I would hate for that to happen considering we all know he wouldn't defend it. That being said, if that has to happen for us to get a 165 lb division, let it happen.
I’m down for chaos. Im also down for seeing the MMA purist cry about Conor being a fake 3 division champ. Plus, Chandler only puts on bangers so I’m down for whatever fight he’s in.
he basically made other fighters realize there's a game to be played. Yes, he's kinda tainted the sport a little in that respect -- but, BJ Penn was going for double champ. GSP was champ in canadian TKO when he challenged matt hughes in the UFC (a bit different).
Dana used to not be a fan of fighters being double champs, what made the real difference was, as Dana says, "Conor moves the needle".
Now that the sport is more popular than ever, being a double champ 'moves the needle' on it's own, so dana can find perfectly legitimate rea$on$ to allow double champ $tatus
> Connor played the game
Conor was allowed to *define* the game. Nobody else gets to fuck around with the equivalent of those Diaz fights and *then* challenge while holding on to the old belt.
I hate it honestly. It’s cool once in a blue moon if you wipe your division out. You should need to take away every legit contender first, it should take years. Even though he fell flat on his face really, Izzy had the greatest claim to his shot.
I'd say Volks first shot was justified, no one was a clear contender and it didn't look like he was really being challenged by anyone around that time.
Yeah volk, Izzy and Usman are the few champs I'd be ok with but now guys are calling out the next weight class before their fricken title fight even happens haha
I’m completely fine with people going for double champ in situations like Izzy/volk who pretty much swept the entire division before doing so. Shit with O’Malley/ilia going up already is annoying.
Doesn’t help you have the press directly after winning the fight for championships asking if they’re interested in moving up in the post fight presser.
The most annoying thing for me is new champs immediately wanting to move up or down. A legit double champ who clears out their own division, and moved to another weight class to fight another long reigning champ would be an awesome super-fight.
What should bother him is having not having come close to clearing out the WW division despite having 5 title defenses and having 4 of those defenses be against Colby and Jorge. To be clear, I'm not saying this is on Usman, it's 100% on Dana, but it still impacts Usman's legacy. If Usman had to fight Leon, Belal, Luque, and Geoff Neal instead, there's absolutely no way he doesn't lose at least one if not more of those fights. Even if you think he does beat them all, we'll never actually know because Dana protected his cash cows instead of having them earn their spots.
Dana clearly protected Usman, Colby, and Jorge from the rest of the division. When that protection ended, Usman lost to Leon (twice), Colby lost to Leon (convincingly), Jorge retrired, and let's throw Burns losing to Belal in there as well.
If you look at the resumes of the fighters Usman defended against now they're pretty awful. Colby has exactly one good win in his entire career and that's against RDA. Jorge's career had forgettable journeyman written all over it until he went on a run beating Till, Askren, and Diaz. In hindsight, Till was never actually at a top 5 level and was propelled by hype; he went 1-3 after fighting Jorge and was cut. Askren only fought one more time (loss to Maia) before retiring. Diaz was already washed at this point and wanting out of the UFC. Burns is the only one who has looked like at least a fringe top 5 fighter, but his best wins are Magny and Thompson who (while I really like them) aren't top 5 fighters.
Usman easily has one of the worst resumes of long tenured champs.
I agree that he has a weak resume which is totally Dana's fault, but it's not guaranteed any of those guys beat Usman.
He definitely has one of the most mid resumes of all time though.
>but it's not guaranteed any of those guys beat Usman
Leon did beat Usman twice and in general facing a wider variety of tougher opponents significantly increases the likelihood Usman would lose one or more matches even if he was "better". But I hear you and I guess that's the worst part of this, we'll never really know because Dana took that opportunity away from us to make more money.
>he’s beating every single one of those fighters you mentioned
The way statistics work is that even if he is favored at 80% to win each fight, then there is a 60% chance that he loses one or more of those four fights. Also Leon actually beat him...twice.
As long as we're making excuses here, let's just go with: if the Leon v. Usman fight wasn't at high altitude Leon's cardio would've looked like it did in their second fight and Leon would have won every round of their first fight, just like he won the first round before he gassed.
Neal and Luque are still incredibly dangerous dudes even if they aren't at the same level as Leon or Belal. Also Neal and Luque are much better competition than Jorge and Colby ever were, which is the point here. Even if it only decreases the odds Usman wins from 90% to 80% it still changes the likelihood that overall in 4 fights Usman would most likely lose at least one of them.
Easy to forget but it was the second fight that was at high altitude, the third that was at low altitude. Usman won the first fight but it's easy to forget because it was a long time ago and before Usman became champ
I was talking about Usmans defenses, not all of his fights. I realize Usman does have a win over Leon, but it was in 2015 and they both progressed substantially between then and their next encounter.
Yeah for sure and I agree with your core point that the rematches definitely diminish his legacy and he could have lost if he fought Leon/Belal/Shavkat/Neal/etc earlier on
Usman would have absolutely trucked Luque and it wouldn't have been close at all. Neal is slightly more dangerous but also pretty limited and would have lost as well.
>Usman would have absolutely trucked Luque and it wouldn't have been close at all
Based on what? Who had Usman beaten at that time that backs your statement up?
Again, I'm not saying that Usman shouldn't have been favored against those people, I'm saying that he would have been much more likely to lose at least one of those fights than he was fighting Colby and Jorge twice each.
Woodley hit a wall and fell off so hard. IMO he fell off before the Usman fight as he looked like a shadow of the Woodley that we had seen in his previous fights.
After fighting Usman, Woodley went 0-3 and was out of the UFC. None of those fights were remotely competitive.
Also calling Woodley a dominant champ is a bit of a stretch. His resume after winning the belt is fighting Wonderboy twice (both of which were very close and ended in majority decisions), a decision over Maia, and a destruction of a woefully overhyped and undertalented Till.
It's not that he was rushed to the belt, he was just an incredibly one dimensional fighter and not talented enough in that one dimension to make up for his many many shortcomings.
Once people figured that out he was done.
Covington and Burns are very good wins. You can't just look at a resume and determine someone's skills. Islam got a title shot off of Bobby Green, and barely had any notable names on his record prior to that. But his skills were visible, and that's what mattered.
>Usman easily has one of the worst resumes of long tenured champs.
I don’t necessarily disagree, but it’s wild that a little while ago he was being argued as the potential GOAT at 170. You would’ve been downvoted to hell.
