3 reasons Dana White could stop ‘Champ Champ’ trend
The 'Champ Champ' has overstayed its welcome, with the concept feeling a lot less exciting than before in the UFC.
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UFC double champions may go extinct (Image via X)`
The ‘Champ Champ’ moniker in mixed martial arts is an extremely difficult title to come by, with only a handful of fighters being able to achieve it in the UFC so far. Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes, and Henry Cejudo are part of this extremely exclusive club. While it has been an effective marketing tactic to sell fights in the past, it is probably time to hang up the concept and move on.
It’s been some time since we’ve seen a Champ Champ in the UFC, although we have seen some fighters attempt the feat in recent years. Alexander Volkanovski and Israel Adesanya have both attempted it in this decade only to come short. However, their losses may well have actually worked out ‘better’ for the company, and I’ll get into why that is.
What is a Champ Champ in UFC?
To get to ‘Champ Champ’ status, a fighter needs to be holding two titles in the UFC across two different weight classes at the same time. The first fighter to ever pull off the incredible feat is of course Conor McGregor, who defeated Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in November 2016 to capture the UFC lightweight title. McGregor had already won the featherweight title at UFC 194 back in December 2015.
There have of course been fighters to win titles across two weight classes. Alex Pereira is an example, but to be considered a ‘Champ Champ’, you have to hold the titles at the same time. When it came to likes of McGregor and Cormier, it was a great way to push their starpower even further. Nevertheless, I really think that White needs to drop the trend now that we’re in a completely different era of combat sports.
1. Champ Champ holds up two divisions
The first problem with the ‘Champ Champ’ status is that it holds up two divisions at exactly the same time. Granted, it can be a massive moment when a fighter does achieve the feat, but the aftermath really causes issues for the rest of the roster.
Let’s use Conor McGregor again as an example. After winning the UFC lightweight title, he had to relinquish both belts due to inactivity. He decided instead to take the huge payday to face Floyd Mayweather in a boxing ring.
Trying to get a fighter to jump between weights to defend two titles is quite a difficult feat, and it isn’t exactly healthy. Title defenses usually come around twice a year for a fighter, so putting that up to four per year for two belts is a heavy burden and unlikely to really allow for full fight camps.
Take for example the Valentina Shevchenko vs. Zhang Weili rumored title fight. The duo will likely compete for the flyweight title, with Zhang receiving the opportunity for a Champ Champ status. However, the strawweights will not have a title defense until Zhang returns or gives up the title.
2. The UFC and Dana White can’t put up many title fights if one person holds two divisions
The biggest UFC events in history have typically had title fights in the main event. Having a belt on the line helps to sell a show, it’s a tailor-made storyline for the promotion and Dana White himself to try and convince you to buy a PPV.
A huge grudge match can also sell a PPV, but getting those sort of fights that are big enough to main event a $70-90 event is rare. As such, having the titles as a crutch to continuously fall back on is simple, and it’s worked in every combat sport going for decades.
If one person has two belts, then that is one less title fight that you can put on a PPV card. One less title equals one less chance to pop a buyrate…which is not what the UFC is in the business of doing. This wasn’t so much of an issue in the mid to late 2010s because there were so many massive stars. However, we aren’t in that era of MMA anymore, which takes me to my last reason to ditch the concept.
3. The starpower isn’t there anymore
There are some big names in the UFC right now, but none can match the global starpower of Conor McGregor. Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes and Henry Cejudo are another rung or two down from McGregor, but even they arguably are far bigger household names than the fighters that are currently on the roster.
I’m not saying that Islam Makhachev isn’t a fantastic fighter. Of course he is, but he isn’t on the same level of mainstream notoriety as the ‘Notorious’ one or even Khabib Nurmagomedov. Ilia Topuria maybe could’ve had the chance to go for Champ Champ status, but he/perhaps the company opted to have ‘El Matador’ drop the featherweight belt so that he could move up to lightweight.
Diego Lopes recently made the claim that the UFC is “making” champions do this, saying “They made it very clear if you want to move up, you have to vacate your title.” There’s no confirmation from the company themselves in terms of this ‘mandate,’ but it would make sense.
Topuria holding up two divisions as lightweight and featherweight champion does nothing for either of those divisions. Again I’ll bring up McGregor, because as polarizing a character as he has become in recent years, he truly was the biggest star in combat sports in the mid-to-late 2010s.
Therefore, having him parade around with two UFC belts made sense from a branding perspective: The Irishman is charismatic, he knows how to get his name in headlines and he was (is?) an exciting fighter inside the octagon.
Ilia Topuria is a great fighter, but he is not the sort of personality who could carry two belts and promote the company in the same way that McGregor could. Granted, I think that someone like Topuria would actually fight in both divisions to defend both belts, but we aren’t in a world with this huge individual personalities in the main event, so I think that Dana White and the UFC need to move on.
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Jake Skudder
(31 Articles Published)