What is harder: becoming double champ or multiple title defenses?

YoudBeSurprised

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To me I think being a reigning champ is much harder. You have a list of contenders who are studying your game and you have a target on your back for years. At the same time, I feel like DC’s path to double champ is pretty difficult considering the consequences of one mistake at LHW and HW. What say you?
 
I don't know, really just depends on the division the fighter is in.

DC had to face Stipe Miocic, who was the most successful HW champ of all time.

Conor had to fight Eddie, who many were saying was a bad match up for him. I still think a defense against Aldo or Edgar would've been tougher.

I think it's harder to become a 2 weight division champ as you go up higher in the weight classes.

Stipe seemed like an easier fight after the 1st round KO, but nobody else could run through him during his title reign. (Until DC)
stipe.jpg
 
Multiple defenses of both titles
 
that feel when you’re drunk enough to think that TS was @Bubzeh , based on AV thumbnail
 
Multiple defenses has to be harder.

Imagine having multiple contenders aiming for your belt, studying your every weakness for months or years.

I'd imagine a title challenger would have months to prepare compared to a guy who goes up/down in weight to fight you.
 
Conor fought two much shorter strikers at a severe reach disadvantage to win both of his titles. Stylistically favorable matchups.

It would be much more difficult to keep knocking off number 1 contenders than to pick and choose which champs you want to take down.

GSP is doing that right now as well, but he also had a shitload of title defenses and has earned it in his golden years.
 
Def. defending your title for the reasons you stated. People studying your game and having a big target on your back is tough, especially against the always #1 contender.
 
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It just depends on the competition, simple as that. I'd be more impressed with TJ Dillashaw being double champ than Henry defending his belt multiple times.
 
Title defenses, consecutively and as many challengers you can defeat. Cleaning out a division entirely. That for me defines who was the greatest at that weight class for that time period.
 
I'd say the one with the fewest successes would be the hardest.

Plenty of guys with multiple title defenses, matt hughes, chuck liddell, Anderson Silva, mighty mouse etc.

How many guys have won titles in two divisions?

4

Not just about winning but also being successful in a different weight class
 
Defenses, especially since it seems you can whine your way to a title shot
 
multiple defenses for sure.

but its most impressive when one fighter defends the belt multiple times in a division and then jumps up and grabs the belt above.
 
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Depends entirely on the quality of opposition.

But just on the surface, defending it multiple times is obviously harder since that requires winning several fights as opposed to only one.
 
It depends.

In the case of someone like Conor, aside from Frankie I think he could have safely defended at FW as long as he could make the weight. At the same time he didn’t have to fight his way to the LW shot. If he’d had to beat other top LWs in order to challenge for the LW belt then I’d have said that was definitely harder.

I think they’re both difficult to do. Probably we should ask Cormier since he has defended the LHW belt, and beaten the HW champ after beating some other good HWs in the past.
 
It’s easy to win a belt

Much harder to defend it
Lol? Why? There's nothing inherently harder about beating the number one contender than there is about beating the champ.

The one that's easier to do is the one that requires more wins over more top guys. So in McGregor's case it was easier for him to get two belts than to defend his belt multiple times. But to have defended at FW once to please his critics would not have been harder than winning the LW strap.
 
Both are pretty fucking hard and impressive.

You could become double champ with just two favourable matchups though. Multiple defenses without running into a bad stylistic matchups is much more unlikely
 
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