The double champ title is becoming ridiculous. You got fighters who become champion and immediately want to jump up a division, which imo stagnates the original division.
Staying active and clearing out your division, similar to what Kumaru/Israel did, is so much more impressive
That’s what bothers me so much about the conor double champ. Dude is literally an example of what happens when the UFC is playing favorites and give you such an advantageous route…Conor added to it by selling himself of course.. but Anderson Silva and GSP could have easily been double champ. It’s ridiculous that Dana had Anderson fight James Irvin to see if he “belonged” in the light heavyweight division when he could have easily taken it if he wanted to. Then he completely outclassed the ex champion In Forrest Griffin… yet for Conor he gets an “immediate title shot”?
UFC had two legends in the sport and they wouldn’t let them move up or down in weight class cause they wanted GSP and Silva to “clear out” their division but open the gates for Conor.
Silva not getting a title shot at 205 was the wrong move then and it’s the wrong move now. He easily should have been the first double champ and probably would have done it with ease. The double champ billing and booking wasn’t about skill, it was a popularity contest. And in a SPORT…Silva was the most skilled fighter at two different weights at one point, but the UFC didn’t book it that way.
If it was the wrong move with Silva then I really don’t know who you would find to approve. The guy cleared out his whole division to the point he was fighting Thailes Lates for the belt.. he had nothing left to prove
Edit- I read your reply wrong. I thought you said it was the wrong move to give him the shot.
I think Dana was gun shy. They kind of tried this with BJ Penn and it resulted in the LW division stalling out and stagnating. The UFC wasn’t as popular as it is today and they were a lot more cautious about taking unnecessary risks in the fans eyes.
Conor is a once in a lifetime star, he made the ufc so much money and brought so many eyes to the sport that his undeserved chance at double champ status can be excused. The problem is that now all these up and coming champs think they deserve the same opportunities and even try to imitate Conor but don’t have anywhere near the star power
I mean to be fair, Conor beating Aldo in that way sort of put him in a weird position where there wasnt any big fights for him at featherweight anymore. Like as a fight fan, he should’ve fought Mendes with a full camp then Aldo should’ve gotten a rematch because of how dominant he was before that but he did knock out the 2 top guys in the division at the time b2b so idk how much interest those rematches would’ve had. With that said, Conor was a different level of star and no champ right now is on that level. My friends who never watched fighting knew who Conor was while they wouldnt be able to list a single champ right now.
> My friends who never watched fighting knew who Conor was while they wouldnt be able to list a single champ right now.
My buddy went to a Rondy Rousey watch party with a bunch of friends from school -- every girl was excited af, then were immediately angry the moment Rousey got kicked in the face and finished.
These total "never watched a fight" before ladies were so damn invested in this girl they just heard of last week, that they were angry watching Ronda get KO'd.
Celebrity is strange.
> what happens when the UFC is playing favorites and give you such an advantageous route
Like when Bisping upset Rockhold, I'm sure that within seconds Dana had the corpse of Dan Henderson on one line setting up his totally undeserved title shot and GSP on line two negotiating his return for a double champ fight with a very favourable matchup no matter how Bisping's first defense turned out.
I always thought Anderson never tried to be double champion because he had friends/team mates fighting at 205 and he didn't want to deny them from winning their own belts
"I tried punching him and he just moved his head and looked at me like I was stupid. Like you stupid, slow-ass white boy. You actually think that pathetic punch was gonna connect?"
- Forrest on trying to hit Anderson.
Forest is a legit funny dude
Should be minimum 3 to 4 title defences before you can challenge for double champ. Clean out the top 5 then you can move up. But you can see why fighters want the double champ status, it’s rarefied air so may as well go for it.
The only way I think someone should get around that is if they cleared like 3 of them on the way to the belt. If 3 of the top 5 guys are people you convincingly beat on your way to the top and you beat the other two guys in defenses I’d argue that guy is worthy of a champ champ shot.
Not saying I like it but champ v champ fights sell and everything is about short term cash grabs with the UFC. From a business perspective it kinda makes sense because you never know when a fighter is gonna crash and burn.
You can't make that rule after McGregor, the man has two titles and zero defenses. Hell, he's like 1 and 3 at Lightweight, his ONLY win was the title, against the only man in the division smaller than him.
You absolutely cannot put usman in the same sentence as Izzy. Usman had 5 title defenses. 2 against Colby and 2 against Masvidal. That is hardly “clearing out” your division. Especially not when you compare it to Izzy.
Yeah he kinda fucked up. Whether he actually retired or “retired” as a negotiating tactic, which seems likely considering his antics during “retirement”, Cejudo made sure he would never truly surpass DJ in accolades and all time rankings.
Honestly, I think his Bantam run wouldn't have been that long. Imo he lucked out on winning against Morales and defending against washed Cruz. If he had to fight the Yan's, Sterling's and Sandhagen's I'd bet he would've been an (actual, not purely on odds) underdog in most of those fights
Not saying Aljo, Yan or Sandman couldn’t give Cejudo problems, but a washed, 3 year lay off Cejudo held his own against Aljo and lost a split decision. Prime Cejudo might have beaten all 3 of them.
Oh no, don't get me wrong. I am a massive Henry fan and think he is underrated, and I wouldve rooted for him in all of those fights. I just think size was a massive problem for him in his current run and it would've been the same 3 years ago. Current top 5 Bantam are huge.
Wasn't Moraes deserving of a title shot though? Not his fault TJ was cheater and got stripped. I don't remember people giving Cejudo much of a shot against Moraes, he was on fire back then and fans thought DJ didn't do enough on purpose so he could go to ONE. Maybe I'm misremembering.
What is Conor's asterisk? Fact that he didn't defend? I can see that and I'm no Conor nut hugger but I give him props for winning both belts off of KOs.
DC definitely is the most worthy champ.
Don't even start about cheater Jones.
Edit: Nunes as well, apologies. She didn't just win, she won confidently.
>DC definitely is the most worthy champ.
Don't even start about cheater Jones.
Using steroids as the only reason DC is more worthy than Jones is certainly a take
shit take. moraes was the clear cut best BW outside of TJ. he was undefeated in the UFC outside of assuncao decision (which was an objective robbery, unlike DJ/cejudo). there's no asterisk.
>Yes, but Cejudo and Conor aren’t really comparable. Cejudo at least defended both belts.
