Is there a bigger career accomplishment than being double champ?

[Stoic1]

Ive never been a world champ much less multi belt champ.

But I've never had a DUI, failed a drug test, crashed my car into a pregnant lady while drunk, negligently discharged a firearm while intoxicated, had a domestic violence charge, or anything like that.


That is why nobody will remember my name.

 

[Necrocrawler]

Steroids in Japan don’t count

He also beat the same guy for two titles

 

[SuperNerd]

Making money

 

[Subline]

Beating Ilia does more for his career than beating JDM, yeah...it'd be a much bigger fight (how is that even debatable?), thats how prize fighting works.

GSP beating BJ Penn is a much bigger deal than him beating Michael Bisping. Significantly so. Circumstances have more similiarites than differences with Topuria, JDM, and Makhachev

Unless JDM goes on to become an all time great, then it'd just be him beating a transitional champion. No one even thought JDM would ever be champion 6 months ago. There's a thread literally stating as much.

Literally, your only basis for that is saying beating JDM is better than beating Topuria is "well he is a double champ". How do you know people will even care about that 10 years from now? It's already not anywhere near as meaningful as it was 10 years ago.

We already have templates like boxing and kickboxing that show just capturing titles doesn't actually mean that much. Fighting legacies are about who you beat, not what brass you have. Islam beating Shavkat or prime Usman for the title would mean a lot more than beating Belal or JDM.

By 'legacy' I mean the greatness of his accomplishments in terms of sport/competition, not wealth/fame. That is not the premise of this thread.

JDM is on an 18 fight win streak and is 8-0 in the UFC, same as Ilia. There records are very similar, JDM being bigger and proven against an elite wrestler would make it a much more impressive win, it's a tougher fight in general. So you are wrong in saying my basis for this is only double champ status, it's not, but it sure helps.

You could just as easily apply the "transitional champion" argument to Shavkat if Islam beat him, and there's no reason why that win is significantly better (if at all) than JDM anyway? You can just as easily say Islam beating Ilia is him beating a FW who is unproven at LW, and this is far more discrediting than anything you could say against JDM/Belal since at least those 2 have good runs in their division.

BJ Penn was former 170 champ (+ defending LW champ in rematch) so that win holds more value, Bisping was on his way out and has a resume riddled with losses. Very poor comparison.

 

[joy2day]

It's a good accolade but isn't overwhelming. Have there been any champs that successfully defended the title for an extended time after changing weights? I can't think of any. The accolade would depend on how good the champ they beat was also.

 

[Hotora86]

Clearing your division with 0 losses (or having avenged all losses) would be a bigger career accomplishment to me.

For example:
- Conor may have had more fame and money but Khabib impressed me more as a fighter
- BJ Penn may have had more fame and money but GSP impressed me more as a fighter (even before he grabbed a second belt)

It all comes down to what you consider a career accomplishment: money or legit wins.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Typical emotional response from a Dagi hater. Can’t just have a civil discussion lol.

Where was the lie? You’re so eager to glaze Islam that you made a pre-emptive thread before the JDM fight has even been inked.

You know what’s more impressive than beating JDM? Staying at LW and beating Ilia and Arman back to back.

And for you to talk about civil discussion is fucking rich. You’re an asshole. I’ve had many replies from you, and none of them have been positive or conducive to discussion.

 

[evergreenrider]

Undefeated. Long reigning champion. Multitude of highlights. And constant ppv seller. Double champ is meaningless

 

[volcom5]

Strength of schedule and depth of defenses is what matters as GOAT.

 

[fedorthegoat777]

Honestly, I think cleaning out your division and beating 2-3 generations of challengers is more important than being a double champ. But no one idolizes that stat, because then they would have to accept that the MMA GOAT is Demetrious Johnson, which he is.

I'd have liked to see Islam beat Arman, Gaethje, Holloway, and Paddy. That would make him rank higher on the MMA GOAT list than if he beats JDM and defends the welterweight belt a couple times, which I doubt he does. Size matters.

Same with Topuria. I would like to see him stay at 145 and beat Volk a 2nd time, as well as beat Lopes + Evloev. I highly doubt Topuria can dominate lightweight and remain undefeated.

Winning a big boy belt one time means more than Winning the mouse belt 1000 times

 

[El Fernas]

Holding the record for consecutive title defenses seems like it, there has been a few two division champs by now, and looks like the UFC wont allow it anymore, they cut Islam Makhachev´s title run to give him a shot at the WW title, not even a double champion if he wins, so yeah, him holding the division´s consecutive title defenses record is better.

 

[cmw43]

I'd rather see Islam fight Arman and Topuria instead of JDM then retirement.

 

[Alpha_T83]

Winning a big boy belt one time means more than Winning the mouse belt 1000 times

Respectfully disagree but to each his own.

 

[Kwic]

Which would you say has a better legacy:

2 division champ w/ 4 title defenses OR
1 division champ w/ 5 title defenses?

Obviously the first one

I also think that it matters how many times you defended in either division.
That's why Conor isn't regarded as one of the best, even though he is a double champ, since he never defended.

 

[HHJ]

It depends on the circumstances, how impressive it is.

There's a lot more guys who could have done it if they were allowed the opportunity, or did it at the right time against the right opponents.

I still think guys like GSP and Anderson defending their titles as long as they did is better than winning 2 belts and not defending them.

 

[HeffDoesWant]

Double champ is a gimmick and I'm tired of it. The title shot in the 2nd division is never earned so its not really that impressive of an accomplishment.

This.

It's fluff.
Streak, context and opponents are what matters.

 

[Lee Danger]

Double yellow.

 

[moosaev]

It depends on the circumstances, how impressive it is.

There's a lot more guys who could have done it if they were allowed the opportunity, or did it at the right time against the right opponents.

I still think guys like GSP and Anderson defending their titles as long as they did is better than winning 2 belts and not defending them.

I think you’re discounting how difficult it is. Lots of people thought Izzy would wash Jan Blachowicz, instead the opposite happened, Izzy more or less got dominated. At the time it was seen as a cherry pick double champ opportunity but it was anything but. This shit ain’t easy, the champ in the higher weight class is the champ for a reason, regardless of how “vulnerable” he looks.

 

[HHJ]

I think you’re discounting how difficult it is. Lots of people thought Izzy would wash Jan Blachowicz, instead the opposite happened, Izzy more or less got dominated. At the time it was seen as a cherry pick double champ opportunity but it was anything but. This shit ain’t easy, the champ in the higher weight class is the champ for a reason, regardless of how “vulnerable” he looks.

I am not discounting it.

But to say automatically beating one guy > 6-7 title defenses?

Who was the guy he had to beat? Who were the title defenses? It all has to be taken into account.

If you just gave everyone an automatic title shot in a different weight class, you'd have alot more double champs. But only certain guys get that opportunity.

 

[GrantB13]

Multiple defenses. Like 5-10+. Its obvious at this stage that is we keep giving fighters title fights at multiple weights a good number of them can win. It's becoming less impressive the more it happens and 10 defenses is much more rare.