Funny how GSP, Anderson, Jones had little interest in two weight championship status

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When GSP was WW champ he had no interest in fighting Anderson to become MW champ.

Anderson, willing to take several fights at LHW, had no interest in fighting Jones for the LHW title.

Jones had no interest in fighting JDS, Cain, Werdum and prime Stipe when they were champs at HW.

Johnson was not happy with the money offered to go up and challenge for the BW title.

UFC would not let Aldo challenge for the LW title because they didn’t consider him a big enough star.

Its funny how five of the most dominant champs ever didn’t want or were unable to do the big superfights vs other champs and now every time someone touches a belt for two seconds they are calling for a champ vs champ fight.

Weili called for the FLW title fight at 300.
O’Malley is saying he wants a FW title shot.
Top is saying he wants a LW title shot, Volk just got two. Conor got to go up. Max too.
Mak wants the WW title
Edwards is saying he wants a MW title shot.
Usman was talking about MW and LHW title shots depending on who had the belts.
The former MW champ just became the LHW champ and the before that tried and failed.
The former MW champ and current LHW champ said he might attempt to become the first triple champ.

UFC knows they can’t have a champ move up and challenge for another belt if the heavier fighter is busy moving up himself challenging for a title.

Holding too many double champ fights does nothing but slows down divisions and reduces the number of official title fights that can be held.

Its rather fucked that Aldo could have been the first triple champ in UFC history if he was treated as well as the UFC has treated Conor, Jones, Volk etc… in terms of title shots in different weight classes.

Its possible if Aldo won a LW title at some point and then still ended his career at BW like he did and after going 3-0 got another BW title fight instead of having to fight Merab while UFC gave an undeserved title shot to TJ that Aldo could have retired the first and only triple champ in UFC history.

Hopefully UFC starts making champs defend a few times before giving them title shots up in weight but as shown with Conor…its a star driven business that blends sport and entertainment in terms of matchmaking.

UFC kept Conor away from Oliveira and Frankie to get his first title shot and gave him his 2nd title shot in another weight class after getting submitted by and going 1-1 with Diaz. So there is a fighter with zero title defenses who somehow is a UFC double champ. That should never happen.

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Letting champs go up in weight is important in establishing dominant champs but they should have to defend 3-4 times in their weight class before being given the chance.

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Because their divisions were stacked and they had a murderers row of challengers.

The modern ufc can’t even begin to compare with how competitive shit was.

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Conman McTapper ruined the ufc. He never defend either of his belts. He just kept looking ahead to “bigger fight”

There’s a reason Conman will forever be but a footnote in the eyes of Hardcore fans. He has very few signature wins and a small resume overall

Anderson. Georges. JBJ. DJ. Usman Izzy etc. all had long title reigns with title defenses. That means far more than anything conman did

As for Topuria I think he’s just trying to build his brand and create a name for himself with what he’s saying. I don’t think he’ll actually avoid trying to defend his belt. And I don’t think he actually has any interest in losing to Islam right now lol

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You can’t forget the talent was way deeper back than it is today in most weight classes

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Even when you include all the legendary title reigns of Jones, Anderson, GSP, Aldo, Johnson etc… the average UFC championship is only defended 1.6x. Remove the best defense streak from each division and the average title reign only lasts around 1.0 defense per championship won.

UFC of course knows this and they know the % change they get in PPV buys for champ vs champ fights so they obviously made a choice to increase interim title fights and increase champ vs champ fighters to increase viewership and revenue.

Obviously letting Conor become double champ without defenses was wildly profitable for everyone involved so I don’t see them getting away from the champ vs champ fights soon but in a perfect world I’d love to see a champ have to get three defenses vs top contenders to get a shot at a 2nd belt.

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10years ago Jones would have been murdered by top10 heavyweights, Silva would have been beaten by Jones so no point moving up, GSP dunno, i dont remember in what div he fought :sweat_smile: and what division was above

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During their respective peaks, the opportunities for them to move up in weight and challenge for titles in different divisions might not have been as readily available compared to today’s MMA landscape. The number of weight classes and title fights have increased significantly in recent years.

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I’d love to hear what Tamura has to say about taking the Sapp fight.

It was June, 2002. Sapp was 1-0 in MMA. 0-1 in kickboxing.

By the end of the year Sapp had beat Hoost 2x in K1 and given Big Nog a tough time in PRIDE.

This is why I want to see Brian Shaw fight, Shaw is a bigger, faster, stronger version of prime Sapp.

2002-2004 Sapp really was a problem for most and went 5-2 in MMA and 7-4 in K1.

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This refers to your officially registered or long-term residence in India. The address should match the one in your passport or other official Indian documents (like Aadhar card).

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All incredibly valid point. Ive been reading on this site for 15 years but only a member for a few. Ive mostly shared your views @BJ_Penn_Forever and appreciate your contributions to this site.

In this case, I couldn’t agree more. I was also very surprised when they traded DJ, and it was kind of surreal what happened to Askren. The UFC was becoming a different place, and in most cases, hardcore fans did not have the same opinion as the masses that started watching at Boston Pizza.

Id like to see title holders defend more often, and clear out their division before calling for champ champ status. Itd also be great to see the right guy get title shots but those arent always needle moving “names” in the business. To me thats the exciting part.

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The fighters you mentioned were masters of their division. We valued lengthy title runs back then. Having 5, 6 or 7 defenses was godly. It was sought after by fighters. Now everyone just wants a paycheque. Look at guys like Topuria calling out McG? That does nothing for your career resume, it’s only about the money.

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It’s partly a marketing tactic from the UFCs point of view, adds an extra layer of instant stardom to the guys they can get two belts on, it is an impressive feat but nothing compared to the runs of past champions mentioned in the OP.

Some guys like McGregor for example were never going to rival the likes of Aldo in a run as champ, despite beating him he was still in his shadow legacy wise, but when he moves up and wins it puts him into a different conversation, strike while the irons hit with a good stylistic matchup and it’s a chance to cash in big time.