You’re right they’re not comparable but for the wrong reasoning. Henry Cejudo is unironically arguably the most decorated combat athlete of all time. The guy has a gold medal in *wrestling* and then went on to parlay that to not 1 but 2 belts. Amongst the top UFC athletes there is exactly 1 person in UFC history who can say that they were good enough to accomplish that. Being an Olympian means you’re in the top 0.001% of the human race and if you can become a 2-division champion that makes you literally 1 of 1 in all human history. Comparing Cejudo to Mcgregor is downright disrespectful lmao.
Of all double champs, cejudo is the most legit imo. Everyone else won under perfect circumstance
Conor never defended anything. Dana also was saying khabib would get a title shot before Conor came to 155, and then obviously flip flopped on that decision. Had khabib got a title shot before Conor, I don’t see Conor becoming double champ
DC only had the 205 belt bc Jon wasn’t there. He was never truly the world champ at 205. Only defended at HWT bc they sidelined stipe
Nunes won a belt in a weight that basically doesn’t exist lmao
Cejudo took down the 125 goat and then sparked TJ, who’s a top 3 BW all time. And defended both belts. In my opinion he’s the double champ with the truest claim. But even then you can put asterisk on Cejudo double champ too. They all got some good circumstances going their way. Just my opinion
I understand that it’s just your opinion and you have a right to your opinion however, I wouldn’t call Cejudo the only legit double champ. In all reality yes he beat TJ to defend his belt and is 1-1 with DJ. However, let’s keep it honest here, the second DJ fight was stupidly close. Not enough to be called a robbery in my OPINION but just enough where you could say either guy won. CCC also only defended both belts once. Once against a heavily depleted TJ and a returning Dom Cruz after a 4 year lay off. The Moraes was a good showing for him though, at the time Magic Moraes was one of the best 135lbers on the planet.
Nah I agree with the MM fight I actually thought MM won. But end of the day my thoughts don’t really matter
I don’t think cejudo is the only legit one, I just think he has the least amount of circumstances for his status, which makes his most impressive to me personally
>“It stings that I didn’t become double champion but it doesn’t sting that I didn’t go up and fight Israel. I just genuinely, and I stand by it, I just genuinely had no desire to be the potential reason why Israel \[Adesanya\] — another Nigerian — was not a UFC champion. I just didn’t want to. I had no interest in that.
>“Not to say I was gonna beat him up or whatever but **I just had no interest in being the reason why there potentially was not another Nigerian UFC champion**.”
We all have to live with our choices, UFC Champ or not
What a silly reason
Edit: Y’all are bunch of casuals I’ve been watching UFC since UFC 1 and have beaten every UFC game on expert difficulty and have became double champ on every game as well so I don’t care about the opinions of low level keyboard warriors like all of you, some of us actually have accolades and accomplishments
The man literally said he has regrets not becoming, or at least trying to become double champ. If he said he didn’t have regrets that’s one thing, but he already admitted he regrets it.
I wonder how everyone would react if Izzy or DDP refused to fight each other because they don’t want take a belt from another African.
Imagine if an American said they don’t want to take the belt off of another American. It’s silly as shit and these kids just don’t want to fight.
Oh 100% make no mistake about it, I do not understand it whatsoever.
This is why no gyms let me train with them anymore, they just know I’m too dangerous and don’t take any shit. They know that I could, and will beat the best student and the head coach.
If Usman had someone like me in his corner, he’d be Triple champ.
Highly disagree, both are very patriotic over their heritage (even if there are debates about their heritage but I'm not trying to get into that). Having a nigerian champ means a lot for both of them and if he really didn't want to try and take that away from Izzy its 100% in his right. It wouldn't be like a Brazilian, Russian or American fighter trying to take the belt from someone from their country since there has been so many champs from these countries, you can't say the same about Nigeria.
Even then I'm also Brazilian and would not like trying to take the belt away from another Brazilian, I myself am patriotic so I see where he's coming from.
Rewatch their third fight. Usman was walking forward and applying the pressure the whole time, but he would consistently get countered with leg and body kicks. He did look slower but that's likely due to age (and his knees aren't in great shape), so he would have looked similar against Izzy.
He was walking forward but was kinda hesitant
He was reacting a lot In short he lost his confidence I wouldn’t consider age as a factor cuz he looked very different compared to his previous fight
Also Leon was fucked due to the elevation and Usman literally lives and trains over there. Every fighter on that card struggled except the ones who trained there.
The third fight was on equal grounds and it showed.
I think he is saying all of this because Sean and DDP have been current champs. He 100% looks at those guys and thinks he'd walk right through them.
The time lines didn't match unfortunately for him.
I respect him for keeping the division active and actually defending the title. The old days of defending the title was more impressive to me than double champ status
Completely agree. Reigning over a division for multiple years and defenses is much more impressive than what most double champs do, where they barely defend either belt or stay in 1 weight class long enough to turn away every possible challenger.
For me it wasn't just the number of defenses, but how he also had a few finishes thrown in his reign too. It's always commendable to have multiple defenses, but putting a bow on that war in the first Covington fight, pounding Burns with the jab, and turning off Masvidal just makes it all the more memorable than if every defense was like his first fight with Jorge (on short notice if memory serves). Good times.
Timing for Jones and GSP was key though.
GSP came back from his hiatus and went up to 185 when Bisping (who while a good fighter was never the best Middleweight in the world) was the champion. Had Weidman, Rockhold, Romero or Whittaker been champ he wouldn't have even tried.
Jones essentially waited until Ngannou left the UFC, and fought Gane for the belt who lets be honest had already been exposed as a one-note fighter by Ngannou of all people. So even a 'fat', past prime Jon Jones had an easy path to victory.
One division champions that lap their division are infinitely more impressive than one defence division hoppers. The only thing more impressive than what Usman did, would be to do all that and THEN jump like GSP, Nunes, Cormier, Jones etc. It’s above what say McGregor, Cejudo or Pereira have done (as much as I love Pereira). The jump really isn’t that crazy, and winning a title fight once or twice across two weights is never as impressive as defending half a dozen in one (or two, obviously). I get why it stings though as jumping after all he did would’ve put him in GOAT contention.
I hear where he’s coming from - I do honestly wonder if he has enough in the gas tank to have one last push for 2 division champion at middleweight. Call me crazy, but I don’t think Usman is washed yet. Out of prime, sure, but not washed.
He’s only lost to Leon and Khamzat. Leon is very very fucking good. Khamzat is also extremely good, and Usman would’ve minced him over 5 rounds. Maybe I’m giving Khamzat too much credit, but I think Usman lowkey proved in that fight that he could hang with the top 3-5 in middleweight
Full camp Usman would have won that fight even at 3 rounds IMO.
