Seattle, WA — Despite rumors that the UFC was doing away with double-champs, sparked in part by Ilia Topuria vacating his featherweight title and moving up to 155lbs, and comments made by Diego Lopes suggesting the promotion would require fighters to drop one belt prior to challenging for another, it seems that’s not the case.
During Saturday’s UFC Seattle post-fight press conference, UFC CEO and President Dana White stated that the matter of double champs would be decided on a case by case basis, rather than a blanket policy. In that sense, the philosophy has not changed.
As it turns out, it was Topuria, not the promotion, who decided he should vacate at 145. “No, he did that. He said ‘I’ve done everything I can do here, I’m ready to move up,’ and he vacated,” White revealed, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press. “He said ‘I shouldn’t be holding up anybody’s opportunities.’ I respect when guys do that.”
When it comes to champions holding two titles in the UFC, White is still open to it, though he made clear that he wants to see then defend both belts. “Listen if there’s a guy that thinks he can do it and wants to defend both belts and has accomplished all these great things, I would have no problem with it,” he added. “But you’re going to be busy.”
The case for moving up and challenging for a second title seems to be the same, meanwhile – a fighter should essentially have done all he can in his or her own division. “Unless you’ve really wiped out your division — like Jon Jones, who was in light heavyweight forever then moved up to heavyweight. Ilia, I get it. It makes sense, like I said, who he’s beat and how he beat them, and now he’s tired of making weight and wants to move up, totally makes sense.”
Another example, for White, is women’s strawweight champ Weili Zhang. Earlier in the night White admitted he’d like to see the Chinese star fight for flyweight gold. “She’s accomplished just about everything you can accomplish in her weight division. And I don’t have a problem about it. The philosophy hasn’t changed, just on a case by case basis.”
As for Ilia Topuria, “I think that he felt he had done everything with the guys that he beat, if you look at who he beat and how he beat them. And I don’t think he loved making that weight anymore,” stated White. And though Islam Makhachev would seem like the obvious target for “El Matador,” that lightweight title fight doesn’t appear to be set in stone.
“There’s still other possibilities. There’s a lot of sh*t going on right now, otherwise I would have said,” White declared on that front.
Watch the full UFC Seattle post-fight press conference appearance by Dana White above.
