Paul Felder is not a fan of fighters chasing dual-champion status so early in their title reigns.
Felder specifically has an issue with UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) expressing interest in moving up to challenge welterweight champion Leon Edwards (22-3 MMA, 14-2 UFC). Edwards also mentioned moving up to middleweight to capture a second belt, but Felder would like to see both of them rule their divisions first.
āWe established that this (Muhammad) is the No. 1 contender, youāre (Edwards) also saying that you want to break Georges St-Pierreās record, but then we got Islam Makhachev out there saying he should be next for the welterweight belt,ā Felder said on his āRound-Upā show with Michael Chiesa. āGuys, stay in your freaking divisions, reign over your division. Can we get dominant champions before you all start wanting to fight for other belts?
āIt didnāt used to be like this. The guys that did this in the beginning ā obviously Conor is an exception. He did it; it was craziness. He was a superstar. (Daniel Cormier) did it because he earned it and was a 205āer. Amanda Nunes earned it. Now itās just like everyone and their mother wants to be able to be a double champ. And itās like, āWell, how about you get a whole lot of title defenses first, then you go and step up?'ā
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Personally, I'm inclined to agree with Felder. This champ-champ nonsense needs to stop.