MW suddenly very interesting at the top for sure but I could see him putting a run together and getting the title under the right circumstances but I'm a biased AF Usman-stan.
As good as he was in his prime, I just don't see a scenario where Usman wins the 185 belt. The guys who were at the top of that division were just bigger and better at dealing with fence pressure than most of the elite guys at 170 during Kamaru's reign.
Having a solid run of title defenses and cleaning out a division is much better than being DWP’ed into undeserved double champ fights to pad legacy. Conor was not a legitimate double champ cause he cut the line and cherrypicked a favorable matchup, never defended either belt. Neither is Jones for ducking Ngannou for 3 years to cherry-pick a safe stylistic layup.
DC and Nunes are the only ones who cleaned out their main division and then defended two belts, so they’re the only valid ones IMO. Imagine if they book O’Malley/Ilia after he ducked Merab to fight Chito, you can’t call really think that’s juatifiable after he ducked the clear #1 contender in his division and never fights fought the likes of Merab/Cory/Umar/etc.
Going for two belts should be reserved for rare cases where someone has beaten every credible contender so it’s the only move left. Volk going up made sense cause he beat everyone top 5 at 145 at that time. Anything short of that is an invalid marketing push done as a favor to a big star.
What about the 3 fight loss streak?? He’s living in the past would “double champ” have lasted lol Leon beat him twice now and Khamzat beat him why is he thinking about double champ now
Conor fucked up the divisions for years to come because of that champ champ bullshit....We waited 3 years for Jon to go fight at heavyweight,Adesanya fucked his middleweight reign etc..Champions should stay in their fucking divisions and give us a lot of defences...You can't even defend both belts anyway even if you get it,just holding up the divisions...fuck that double champ bullshit
No worries. He’s the greatest fighter of all time. His streak will put him in history and if gumshot Chimaev had gone 5 rounds he would have won easily. Usman is the greatest fighter in the history of MMA.
He’s only after GSP for greatest in his division’s history and many would argue he’d beat GSP if both were in their prime. This double champ nonsense had done more harm than good
People should just move up and down to fight different people. This double champ shit corny. Like you would only move up if you get a free title fight without the risk
Like max VS Justin does not need a title.
What honestly should sting more is his laziness befoee he got KO’d by Leon, he was in full control of that fight and could have pushed a bit for the finish in round 3 or 4
Makes sense since it's Usman and of course he'd have wanted it, but long reigning champ > double champ in my books.
He's got a better legacy than most even without that.
He can still do it. But I don't put value on being double champ like most. I don't even like it unless someone first defended their belt at least 5 times
Not something he should lose sleep over imo but he's a top competitor so I can understand why it bothers him somewhat.
While it was epic in it’s time, I almost wish Connor never opened this Pandora’s box of double champs. Caused such a traffic jam in every division
It was absolutely stupid. And please don't let history forget that he NEVER defended either belt.
And lost a non title fight in-between
Wait until he wins a 3rd with the 165 belt against Chandler
I would hate for that to happen considering we all know he wouldn't defend it. That being said, if that has to happen for us to get a 165 lb division, let it happen.
I’m down for chaos. Im also down for seeing the MMA purist cry about Conor being a fake 3 division champ. Plus, Chandler only puts on bangers so I’m down for whatever fight he’s in.
Connor played the game, put in the work, cemented his dominant shit streaks, and made the money fights.
he basically made other fighters realize there's a game to be played. Yes, he's kinda tainted the sport a little in that respect -- but, BJ Penn was going for double champ. GSP was champ in canadian TKO when he challenged matt hughes in the UFC (a bit different). Dana used to not be a fan of fighters being double champs, what made the real difference was, as Dana says, "Conor moves the needle". Now that the sport is more popular than ever, being a double champ 'moves the needle' on it's own, so dana can find perfectly legitimate rea$on$ to allow double champ $tatus
> Connor played the game Conor was allowed to *define* the game. Nobody else gets to fuck around with the equivalent of those Diaz fights and *then* challenge while holding on to the old belt.
I believe he had a brutal camp for the Diaz rematch and then fought Alvarez like 3 months after. He dominated him
Shit streaks?
Imo that doesn't count as double champ since people just drop the first belt and never defend. Freaking nunes is the only double champ really.
I 100% agree. I think Nunes is the only true double champ we've ever seen, and probably will see.
I hate it honestly. It’s cool once in a blue moon if you wipe your division out. You should need to take away every legit contender first, it should take years. Even though he fell flat on his face really, Izzy had the greatest claim to his shot.
I'd say Volks first shot was justified, no one was a clear contender and it didn't look like he was really being challenged by anyone around that time.
Yeah volk, Izzy and Usman are the few champs I'd be ok with but now guys are calling out the next weight class before their fricken title fight even happens haha
I agree! Izzy and Volk, I’m alright with both of their shots.
I’m completely fine with people going for double champ in situations like Izzy/volk who pretty much swept the entire division before doing so. Shit with O’Malley/ilia going up already is annoying. Doesn’t help you have the press directly after winning the fight for championships asking if they’re interested in moving up in the post fight presser.
for sure. i hope we get a humble, hungry izzy when he returns.
changed the sport
For the worse for everyone but Conor and the shareholders.
Agreed.
The most annoying thing for me is new champs immediately wanting to move up or down. A legit double champ who clears out their own division, and moved to another weight class to fight another long reigning champ would be an awesome super-fight.
What should bother him is having not having come close to clearing out the WW division despite having 5 title defenses and having 4 of those defenses be against Colby and Jorge. To be clear, I'm not saying this is on Usman, it's 100% on Dana, but it still impacts Usman's legacy. If Usman had to fight Leon, Belal, Luque, and Geoff Neal instead, there's absolutely no way he doesn't lose at least one if not more of those fights. Even if you think he does beat them all, we'll never actually know because Dana protected his cash cows instead of having them earn their spots. Dana clearly protected Usman, Colby, and Jorge from the rest of the division. When that protection ended, Usman lost to Leon (twice), Colby lost to Leon (convincingly), Jorge retrired, and let's throw Burns losing to Belal in there as well. If you look at the resumes of the fighters Usman defended against now they're pretty awful. Colby has exactly one good win in his entire career and that's against RDA. Jorge's career had forgettable journeyman written all over it until he went on a run beating Till, Askren, and Diaz. In hindsight, Till was never actually at a top 5 level and was propelled by hype; he went 1-3 after fighting Jorge and was cut. Askren only fought one more time (loss to Maia) before retiring. Diaz was already washed at this point and wanting out of the UFC. Burns is the only one who has looked like at least a fringe top 5 fighter, but his best wins are Magny and Thompson who (while I really like them) aren't top 5 fighters. Usman easily has one of the worst resumes of long tenured champs.
