way, I typoed Featherweight as Bantamweight, whoopsies!

* Edited at 01.15.2021, 9:18 AM ET *

Update:#2 Nik Lentz just retired, so everybody below him moves up a spot. Damon Jackson is now in the top 15, and he debuted 8/30/2014

I was so glad to see Darren Elkins win his last fight against Eduardo Garagorri as he had lost the last 4 leading up to it so if he had lost that one, combined with the fact that he'd been around a while, I'm sure he would've ended up getting cut. Those 4 guys were all great fighters but Dana can be very harsh on cutting fighters when they're on a 3+ losing streak regardless of who they were fighting against. 

#1 Darren Elkins. Debut: 3/21/2010
#2 Edson Barboza. Debut: 11/20/2010
#3 TIE Korean Zombie and Alex Caceres. Debuts: 3/26/2011
#5 Cub Swanson. Debut: 11/12/2011
#6 Max Holloway. Debut: 2/4/2012
#7 Daniel Pineda. Debut: 3/2/2012
#8 Andre Fili. Debut: 10/19/2013
#9 Zubaira Tukhugov. Debut: 2/15/2014
#10 Chas Skelly. Debuts: 4/19/2014
#11 Brian Ortega. Debut: 7/26/2014
#12 Charles Rosa. Debut: 10/4/2014
#13 TIE Yair Rodriguez and Gabriel Benitez. Debuts: 11/15/2014
#15 Doo Ho Choi. Debut: 11/22/2014

#10 Chas Skelly retired, so everyone behind him moves up a spot and Makwan Amirkhani moves into the #15 spot with a debut on 1/24/2015

 #1 Darren Elkins. Debut: 3/21/2010
#2 Edson Barboza. Debut: 11/20/2010
#3 TIE Korean Zombie and Alex Caceres. Debuts: 3/26/2011
#5 Max Holloway. Debut: 2/4/2012
#6 Daniel Pineda. Debut: 3/2/2012
#7 Andre Fili. Debut: 10/19/2013
#8 Zubaira Tukhugov. Debut: 2/15/2014
#9 Brian Ortega. Debut: 7/26/2014
#10 Charles Rosa. Debut: 10/4/2014
#11 TIE Yair Rodriguez and Gabriel Benitez. Debuts: 11/15/2014
#13 Doo Ho Choi. Debut: 11/22/2014 
#14 Damon Jackson. Debut: 8/30/2014
#15 Makwan Amirkhani. Debut: 1/24/2015

They all are not coming slow at all. I think when you are passionate about something it’s just hard to let go of that. Maybe that’s why they’re still going on.  More power to the champs

Zubaira is out and Arnold Allen is in at #15. 9-14 move up a spot.