In this post, I want to try and have a bit of a lighter topic after such a long stretch of serious posts or previews and fallouts and that stuff. We haven't taken a moment to have some fun on this blog in awhile and I figured now was as good a time as any. I saw something about this earlier in the week, I think from the MMA On Point twitter account? I'm honestly not sure, but they had a little graphic and I immediately didn't read the rest or any of the replies because I knew I wanted to turn this into a post. All I saw was the headline or topic and then stopped because I liked the idea and wanted to explore it myself without anyone else's ideas clouding my judgment. I hadn't thought about double champ status in a minute, but it is always an interesting concept when it comes up. I'm going to list off all of the champions first and then go from there.
HW - Francis Ngannou
LHW - Glover Teixeira
MW - Israel Adesanya
WW - Kamaru Usman
LW - Charles Oliveira
FW - Alex Volkanovski
BW - Aljamain Sterling
FLYW - Deiveson Figueiredo
WFW - Amanda Nunes
WBW - Julianna Pena
WFLYW - Valentina Shevchenko
SW - Carla Esparza
Impossible - Francis Ngannou
I decided to break these down into categories and the first is impossible. The only fighter who will never have the opportunity to become double champ is Francis Ngannou because there is no other belt for him to get. There is no chance that Francis can get down to 205, so he doesn't have another belt to even try for.
Very Unlikely - Carla Esparza, Julianna Pena, Aljamain Sterling, Glover Teixeira
I want to reiterate that this isn't simply who is going to be a double champ, but who is most likely to do it next. I think almost all of these champions have the skill to potentially win a second title, but who is going to do it first is the real question I'm trying to answer. These four all have the same general explanation to me. All of them are new or fairly new champions who have plenty of potential title defenses and opponents ready before they would even start talking about going up. I don't think any of these four would really even have a double champ conversation until 2024 at the earliest. Carla Esparza just won the title and the number one contender fight is already lined up. She'll probably have to go through Marina Rodriguez, Rose Namajunas, and either Alexa Grasso or MacKenzie Dern before double champ talks even start. I think the same goes for Julianna Pena. She has her first defense lined up for July with Amanda Nunes and should she get through that, she's going to have to get another 2-4 successful defenses before double champ talks start. She's also at the disadvantage of having Nunes as champion above her, so even if she beats her the second time, she will probably have to wait a few times before she can go up and fight Nunes a third time for a second belt. Aljo just won the title as well and he's in a division with no shortage of contenders. With all of the really good fighters at 135, I don't know that he will even have the opportunity to go up any time soon. He has so many potential challengers to go through that he could probably rack up 5-7 defenses and still have interesting opponents to fight. The final one here is Glover and I think age effects him on top of the other stuff. I don't know that Glover is going to be around long enough to get to that point. He's already on the wrong side of 40 and he would probably need to win another 3 fights minimum before the conversation even started. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I don't know that there is a universe where a 45 year old Glover can go up to heavyweight. He has Jiri next month and then would have to get through some of, if not all of, Jan Blachowicz, Aleksandar Rakic, Anthony Smith, and Magomed Ankalaev with Paul Craig and Jamahal hill looming in the distance. I don't think Glover will be around long enough to get the chance and all of the others are too new to their belt to get the shot any time soon, so they probably won't be first.
Sort of Unlikely - Deiveson Figueiredo, Kamaru Usman, Israel Adesanya
Maybe Figueiredo could be bumped up a category, but I just don't see it. In terms of his height and reach, he really isn't all that big for flyweight. He's just so muscular and built that he really struggles to make the weight at times. He's gone back and forth with Brandon Moreno and it seems like we may get a quadrology if Moreno can beat Kai Kara-France and Figgy can recover from a hand injury. With all of the contenders that kept Aljo in the previous tier, I don't know that Figueiredo has a great chance to jump a lot of them either. The only reason he is in this tier and not the one below is that if he can win another 3 fights or so, the division may look pretty bare at the top, leaving double champ status as the only big fight for him. Kamaru Usman is in this category because of his relationship with Israel Adesanya. Those two don't want to fight each other and I don't think there's much of a chance that we get it. I think the door is ever so slightly ajar because the UFC could make them both an offer that they can't refuse, but I think that is really the only shot we have at that fight coming to fruition. The final one here is Izzy and he's this low because he just had his chance a few fights ago. I think Izzy would have to win 5 or 6 fights in a row before he got another shot to move up (so 3 or 4 more since he's fought Whittaker and Vettori since). The only thing that may speed that calendar up is if no one else really emerges in the middleweight division. I think the UFC is trying to set up a potential title fight with Alex Pereira, but he needs the win over Sean Strickland. They may also be hoping to get a title shot with former champion Luke Rockhold, but he needs to get through Paulo Costa first. Izzy is going to need a few more defenses and get some real hype behind him again before he gets a second chance, but I think he will probably get there eventually.
Maybe - Charles Oliveira
Oliveira ends up in his own category because I think he is closer than the the previous tier, but also noticeably behind the following tier. Oliveira is in a very tough division and has a few more contenders he will have to go through before he gets that chance. He has at least Islam Makhachev to go through and then potential matchups with Beneil Dariush and Conor McGregor out there. There's also the rematches with Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler that could be had as well. I'm not sure how many more of those Oliveira has to go through, but it is more than one, but probably no more than three.
Legitimate Chance - Valentina Shevchenko and Alex Volkanovski
These are the ones that seem very real right now. I think both Shevchenko and Volk are one win away from getting the opportunity if they want it. Valentina has all but cleared out her division and has more than earned the chance to become a double champion. She probably could have gone up in her last couple of defenses if she would have really pushed for it. She may be the most dominant champion that the UFC has right now, so if she can't get it, then I don't know who can. Volkanovski is in much the same position. If he beats Max Holloway a third time, I don't know how you deny him the opportunity. On top of that, no one has really separated themselves at featherweight for the following title shot. Maybe Calvin Kattar, Josh Emmett, or Yair Rodriguez could get it, but if Volk called out Oliveira, then I think that fight gets made pretty easily.
The Favorite - Amanda Nunes
This one isn't very interesting. It is Amanda Nunes by default though. She has her chance at regaining double champ status already on the schedule in a fight that she'll be favored in. Statistically speaking, she has to be the favorite, but it really isn't fun as a talking point.
Despite Amanda being the favorite just because of the circumstances, I think Valentina is really the one. I think she may be the best fighter pound for pound, man or woman, in the entire world right now. I don't really care who the champion is at 135 whenever the time comes. I think Valentina should be a heavy favorite in that fight. Volk vs Oliveira would also be a crazy fight and while I haven't really thought too much of it before right now, that sounds like a lot of fun. Sign me up for either of those for tomorrow.
What do you guys think? Who do you want to see get the next opportunity at double champ status? Which champion vs champion fight do you think would be the best matchup? Leave your thoughts and comments below. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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