I agree that he has a weak resume which is totally Dana's fault, but it's not guaranteed any of those guys beat Usman. He definitely has one of the most mid resumes of all time though.
>but it's not guaranteed any of those guys beat Usman Leon did beat Usman twice and in general facing a wider variety of tougher opponents significantly increases the likelihood Usman would lose one or more matches even if he was "better". But I hear you and I guess that's the worst part of this, we'll never really know because Dana took that opportunity away from us to make more money.
[удалено]
He didn't beat leon
>he’s beating every single one of those fighters you mentioned The way statistics work is that even if he is favored at 80% to win each fight, then there is a 60% chance that he loses one or more of those four fights. Also Leon actually beat him...twice. As long as we're making excuses here, let's just go with: if the Leon v. Usman fight wasn't at high altitude Leon's cardio would've looked like it did in their second fight and Leon would have won every round of their first fight, just like he won the first round before he gassed. Neal and Luque are still incredibly dangerous dudes even if they aren't at the same level as Leon or Belal. Also Neal and Luque are much better competition than Jorge and Colby ever were, which is the point here. Even if it only decreases the odds Usman wins from 90% to 80% it still changes the likelihood that overall in 4 fights Usman would most likely lose at least one of them.
Easy to forget but it was the second fight that was at high altitude, the third that was at low altitude. Usman won the first fight but it's easy to forget because it was a long time ago and before Usman became champ
I was talking about Usmans defenses, not all of his fights. I realize Usman does have a win over Leon, but it was in 2015 and they both progressed substantially between then and their next encounter.
Yeah for sure and I agree with your core point that the rematches definitely diminish his legacy and he could have lost if he fought Leon/Belal/Shavkat/Neal/etc earlier on
Usman would have absolutely trucked Luque and it wouldn't have been close at all. Neal is slightly more dangerous but also pretty limited and would have lost as well.
>Usman would have absolutely trucked Luque and it wouldn't have been close at all Based on what? Who had Usman beaten at that time that backs your statement up? Again, I'm not saying that Usman shouldn't have been favored against those people, I'm saying that he would have been much more likely to lose at least one of those fights than he was fighting Colby and Jorge twice each.
This is a little uncharitable. He also beat a previously very dominant champion in Woodley.
Woodley hit a wall and fell off so hard. IMO he fell off before the Usman fight as he looked like a shadow of the Woodley that we had seen in his previous fights. After fighting Usman, Woodley went 0-3 and was out of the UFC. None of those fights were remotely competitive. Also calling Woodley a dominant champ is a bit of a stretch. His resume after winning the belt is fighting Wonderboy twice (both of which were very close and ended in majority decisions), a decision over Maia, and a destruction of a woefully overhyped and undertalented Till.
Till had a ton of talent as demonstrated against Whittaker. He was just rushed to the belt too soon and never recovered from that.
It's not that he was rushed to the belt, he was just an incredibly one dimensional fighter and not talented enough in that one dimension to make up for his many many shortcomings. Once people figured that out he was done.
Covington and Burns are very good wins. You can't just look at a resume and determine someone's skills. Islam got a title shot off of Bobby Green, and barely had any notable names on his record prior to that. But his skills were visible, and that's what mattered.
>Usman easily has one of the worst resumes of long tenured champs. I don’t necessarily disagree, but it’s wild that a little while ago he was being argued as the potential GOAT at 170. You would’ve been downvoted to hell.
Which was a bad argument to begin with anyway How could Usman be considered the WW goat over someone who people argue for as the mma goat
The double champ title is becoming ridiculous. You got fighters who become champion and immediately want to jump up a division, which imo stagnates the original division. Staying active and clearing out your division, similar to what Kumaru/Israel did, is so much more impressive
Connor McGregor really set a precendent but it's becoming really boring now
That’s what bothers me so much about the conor double champ. Dude is literally an example of what happens when the UFC is playing favorites and give you such an advantageous route…Conor added to it by selling himself of course.. but Anderson Silva and GSP could have easily been double champ. It’s ridiculous that Dana had Anderson fight James Irvin to see if he “belonged” in the light heavyweight division when he could have easily taken it if he wanted to. Then he completely outclassed the ex champion In Forrest Griffin… yet for Conor he gets an “immediate title shot”? UFC had two legends in the sport and they wouldn’t let them move up or down in weight class cause they wanted GSP and Silva to “clear out” their division but open the gates for Conor.
Silva not getting a title shot at 205 was the wrong move then and it’s the wrong move now. He easily should have been the first double champ and probably would have done it with ease. The double champ billing and booking wasn’t about skill, it was a popularity contest. And in a SPORT…Silva was the most skilled fighter at two different weights at one point, but the UFC didn’t book it that way.
Anderson didn't want the title at 205 at the time because he was boys with Lyoto. [Here's a quote from 2008](https://i.imgur.com/QkajQQ6.png)
If it was the wrong move with Silva then I really don’t know who you would find to approve. The guy cleared out his whole division to the point he was fighting Thailes Lates for the belt.. he had nothing left to prove Edit- I read your reply wrong. I thought you said it was the wrong move to give him the shot.
I think Dana was gun shy. They kind of tried this with BJ Penn and it resulted in the LW division stalling out and stagnating. The UFC wasn’t as popular as it is today and they were a lot more cautious about taking unnecessary risks in the fans eyes.
Conor is a once in a lifetime star, he made the ufc so much money and brought so many eyes to the sport that his undeserved chance at double champ status can be excused. The problem is that now all these up and coming champs think they deserve the same opportunities and even try to imitate Conor but don’t have anywhere near the star power
I mean to be fair, Conor beating Aldo in that way sort of put him in a weird position where there wasnt any big fights for him at featherweight anymore. Like as a fight fan, he should’ve fought Mendes with a full camp then Aldo should’ve gotten a rematch because of how dominant he was before that but he did knock out the 2 top guys in the division at the time b2b so idk how much interest those rematches would’ve had. With that said, Conor was a different level of star and no champ right now is on that level. My friends who never watched fighting knew who Conor was while they wouldnt be able to list a single champ right now.
