With Ilia Topuria now no longer the featherweight champion, Dana White has made it clear: the UFC’s cool with double champs, but they better be fighting regularly.
Speaking after UFC Fight Night Seattle, the promotion’s CEO explained that while the UFC doesn’t oppose fighters holding multiple titles simultaneously, they require a significantly higher level of activity from those who attempt it.
Four fighters have held two UFC titles at the same time: Henry Cejudo, Daniel Cormier, Conor McGregor and Amanda Nunes.
Following his featherweight title defense last October, Topuria offered to vacate the belt to avoid stalling the division. His next opponent is yet to be determined.
“Unless you think you can defend your title,” White said. “If there’s a guy who 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. But you’re going to be busy.
“…Unless you’ve really wiped out a division, like Jon Jones, who was in light (heavy)weight forever and 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 to 155? Totally makes sense,” White continued. “But no, I’m definitely not (against it). Weili Zhang, they just asked me. She’s accomplished just about everything you can accomplish in her weight division and I don’t have a problem with it. The philosophy hasn’t changed, it’s just on a case-by-case basis.”
