Less than one year after Alex Pereira defeated Israel Adesanya to become the UFC Middleweight Champion, ‘Poatan’ moved up and became a two-weight champion by defeating Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295 in Madison Square Garden, New York City. Pereira’s win wasn’t the first time we have seen a two-weight UFC champion:
Randy Couture
On December 21, 1997, at UFC: Ultimate Japan, Randy Couture defeated Maurice Smith by majority decision to become the Heavyweight Champion. Two months prior, Couture earned his title shot with a TKO victory over UFC legend Vitor Belfort.
After six years of fighting at heavyweight, Couture dropped to 205lb for UFC 43 on June 6, 2003 to face Chuck Liddell for the interim light heavyweight title. The event was the first of what would be a legendary rivalry between Couture and Liddell, with the latter eventually winning the series 2-1. UFC 43 was, however, Couture’s night as he won via TKO midway through the final round.
Just over three months later, at UFC 44, Randy Couture unified the title with a unanimous decision win over The Huntington Beach Bad Boy, Tito Ortiz. In winning the Light Heavyweight Championship, Randy Couture became the organization’s first fighter to win belts in two divisions.
B.J. Penn
The road to B.J. Penn’s first UFC title was far from straightforward. After defeating Caol Uno in a lightweight title eliminator, B.J Penn faced Jens Pulver for the belt at UFC 35, losing a split decision. Following two more victories, Penn was given a second opportunity to fight for the now vacant lightweight title in a rematch against Uno. This time, the fight didn’t go Penn’s way, or Uno’s for that matter, with neither man doing enough to win the fight as they played out a split draw.
After a brief stint in K-1, Penn returned to the UFC, this time moving up to welterweight and immediately challenging Matt Hughes for the title. Penn finally got over the line at the third time of asking, submitting Hughes in the first round at UFC 46 with a rear-naked choke and becoming the Welterweight Champion.
Penn then returned to K-1 for the next two years and went on to fight at middleweight, light-heavyweight, and even in an open weight contest. For the latter, Penn weighed in a whopping 34 pounds lighter than his opponent, Lyoto Machida. Impressively, Penn went the distance, only losing via decision.
After returning to the UFC at lightweight to fight Jens Pulver in a rematch following the conclusion of the pair being the head coaches on The Ultimate Fighter Season 5, Penn secured redemption with a rear-naked choke submission in the second round. The win earned B.J. Penn a shot at the vacant lightweight title against Joe ‘Daddy’ Stevenson at UFC 80 on January 19, 2008. Penn won the fight with his signature rear-naked choke in the second round and became the UFC Lightweight Champion in Newcastle, England.
Conor McGregor
The UFC’s biggest star, not just because of the charisma, pay-per-view records, or business ventures outside of the UFC. On occasion, people sometimes forget how good McGregor is at his day job: fighting.
The ‘Notorious’ made his UFC debut on April 6, 2013, defeating Marcus Brimmage by TKO just 67 seconds into the first round. Wins over Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier followed, and after five straight wins, McGregor fought for the interim featherweight title against Chad Mendes at UFC 189. McGregor won the fight via TKO with just three seconds remaining in the second round.
We all know what came next. With his opponent being undefeated for over a decade, McGregor shocked the world when he knocked out the seemingly immortal Jose Aldo after just thirteen seconds at UFC 194 on December 12, 2015. McGregor finished the fight with a combination he was seen practicing in the locker room before the fight, the video for which has now gone viral. He became the Featherweight Champion, and the rest is history.
After a couple of fights with Nate Diaz, McGregor moved to lightweight to challenge Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in the organization’s first-ever event at Madison Square Garden, in an attempt to become the first-ever UFC simultaneous two-weight champion. McGregor was successful in getting in his opponents head after displaying some classic ‘Notorious’ mind games during the build-up. He won the Lightweight Championship by dominating the fight with his accurate striking and finished the fight in the second round.