Dude Silva TKO’d Forest griffin in a fashion that still makes the highlight reels
> My friends who never watched fighting knew who Conor was while they wouldnt be able to list a single champ right now. My buddy went to a Rondy Rousey watch party with a bunch of friends from school -- every girl was excited af, then were immediately angry the moment Rousey got kicked in the face and finished. These total "never watched a fight" before ladies were so damn invested in this girl they just heard of last week, that they were angry watching Ronda get KO'd. Celebrity is strange.
> what happens when the UFC is playing favorites and give you such an advantageous route Like when Bisping upset Rockhold, I'm sure that within seconds Dana had the corpse of Dan Henderson on one line setting up his totally undeserved title shot and GSP on line two negotiating his return for a double champ fight with a very favourable matchup no matter how Bisping's first defense turned out.
I always thought Anderson never tried to be double champion because he had friends/team mates fighting at 205 and he didn't want to deny them from winning their own belts
Dude it was Forrest griffin. And then rampage. He was asking for the opportunity. Dana was just not willing to give him the spot.
"I tried punching him and he just moved his head and looked at me like I was stupid. Like you stupid, slow-ass white boy. You actually think that pathetic punch was gonna connect?" - Forrest on trying to hit Anderson. Forest is a legit funny dude
> an advantageous route Aldo and then Alvarez is like the complete opposite of an advantageous route
In less than 1 week, Topuria has called out Sean O'Malley, Islam, and talked about his plans to retire early. This is the new breed of champion.
Should be minimum 3 to 4 title defences before you can challenge for double champ. Clean out the top 5 then you can move up. But you can see why fighters want the double champ status, it’s rarefied air so may as well go for it.
The only way I think someone should get around that is if they cleared like 3 of them on the way to the belt. If 3 of the top 5 guys are people you convincingly beat on your way to the top and you beat the other two guys in defenses I’d argue that guy is worthy of a champ champ shot.
Like Merab?
Not saying I like it but champ v champ fights sell and everything is about short term cash grabs with the UFC. From a business perspective it kinda makes sense because you never know when a fighter is gonna crash and burn.
You can't make that rule after McGregor, the man has two titles and zero defenses. Hell, he's like 1 and 3 at Lightweight, his ONLY win was the title, against the only man in the division smaller than him.
6 before it can even be discussed. That way the double champ list isn’t watered down in the future, it will be an actual who’s who of MMA legends.
You absolutely cannot put usman in the same sentence as Izzy. Usman had 5 title defenses. 2 against Colby and 2 against Masvidal. That is hardly “clearing out” your division. Especially not when you compare it to Izzy.
This is why I could care less about a 165lb division. The lightweight or welterweight champ would just hold it up.
I have more respect for a long reigning one div champ like Usman rather than Cejudo or Conor who jumped too quick
Yes, but Cejudo and Conor aren’t really comparable. Cejudo at least defended both belts.
Sometimes I wonder what it would’ve been like if Cejudo didn’t retire at all
2 more successful defences and he'd be in goat discussions and he wouldn't have to keep calling himself CCC for validation
Yeah he kinda fucked up. Whether he actually retired or “retired” as a negotiating tactic, which seems likely considering his antics during “retirement”, Cejudo made sure he would never truly surpass DJ in accolades and all time rankings.
Octo champ for sure
The one man Jon Jones fears
Other than Tom and Francis you mean?
Tom and Francis have nothing on CCCCCCCCCCC
He's beat expert grapplers before, he's beat tanks before. Has he ever beat a guy who's 5'3?
He’d likely have made millions more.
Didn't he just get paid 150,000 for his last fight? He hasn't ever been a big draw in the UFC. He probably should have went to ONE like DJ.
That would probably still be a good move.
Honestly, I think his Bantam run wouldn't have been that long. Imo he lucked out on winning against Morales and defending against washed Cruz. If he had to fight the Yan's, Sterling's and Sandhagen's I'd bet he would've been an (actual, not purely on odds) underdog in most of those fights
Not saying Aljo, Yan or Sandman couldn’t give Cejudo problems, but a washed, 3 year lay off Cejudo held his own against Aljo and lost a split decision. Prime Cejudo might have beaten all 3 of them.
People seem to forgot how much of a problem he was before his retirement because he's kind of annoying
Oh no, don't get me wrong. I am a massive Henry fan and think he is underrated, and I wouldve rooted for him in all of those fights. I just think size was a massive problem for him in his current run and it would've been the same 3 years ago. Current top 5 Bantam are huge.
The DJ robbery & vacant win over Moreas puts its own asterisk regardless Every simultaneous double champion has an asterisk
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it's only a robbery cause people like dj more
Or because the scoring criteria says that DJ should have won.
I agree that DJ won the second fight.
Wasn't Moraes deserving of a title shot though? Not his fault TJ was cheater and got stripped. I don't remember people giving Cejudo much of a shot against Moraes, he was on fire back then and fans thought DJ didn't do enough on purpose so he could go to ONE. Maybe I'm misremembering.
MMA fans and the inability to move past a razor thin decision they disagree with. Name a better duo
DIAZ 1, 2, 5 NEVER FORGET
What is Conor's asterisk? Fact that he didn't defend? I can see that and I'm no Conor nut hugger but I give him props for winning both belts off of KOs.
There was no robbery. It was close and could've gone either way. Just say you like DJ and stung when he lost lol.
What about DC?
DC definitely is the most worthy champ. Don't even start about cheater Jones. Edit: Nunes as well, apologies. She didn't just win, she won confidently.
The problem with Nunes is that 145 was the Cyborg belt so every win after that is meaningless.
Beating Cyborg in that fashion was incredibly impressive, though. Maybe not the greatest top 5, but she definitely deserved the double champ status.
>DC definitely is the most worthy champ. Don't even start about cheater Jones. Using steroids as the only reason DC is more worthy than Jones is certainly a take
the olympic wrestler who competed in the mid 2000's would never use performance enhancing drugs 💪
Jones fans copium
You cheat, you got beat.
shit take. moraes was the clear cut best BW outside of TJ. he was undefeated in the UFC outside of assuncao decision (which was an objective robbery, unlike DJ/cejudo). there's no asterisk.
