The pursuit of becoming a two-division UFC champion has consistently been a captivating narrative in recent years. What was once a rare achievement, accomplished by only a select few, has seen a growing list of fighters join its ranks.
Pioneers like Randy Couture and B.J. Penn were the first to conquer two weight classes. Eight years later, Conor McGregor famously achieved the feat, followed shortly by Georges St-Pierre, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes, and Henry Cejudo. In the past four years, additional stars such as Alex Pereira, Jon Jones, Ilia Topuria, and Islam Makhachev have also added their names to this elite group.
Currently, middleweight titleholder Khamzat Chimaev has expressed a desire to move up to the light heavyweight division, hoping to earn a second UFC championship. However, UFC CEO Dana White quickly dismissed the idea during the UFC Houston Post-Fight Press Conference.
“I’d like to see him defend his title at a weight first,” White stated. “I’d like to see him defend his title before he talks about jumping around, you know? You’re going to keep going up in weight divisions without defending? Yeah, I’d rather see him defend.”
Chimaev secured the 185-pound undisputed championship at UFC 319 last August, delivering a dominant performance against former titleholder Dricus du Plessis to win by unanimous decision. Throughout his UFC career, “Borz” has competed in both the welterweight and middleweight divisions.
On February 20th, Chimaev himself hinted at his aspirations by simply posting “205” on X (formerly Twitter).
