Champ Champ Status

These days, it’s not enough to hold a title in a major MMA organization.  Why not two? Hell, Anatoly Malykhin is currently simultaneously holding the middleweight, light-heavyweight, and heavyweight titles at ONE Championship. And so every new major title holder seems to ignore the realities of defending their freshly won divisional title, preferring to immediately chase the ‘champ-champ’ status.

This craze began with Conor McGregor becoming the first UFC champion to hold title belts in two divisions at the same time.  There have been others before him, though none simultaneous. In this article, we will look back at every fighter who has held more than one divisional title (whether simultaneous or one at at time) in the UFC history, in chronological order. Interim titles count; tournament titles do not.

* indicates titles held simultaneously

 Randy Couture

Randy ‘The Natural’ Couture was a pioneer of MMA in many ways.  One of the first well-rounded fighters who sucessfully utilized more than one discipline, Couture was also the first fighter in the UFC to win multiple titles. The Natural made his UFC debut in 1997, winning the UFC 13 Heavyweight Tournament. He then defeated young ‘Phenom’ Vitor Belfort in a title eliminator, before capturing the UFC heavyweight title with a decision win over Maurice Smith. Couture never did defend that belt, vacating it amidst a contract dispute with UFC, which saw Randy going to fight over in Japan for a period of his career. Upon returning to UFC in 2000, Couture immediately won back the heavyweight title and defended it twice.

After dropping two fights at heavyweight, the aging Couture decided to try his luck at 205 lbs. Making his light-heavyweight debut at UFC 43, Couture stopped Chuck Liddell in the third round for the Interim title (the real title having been held by Tito Ortiz at the time), becoming the first man in UFC history to win title belts in two different divisions. Couture unified the belts in a routing of Ortiz, but then dropped it in a rematch with Vitor Belfort, due to a cut on the eyelid of Couture caused by the very first strike thrown by Belfort. After winning the title back from Belfort, Couture lost his next two battles to Chuck Liddell and retired from the sport.

Couture’s retirement didn’t last long: a year later, he returned to the heavyweight division, shocking the world with a dominant decision win over a much larger man in Tim Sylvia. Randy defended the heavyweight title once, before losing it to Brock Lesnar.  He didn’t fight for another title after.

B.J. Penn

Unlike Couture, BJ ‘The Prodigy’ Penn did not succeed in his first attempt at the UFC gold.  This was back in 2002, when Penn lost a majority decision to Jens Pulver for the lightweight title. In his second title shot, BJ fought to a draw with Caol Uno, leaving the title vacant.  UFC soon disbanded the 155 lbs division, and Penn went on to submit Japanese legend Takanori Gomi in Hawaii at Rumble on the Rock 4.  The Prodigy was soon back in the UFC, now at welterweight, where he captured his first promotional title with a shocking upset of Matt Hughes.

Penn never defended the welterweight title as he vacated it when he left the UFC due to a contract dispute. After a brief stint in K-1, Penn was back in the UFC, where he suffered back-to-back losses to Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre.  Around this time, UFC decided to bring the lightweights back, and of course BJ Penn was right in the mix for a newly minted title. He defeated Joe ‘Daddy’ Stevenson for the vacant belt, defended it three times, and even managed to have another unsuccessful attempt at the welterweight gold against GSP. After losing the lightweight title and the rematch to Frankie Edgar, BJ Penn went 1-1-7 in the Octagon before retiring in 2019.

 Conor McGregor *

The first true ‘Champ Champ’ – or the simultaneous champion of multiple weight classes – was Conor McGregor. He started his UFC career as a featherweight, going 6-0 before getting a shot at the long-standing champion Jose Aldo.  McGregor shocked the world, knocking out Aldo in just 13 seconds. Conor never defended the featherweight title, or ever fought at featherweight again.  After splitting a couple of fights at welterweight and lightweight with Nate Diaz, McGregor received a title shot at the newly crowned lightweight king Eddie Alvarez. Connor absolutely battered and TKOd Alvarez, becoming the first simultaneous two division champion in UFC history.

Conor never defended the lightweight title, either. He took a brief hiatus from MMA to box Floyd Mayweather, then returned just to be mauled by Khabib Nurmagomedov and lose the title. He is since 1-2 in non-title bouts, the last of which ended in a gruesome leg injury for Conor.  He is slated to make his return some time in 2024 (we hope thought it’s looking less and less likely).  Against Michael Chandler (he hopes, and has patiently waited for his ‘red panty night‘).