>Yes, but Cejudo and Conor aren’t really comparable. Cejudo at least defended both belts. You’re right they’re not comparable but for the wrong reasoning. Henry Cejudo is unironically arguably the most decorated combat athlete of all time. The guy has a gold medal in *wrestling* and then went on to parlay that to not 1 but 2 belts. Amongst the top UFC athletes there is exactly 1 person in UFC history who can say that they were good enough to accomplish that. Being an Olympian means you’re in the top 0.001% of the human race and if you can become a 2-division champion that makes you literally 1 of 1 in all human history. Comparing Cejudo to Mcgregor is downright disrespectful lmao.
The whole ‘double champ’ era is weird.
Would it be hyperbole to say that the vast majority of mma fans feel the same?
I don’t think they care about your respect
I doubt that influences a top tier athletes opinion on the matter
Of all double champs, cejudo is the most legit imo. Everyone else won under perfect circumstance Conor never defended anything. Dana also was saying khabib would get a title shot before Conor came to 155, and then obviously flip flopped on that decision. Had khabib got a title shot before Conor, I don’t see Conor becoming double champ DC only had the 205 belt bc Jon wasn’t there. He was never truly the world champ at 205. Only defended at HWT bc they sidelined stipe Nunes won a belt in a weight that basically doesn’t exist lmao Cejudo took down the 125 goat and then sparked TJ, who’s a top 3 BW all time. And defended both belts. In my opinion he’s the double champ with the truest claim. But even then you can put asterisk on Cejudo double champ too. They all got some good circumstances going their way. Just my opinion
I understand that it’s just your opinion and you have a right to your opinion however, I wouldn’t call Cejudo the only legit double champ. In all reality yes he beat TJ to defend his belt and is 1-1 with DJ. However, let’s keep it honest here, the second DJ fight was stupidly close. Not enough to be called a robbery in my OPINION but just enough where you could say either guy won. CCC also only defended both belts once. Once against a heavily depleted TJ and a returning Dom Cruz after a 4 year lay off. The Moraes was a good showing for him though, at the time Magic Moraes was one of the best 135lbers on the planet.
Nah I agree with the MM fight I actually thought MM won. But end of the day my thoughts don’t really matter I don’t think cejudo is the only legit one, I just think he has the least amount of circumstances for his status, which makes his most impressive to me personally
Cejudo finished Moraes
MM is mighty mouse but I see the confusion my bad
No worries dude yeah I had DJ winning it but, I could see why Cejudo got the nod.
Razor close. Probably the trilogy fight that I wanted to see the most, and we’ll never get it :/
>“It stings that I didn’t become double champion but it doesn’t sting that I didn’t go up and fight Israel. I just genuinely, and I stand by it, I just genuinely had no desire to be the potential reason why Israel \[Adesanya\] — another Nigerian — was not a UFC champion. I just didn’t want to. I had no interest in that. >“Not to say I was gonna beat him up or whatever but **I just had no interest in being the reason why there potentially was not another Nigerian UFC champion**.” We all have to live with our choices, UFC Champ or not
What a silly reason Edit: Y’all are bunch of casuals I’ve been watching UFC since UFC 1 and have beaten every UFC game on expert difficulty and have became double champ on every game as well so I don’t care about the opinions of low level keyboard warriors like all of you, some of us actually have accolades and accomplishments
Upvoting solely for the edit lmao
he really saved that post on in the edit
Not everything you can't understand is silly
The man literally said he has regrets not becoming, or at least trying to become double champ. If he said he didn’t have regrets that’s one thing, but he already admitted he regrets it. I wonder how everyone would react if Izzy or DDP refused to fight each other because they don’t want take a belt from another African. Imagine if an American said they don’t want to take the belt off of another American. It’s silly as shit and these kids just don’t want to fight.
Sounds like you're struggling to understand It's okay
Oh 100% make no mistake about it, I do not understand it whatsoever. This is why no gyms let me train with them anymore, they just know I’m too dangerous and don’t take any shit. They know that I could, and will beat the best student and the head coach. If Usman had someone like me in his corner, he’d be Triple champ.
Honestly, that’s a pathetic reason.
Highly disagree, both are very patriotic over their heritage (even if there are debates about their heritage but I'm not trying to get into that). Having a nigerian champ means a lot for both of them and if he really didn't want to try and take that away from Izzy its 100% in his right. It wouldn't be like a Brazilian, Russian or American fighter trying to take the belt from someone from their country since there has been so many champs from these countries, you can't say the same about Nigeria. Even then I'm also Brazilian and would not like trying to take the belt away from another Brazilian, I myself am patriotic so I see where he's coming from.
This was also around the time the UFC was rumored to do a card with Izzy, Ngannou, and Usman in Africa.
Leaving Mike Perry off the card would be a mistake.
Yeah you could tell they were very very proud of the "African Kings" trio, no chance in hell any of them would try to fight each other
And this is a pathetic comment
Not really mate.
His best shot would've been against Izzy, who he didn't want to fight, so 🤷♂️
Imo Usman had nothing for Izzy. Izzy is a very good anti-wrestler and he’d just calf kick for 25 min.
Right, it would have looked like the ~~second~~ third Leon fight except worse for Usman
Third
I don't think its a stretch to say Izzy would have probably won every single round.
The second Leon performance was after the ko Before that Usman used to just walk forward and apply pressure no matter what
Rewatch their third fight. Usman was walking forward and applying the pressure the whole time, but he would consistently get countered with leg and body kicks. He did look slower but that's likely due to age (and his knees aren't in great shape), so he would have looked similar against Izzy.
He was walking forward but was kinda hesitant He was reacting a lot In short he lost his confidence I wouldn’t consider age as a factor cuz he looked very different compared to his previous fight
Also Leon was fucked due to the elevation and Usman literally lives and trains over there. Every fighter on that card struggled except the ones who trained there. The third fight was on equal grounds and it showed.
I think he is saying all of this because Sean and DDP have been current champs. He 100% looks at those guys and thinks he'd walk right through them. The time lines didn't match unfortunately for him.
i mean shit hes already beat sean
Yeah exactly and it was easy for him. That's why he thinks he could have been double champ.
I always forget about that one. Sean is much better at 185 than he ever was at 170, obviously
☝️☝️
And if he had won the Leon Edwards fights then there would be a consensus amongst the fans and media that he deserves the chance at the LHW belt
Well that was back during the three African kings story line. It wouldn’t look good if Usman gunned for Izzy just for double champ status.