Georges St-Pierre
After racking up a 7-0 MMA record (2-0 UFC), Georges St-Pierre fought Matt Hughes for the vacant welterweight title at UFC 50 on October 22, 2004. With just one second left in the first round, Hughes tapped out the future Hall of Famer. St-Pierre then went on to win his next five MMA fights and fought Hughes once again for the title; this time, he won via TKO and became the UFC Welterweight Champion.
Surprisingly, St-Pierre lost his first title defence against Matt Serra six months later before avenging his loss the year after as he went on a twelve-fight win streak which cemented his status as one of the greatest of all time.
Following his victory over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167, St-Pierre announced he would take an extended break from MMA and vacated his title. Shortly after, he tore his left ACL, and it was assumed by many that he had retired. Then, on February 16, 2017, the UFC President, Dana White, revealed that St-Pierre had signed a new contract, and he returned in November to face Michael Bisping for the Middleweight title at UFC 217 at Madison Square Garden, New York. In the third round, St-Pierre won via a rear-naked choke and became the UFC Middleweight Champion. He vacated the title shortly after and never competed professionally in MMA again.
Daniel Cormier
The former XMMA, KOTC, and Strikeforce heavyweight made his UFC debut on April 20, 2013, with an 11-0 MMA record and defeated Frank Mir unanimously. Cormier then won his next three fights before facing UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones at the start of one of the most legendary rivalries in the history of Mixed Martial Arts. After some grave insults during the build-up, Jones won the fight at UFC 182 via unanimous decision.
As Jones had failed a pre-fight drugs test, he was later stripped of the light heavyweight title, and Cormier was given another opportunity to fight for the belt against Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson four months later, submitting his opponent with a rear-naked choke and becoming the Light Heavyweight Champion at the second time of asking.
After several successful title defences and a rematch with Jon Jones, which was deemed a no-contest following another failed drug test, Cormier moved up to heavyweight to face Stipe Miocic for the UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 226 on July 7, 2018. Cormier won the fight with a knockout at 4:33 of the first round, becoming the UFC Heavyweight Champion making him the second fighter to hold UFC belts in two weight classes simultaneously.
Amanda Nunes
After losing her first MMA fight, Amanda Nunes compiled a mixed record of 7-3 before signing with the UFC. After four wins in five, she defeated Valentina Shevchenko to earn a shot at Miesha Tate for the bantamweight title at UFC 200 on July 9, 2016. Tate was coming off a five-fight win streak and had submitted Holly Holm earlier in the year at UFC 196. Nunes defeated Tate in the first round with a rear-naked choke, becoming the Bantamweight Champion and going on a phenomenal run, which saw her defeat the female GOAT at the time, Ronda Rousey.
Nunes stepped up to featherweight at UFC 232 to fight Cris Cyborg for her belt and shocked the world by inflicting the first defeat on her opponent in thirteen years – since Cyborg’s MMA debut on May 17, 2005. After winning the featherweight championship, Nunes defended both belts multiple times before retiring on June 10, 2023, following her win over Irene Aldana at UFC 289.
Jon Jones
The man who many consider the GOAT of MMA. Many argue that Jon Jones has never lost a fight as the only defeat on his record was a controversial disqualification against Matt Hamill on December 5, 2009, a decision which is widely viewed as being incorrect as Jones shouldn’t have been penalized for the elbows he was disqualified for.
With an official record of 12-1, Jones defeated Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua via TKO at UFC 128 on March 19, 2011, and became the Light Heavyweight Champion. Victories over Vitor Belfort, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, and Daniel Cormier followed. After his successful title defence against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247, Jones vacated the light heavyweight title and took an extended break from the sport.
Like Georges St-Pierre, Jones returned after his hiatus at the weight class above. He fought Cyril Gane for the vacant UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 285 on March 4, 2023. Gane went into the fight with an 11-1 MMA record and was considered a tough test for Jones after his three-year absence. The fight didn’t pan out that way as Jones dominated from the start, taking Gane down with ease before submitting him via a guillotine choke after just two minutes of the first round.
Discussion about this post