 Georges St. Pierre

George St. Pierre’s first UFC title shot came as only his third fight in the Octagon, which he lost by submission to Matt Hughes. GSP got his revenge on Hughes, and the welterweight title, at UFC 65. You might be surprised to see ‘None’ in the Defenses column, but GSP’s numerous title defenses didn’t come till later. His first title reign was cut short when he was TKOd by Matt Serra in his very next fight. St. Pierre then beat Hughes again for the interim title, sucessfully unified with Serra, and went on to have a long reign, though some might say he became a more calculated and less exciting fighter after the Matt Serra loss.

Georges retired in 2013, after defeating Johny Hendricks in a decision that many thought should have gone the other way, as St. Pierre’s face was battered after five rounds. He stayed away from the sport for four years, before finally making a comeback in 2017 as a middleweight and receiving an immediate title shot at then champion, Michael Bisping.  GSP defeated Bisping by submission and promptly re-retired immediately after joining the double-champ club.

 Daniel Cormier *

Daniel Cormier alternated between light-heavyweight and heavyweight divisions for the entirety of his UFC career, and found near equal success in both. His first title shot came at 205 lbs against Jon Jones, who handed DC his first MMA loss. Cormier was undeterred and captured then-vacant title in his very next fight. He defended it three times, as well as fighting Anderson Silva in a non-title bout at UFC 200, and losing a rematch to Jones (later overturned to NC due to Jon’s proclivity for consuming banned substances).

After sucessfully defending the LHW belt against Volkan Oezdimir, Cormier returned to the heavyweight division where he knocked out the reigning champion Stipe Miocic, and defended against Derrick Lewis before losing the rematch and the rubber match to Miocic and retiring. He never did lose his 205 title in the Octagon, though he relinquished it soon after deciding to finish out his career as a heavyweight.

 Amanda Nunes *

The only woman on this list, Amanda Nunes won her first title against Miesha Tate at UFC 200, at the time when the women’s bantamweight title was being passed around like a hot potato. The buck stopped with Nunes, who sucessfully defended her title five times. Her busy schedule at bantamweight didn’t stop her from also moving up to featherweight to take out mighty Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Justino.  A true ‘champ champ’, Amanda is the only one who not only managed to hold two titles simultaneously at a point in time, but actually went back and forth between divisions to defend them both. A feat we will not likely see repeated.

 Henry Cejudo *

Henry Cejudo came into the UFC as 2008 Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling, making him one of the most decorated athletes to ever step in the Octagon. Undefeated in MMA, Cejudo received a title shot at Demetrious Johnson and was dispatched promptly. Henry persevered, worked his way back to the top, and took a split decision from DJ in a rematch.

Cejudo defended the flyweight title only once.  He has had consistently struggled to make the 125-lbs flyweight limit, and so a move up to bantamweight was the next logical step. After winning and defending the bantamweight title, Henry inexplicably retired with the bantamweight belt (having vacated the flyweight title shortly after moving up). Cejudo returned to the sport after 3 years, losing decisions in his first two fights back. Some might say he wasted the best years of his career with the short-lived retirement.

 Jon Jones

Jon ‘Bones’ Jones came into the UFC as a much-hyped prospect, and he has certainly lived up to the hype. At 23, Jones dismantled Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua to become the youngest UFC champion in the post-tournament era. He defended his title a whopping 8 times before being stripped of the belt due to his legal troubles outside of the Octagon. Later, Bones managed to win an interim belt, unified it and was stripped again, won the vacant title again and added three more defenses to his already impressive resume. However, Jon didn’t fight like his old self in those last three fights, and many fans thought that he was done with the sport.

Three years after his last fight at 205 lbs, Jones made a succesfull return to the UFC as a heavyweight, tapping out the top contender Cyril Gane without taking any damage in the bout. Bones physique didn’t look to be in top shape for a heavyweight, but looks are deceiving and his performance spoke for itself. He is currently recovering from a pectoral tear and is slated to face Stipe Miocic upon his return, with the interim champ Tom Aspinall not far behind.

 Alex Pereira

The latest entrant to the Champ Champ club is Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira. The 36-year-old got a late start in MMA, due to an extensive career in kickboxing, where he has held two wins over Israel Adesanya. So when Pereira made the move to UFC, a feud with Izzy was only a natural development. Alex was fast-tracked to a title shot and managed to stop Adesanya, winning the middleweight title.

Pereira didn’t fare so well in the rematch, where he got knocked out cold by Israel in the second round.  Instead of trying to build himself back up as a middleweight contender, Poatan went up to 205 lbs, and after defeating former champion Jan Blachowicz he received another quick title shot. This time he managed to stop Jiri Prochazka for the vacant title. Pereira will be looking to defend against Jamahal Hill at the main event of UFC 300, however he has bigger plans for his future: Alex aims to eventually move up to heavyweight to become the first triple champ in history of the UFC.