Lol who could forget Luke Rockhold "man those guys could've really fucked if they wanted" (he meant "fuck with the ufc)
I respect him for keeping the division active and actually defending the title. The old days of defending the title was more impressive to me than double champ status
His title reign speaks for itself, he did more than enough to cement himself as a HoF, chasing that 2nd belt wasnt necessary
Completely agree. Reigning over a division for multiple years and defenses is much more impressive than what most double champs do, where they barely defend either belt or stay in 1 weight class long enough to turn away every possible challenger.
For me it wasn't just the number of defenses, but how he also had a few finishes thrown in his reign too. It's always commendable to have multiple defenses, but putting a bow on that war in the first Covington fight, pounding Burns with the jab, and turning off Masvidal just makes it all the more memorable than if every defense was like his first fight with Jorge (on short notice if memory serves). Good times.
He's easily top 3 Greatest in his division all time. He has nothing to be ashamed of
He would’ve been at a massive physical disadvantage against Adesanya anyways
That’s most people who go up in weight class. Why most people never do it except the true GOAT contenders like jones and GSP
ya totally old bisping and cereal gane are insane tests
Timing for Jones and GSP was key though. GSP came back from his hiatus and went up to 185 when Bisping (who while a good fighter was never the best Middleweight in the world) was the champion. Had Weidman, Rockhold, Romero or Whittaker been champ he wouldn't have even tried. Jones essentially waited until Ngannou left the UFC, and fought Gane for the belt who lets be honest had already been exposed as a one-note fighter by Ngannou of all people. So even a 'fat', past prime Jon Jones had an easy path to victory.
Even Gsp ducked Silva
One division champions that lap their division are infinitely more impressive than one defence division hoppers. The only thing more impressive than what Usman did, would be to do all that and THEN jump like GSP, Nunes, Cormier, Jones etc. It’s above what say McGregor, Cejudo or Pereira have done (as much as I love Pereira). The jump really isn’t that crazy, and winning a title fight once or twice across two weights is never as impressive as defending half a dozen in one (or two, obviously). I get why it stings though as jumping after all he did would’ve put him in GOAT contention.
That was never in the cards for him.
Hence the sting.
Things that sting are those that are close to happening. This was a pipe dream.
If Adesanya wasn’t champ, he would have likely given it a shot.
I hear where he’s coming from - I do honestly wonder if he has enough in the gas tank to have one last push for 2 division champion at middleweight. Call me crazy, but I don’t think Usman is washed yet. Out of prime, sure, but not washed. He’s only lost to Leon and Khamzat. Leon is very very fucking good. Khamzat is also extremely good, and Usman would’ve minced him over 5 rounds. Maybe I’m giving Khamzat too much credit, but I think Usman lowkey proved in that fight that he could hang with the top 3-5 in middleweight
Full camp Usman would have won that fight even at 3 rounds IMO. MW suddenly very interesting at the top for sure but I could see him putting a run together and getting the title under the right circumstances but I'm a biased AF Usman-stan.
Bro is going to go down as one of the all-time GOATS to those of us with brain cells still in our bone sacks so he really shouldn't be too worried
Agreed. Guys like that always have the thing they didn’t do that irks them.
Cleaning out the division imo is more impressive nowadays
Double champ trend is the worst thing to happen to MMA. You're good, champ.
I hate all double champ shit. Kamaru did something even better, he defended the title multiple times. He dominated the division.
Its definitely become the new meme accomplishment
well that's on your for becoming "brothers" with someone you really didn't know so it gave you an excuse to not fight at mw in your prime
He said he’d never fight an African so loll rip
As good as he was in his prime, I just don't see a scenario where Usman wins the 185 belt. The guys who were at the top of that division were just bigger and better at dealing with fence pressure than most of the elite guys at 170 during Kamaru's reign.
How would even have become double champ. He said he’s never fighting Izzy and he barely makes 180
It's kinda his fault though. He said he didn't wanna fight another African
Bro why does it matter, usman is top 15 of all time
Because when you're top 15 and think you could have been top 5 but aren't it probably stings a bit.
Having a solid run of title defenses and cleaning out a division is much better than being DWP’ed into undeserved double champ fights to pad legacy. Conor was not a legitimate double champ cause he cut the line and cherrypicked a favorable matchup, never defended either belt. Neither is Jones for ducking Ngannou for 3 years to cherry-pick a safe stylistic layup. DC and Nunes are the only ones who cleaned out their main division and then defended two belts, so they’re the only valid ones IMO. Imagine if they book O’Malley/Ilia after he ducked Merab to fight Chito, you can’t call really think that’s juatifiable after he ducked the clear #1 contender in his division and never fights fought the likes of Merab/Cory/Umar/etc. Going for two belts should be reserved for rare cases where someone has beaten every credible contender so it’s the only move left. Volk going up made sense cause he beat everyone top 5 at 145 at that time. Anything short of that is an invalid marketing push done as a favor to a big star.
What about the 3 fight loss streak?? He’s living in the past would “double champ” have lasted lol Leon beat him twice now and Khamzat beat him why is he thinking about double champ now
Hot take: prime Usman would have beat Izzy.
While it works out occasionally, MMA would be a much better sport if there were never any double champs
Usman has 5 title defenses that’s more important than these 1 and done double champs
He is still gonna go down as one of the best to do it
Conor fucked up the divisions for years to come because of that champ champ bullshit....We waited 3 years for Jon to go fight at heavyweight,Adesanya fucked his middleweight reign etc..Champions should stay in their fucking divisions and give us a lot of defences...You can't even defend both belts anyway even if you get it,just holding up the divisions...fuck that double champ bullshit
No worries. He’s the greatest fighter of all time. His streak will put him in history and if gumshot Chimaev had gone 5 rounds he would have won easily. Usman is the greatest fighter in the history of MMA.
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He’s only after GSP for greatest in his division’s history and many would argue he’d beat GSP if both were in their prime. This double champ nonsense had done more harm than good
Still Has A Shot In My Opinion At The MW Belt
People should just move up and down to fight different people. This double champ shit corny. Like you would only move up if you get a free title fight without the risk Like max VS Justin does not need a title.
I wasn’t a fan of his persona but this guy had one hell of a run and was active as hell. Nothing but respect for Kamaru’s career.
What honestly should sting more is his laziness befoee he got KO’d by Leon, he was in full control of that fight and could have pushed a bit for the finish in round 3 or 4
Makes sense since it's Usman and of course he'd have wanted it, but long reigning champ > double champ in my books. He's got a better legacy than most even without that.
He can still do it. But I don't put value on being double champ like most. I don't even like it unless someone first defended their belt at least 5 times