Junior Dos Santos and the 7 Best Fighters with an Undefeated UFC Record

Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

What goes up, must come down...right? Junior dos Santos begs to differ.

Last night, Junior dos Santos defended his heavyweight championship for the first time in a decisive manner against two-time champion Frank Mir. Not only did dos Santos confirm his status as the baddest man on the planet, he extended his undefeated streak inside the octagon to nine.

Few fighters have ever been able to put together the kind of momentum currently seen by the UFC heavyweight champion. Even dominant champions like Georges St. Pierre and Jon Jones haven't been able to avoid defeat.

The UFC is the ultimate playground for the toughest men who walk this earth. Men who have seen the glory and glamour of success in other organizations have faltered in a major way when stepping up to the big leagues. 

This is a look at the best fighters who have been able to play with fire and avoid the burn. Here, we examine the Top 7 fighters who have never lost a single bout in the UFC. In order to qualify, fighters must have competed in no less than three UFC contests.

Renan Barao

Courtesy of TheProvince.com

While his name still doesn't have quite the recognition of fellow bantamweights Urijah Faber or Miguel Torres, Barao isn't just undefeated in his three UFC contests, but he has also avoided defeat in his last 29 professional bouts.

Barao's UFC career consists of three fights: wins over former WEC featherweight champion Cole Escovedo and contenders Scott Jorgensen and Brad Pickett.

Barao was recently named a contender for the interim UFC Bantamweight championship, and he will face off with Urijah Faber at UFC 148 for the belt. If he finds a way to defeat the former WEC champion, there appears to be a handful of contenders ready to challenge him while we wait on the return of champion Dominick Cruz.

The Korean Zombie

Rafael Suanes-US PRESSWIRE

Chan Sung Jung went 0-2 in the WEC before they closed their doors. His losses saw him on the wrong end of a bad decision against Leonard Garcia in 2010's fight of the year and the very wrong end of 2010's knockout of the year against George Roop.

That, however, hasn't stopped The Korean Zombie from making enormous waves now that he has made the transition into the UFC featherweight division.

Not only is Jung 3-0 in his new home, but all of his wins have come in impressive ways. First, he avenged his loss to Garcia by introducing fans to Eddie Bravo's twister submission for the first time. He followed it up with a 6.2 second knockout against title challenger Mark Hominick. In his most recent bout, Jung won a title eliminator against red-hot prospect Dustin Poirier.

With a large fan base and some strong momentum on his side, Jung is expected to face off against the winner of the Jose Aldo vs. Erik Koch fight for the featherweight championship.

Joseph Benavidez

Despite being a natural flyweight, contender Joseph Benavidez chose to compete with bantamweights in order to fight for a major organization. In his 18 fight career, the only man who has been able to defeat Benavidez is the best bantamweight in the world, reigning champion Dominick Cruz.

Since the WEC was absorbed into the UFC, no one has been able to hang with Benavidez, who is 3-0 with the organization. His UFC victims include Ian Loveland, former bantamweight champion Eddie Wineland and Japanese import Yasuhiro Urushitani.

The win over Urushitani was the first 125 pound fight in UFC history and moved Benavidez into the finals of a four-man tournament that will crown the inaugural UFC flyweight champion. Barring any major injuries, he will face the winner of Ian McCall vs Demetrious Johnson II for the belt by the end of the year.

Jose Aldo

Courtesy of theMMAdigest.com

Not only is Aldo undefeated in his three UFC bouts, he is also undefeated during his 11-fight Zuffa career. The inaugural UFC Featherweight champion went 8-0 in the WEC and defeated several notables there, including Urijah Faber, Cub Swanson, Jonathan Brookins and the freshly retired Mike Brown.

Since joining the UFC roster, he has defended his title thrice against the likes of Mark Hominick, Kenny Florian and undefeated wrestler Chad Mendes, which improved his overall record to 21-1.

At UFC 149, Aldo will look to defend his strap for the sixth time when he takes on surging contender Erik Koch, who enters the fight with a record of 13-1.

Benson Henderson

Courtesy of Tracy Lee for Yahoo Sports

With an overall record of 16-2, Benson Henderson became the reigning UFC Lightweight champion after dethroning the ultimate underdog Frankie Edgar back at UFC 144. The battle was closely contested throughout 25 minutes of action-packed battling. When the smoke cleared, there was little doubt that Bendo had just won his second world title.

The win improved his UFC record to 4-0 and is the highlight of his young career, which already includes wins over Donald Cerrone, Jim Miller, Clay Guida, Jamie Varner and Mark Bocek.

Henderson may just be the best product to come out of the highly touted WEC Lightweight division: a class of fighters that includes Cerrone, Varner, Anthony Pettis, Danny Castillo and Shane Roller.

Bendo will return on August 11 to defend his belt in a rematch against Frankie Edgar at UFC 150.

Junior dos Santos

Photo Courtesy of MMAJunkie.com

Frank Mir may have more heavyweight fights than any man in the UFC, but he looked like an amateur against heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos last night.

Sitting at 9-0 in the UFC, JDS has been knocking out elite members of the heavyweight division since his debut back in 2008.

In his first contest under the Zuffa banner, dos Santos was a heavy underdog to contender Fabricio Werdum. Less than 90 seconds in, Cigano threw an enormous uppercut that separated Werdum from his senses and put the young Brazilian on the map.

Since that time, dos Santos has defeated contenders Gabriel Gonzaga, Shane Carwin, Roy Nelson and Mirko Cro Cop en route to knocking out Cain Velasquez to win the belt last November.

Additional wins have come against Stefan Struve and Gilbert Yvel.

Junior dos Santos will likely grant a rematch to Cain Velasquez later this year, as Dana White favors the idea.

Anderson Silva

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Anderson Silva holds the longest winning streak in UFC history, and it is still going. The reigning middleweight champion has won an unprecedented 14 consecutive fights inside the octagon.

Not only has The Spider found a way to stay unbeaten, he has done it against some of the top fighters in the world. Names who have fallen to Silva include former champions Rich Franklin (twice), Dan Henderson, Vitor Belfort and Forrest Griffin.

Additionally, Silva has wins over top contenders Nate Marquardt, Chris Leben, Chael Sonnen, Yushin Okami, Demian Maia, Patrick Cote, Thales Leites, James Irvin and Travis Lutter.

Anderson has been smashing records since entering the octagon and will look to extend his winning streak to 15 when he grants a rematch to Chael Sonnen at UFC 148 on July 7th.