Ranking every Ultimate Fighter winner

6. Julianna Pena

Julianna Pena competed in and won Ultimate Fighter 18: Team Rousey vs. Team Tate, fighting for Team Tate. Pena was 4-2, on a two-fight skid, but ran through Gina Mazany, Shayna Baszler, and Sarah Moras before finishing Jessica Rakoczy to win the bantamweight final. Pena has had a successful UFC career, going 5-2 after TUF and at UFC 269, upset women's GOAT Amanda Nunes for the bantamweight title. Nunes would win her title back six months later, and the rubber match was just announced, taking place at UFC 289.

5. Carla Esparza

The Ultimate Fighter 20: A Champion Will Be Crowned, coached by Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez, featured the building of the strawweight division, where the winner would be crowned the inaugural strawweight champion. Carla Esparza, fighting for Team Pettis, who a year prior became the inaugural Invicta Fighting Championships strawweight champion, joined the show with a 9-2 record, having already beaten some of the fighters selected for the new season.

Esparza beat Angela Hill, Tecia Torres, and Jessica Penne on her way to finishing Rose Namajunas to become the first UFC strawweight champion. In her next title defense, Esparza lost to Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and it would take her seven years before she would get her title back. Esparza would go 3-3 before reeling off a five-fight win streak against Virna Jandiroba, Alexa Grasso, Michelle Waterson-Gomez, Marina Rodriguez, and Yan Xiaonan.

Esparza's impressive run would garner her another title shot against old foe Namajunas, where she was successful again, becoming a two-time UFC strawweight champion. In familiar fashion, Esparza's next title defense was a loss against former champion Zhang Weili. Esparza just announced she was expecting, so it will be a little while before she's back in the octagon again.