Who was the best Champ Champ?

[Mohawk Banditó]

To me, the major distinction in this specific conversation that we are analyzing here is the fact they are champ champs and not just champs. Maybe it's unfair, but I don't really care about measuring how good they did in their "real" division, because that's just them being a champ. We have a number of champs throughout history, but we're not talking about them. We only have a few champ champs.

So how did they do with that SECOND division:
Conor - beat Eddie, stripped for not defending. Pretty fucking bottom barrel
Hendo - beat Wanderlei, immediately dropped it to Rampage. Much better as far as single wins go
Cejudo - Won vacant belt against Moraes, defended against Cruz, then "retired." Bout the weakest you could get with a defense in there, since he didn't beat the champ and Cruz had do many cadaver replacements by this time, I think he's technically undead.
Nunes - Beat Cyborg, defended against Spencer and Anderson, then retired. Great win, really meh defenses.
Cormier - Beat Stipe, defended against Lewis, lost it back to Stipe. A legitimate win and legitimate defense.

But even if we did account the original champness of each of them, the order is pretty much the same, with maybe only Conor bumping up a spot and/or swapping DC and Nunes depending on your argument of strength of division or how 'paper' the belt was

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

DC ducked the Stipe rematch and took the BB squash match just so he could say that he defended. He’ll never get my vote.

Squash match is funny considering Beast was the rightful number 1 contender.

 

[Mammothman]

Ryan Bader

 

[Krixes]

DC or Nunes...

 

[HHJ]

 

[HHJ]

Ryan Bader

Don't count. UFC and pride only

 

[Bluntforce420]

Name one UFC fighter before Conor who publicly stated they wanted to be SIMULTANIOUS 2 weight champ but got 'was not allowed' by dana..

list please.

BJ Penn was ALLOWED to do it when he was lightweight champ. Penn had a rematch with Georges St-Pierre in which he attempted to be the first one in history to be simultaneous 2 weight champ.



Conor was a groundbreaker for this achievement, regardless of his current spiraling downfall.



Also, Conor coined the term 'Champ Champ'

Aldo wanted to fight Pettis for the LW belt but Dana said he would have to vacate the FW belt. Something he didnt make Conor do

 

[Bluntforce420]

BB won 3 straight and 9 out of 10 including a win over Francis. No matter how bad that fight with Francis was, Lewis earned that title shot

DC ducked the Stipe rematch and took the BB squash match just so he could say that he defended. He’ll never get my vote.

 

[Doughie99]

This is regarding fighters who held two world titles simultaneously.

Conor Mcgregor (UFC FW + LW)

Beat Jose Aldo for FW belt on 12 December 2015

Beat Eddie Alvarez for LW belt on 12 November 2016

Never fought at FW again. On 26 November 2016 he was stripped of the FW belt

on 7 April 2018 he was stripped of the LW title, having never defended it either. Khabib was crowned the new champion after the Iaquinta fight.

Dan Henderson (PRIDE LHW + MW)

On December 31, 2005 he defeated Murilo Bustamante for Inaugral Pride 185 lbs belt

He did lose to Kazuo Misaki while champion but it was a non title fight because it was in a tourney.

This title was never defended while in Pride.

On February 24, 2007 he defeated long reigning LHW champ Wanderlei Silva. This title was never defended in PRIDE,as it folded later that year

Dan Henderson defended both titles in unfication bouts in the UFC.

Dropped the LHW strap to Quinton Jackson on September 8, 2007

Dropped the MW strap to Anderson Silva on March 1, 2008
(Hell of a strength of schedule)

Amanda Nunes (UFC womens BW + FW)

July 9, 2016 She beats Miesha Tate for the womens BW title.

Defended this belt three times (Rousey,Shevchenko,Pennington) before moving up.

December 29, 2018 Beats Cyborg for FW belt.

Moves back down to defend BW belt twice against Holm and GDR.

Moves back up to defend FW belt against Spencer and Megan Anderson.

Moves back down and loses BW belt to Julianne Pena on Dec 11 2021

Regains the belt in July of '22

Defends BW title against Aldana and retires with both belts in 2023.

Daniel Cormier (UFC HW + LHW)

on May 23, 2015 defeats Anthony Johnson for vacant LHW strap. Defends it against Gustaffson,Anderson Silva, and Rumble again.



July 29, 2017 after what was initially a KO loss to Jon Jones the Result was overturned and Cormier was still the champion

Cormier defended against Volkan Oezdemir next.

On July 7, 2018 Cormier moves up to HW and defeats Stipe Miocic.

Defends this belt against Derrick Lewis.

On December 29, 2018 LHW Title is declared vacant

On August 17, 2019 Cormier loses HW title back to Miocic.

Henry Cejudo (UFC FLW + BW)

August 4, 2018 Cejudo beats Demetrious Johnson for FLW belt

January 19, 2019 Cejudo defends against TJ Dillashaw who was BW champion at this time.

Moves up to beat Marlon Moraes to beat him for vacant BW belt after Dillashaw is stripped for testing positive for EPO.

Defends BW belt against Dominick Cruz and retires after the fight.

Gonna say Cormier.

McG never defended any belt ever and had very carefully picked opponents. Given relatively easy path. Never beat ANY 155lb"'er in UFC except one. That ain't no champ legacy. He has lost ALL his 155lb fights except that single one. So much for him.

Nunes was excellent but almost no credible opposition at 145lbs for her to fight so a very weak division.

Cormier is basically 5'9" tall. If he is honest he ain't even 5'10".

For a 5'9" man to become not only LHW Champ but also Heavyweight champ is I think a stunning testament to Cormier's abilities. And he took on everyone. Bigfoot silva, other monsters, he just said yes to all. (I do think he is happy he didn't have to face Ngannou though.)

So... For me it's Cormier easily.

(Cejudo was good but I just find him irritating lol and I cannot take him seriously.)

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Gotta be Hendo for the murderers row he went through.

 

[CashMoney1991]

In terms of performances for both belts, it's Conor, beating Aldo in 13 seconds and crushing Eddie were impressive, but he let the 145 belt collect Dust (main reason, I boycotted UFC until 2020), DC would ultimately get my vote since he defended both belts, the blemish really is that Jones was such a fuckup, DC wouldn't have gotten the 205 belt had it not been for that , but beating Gus, Rumble twice and Stipe were impressive

 

[CashMoney1991]

Gonna say Cormier.

McG never defended any belt ever and had very carefully picked opponents. Given relatively easy path. Never beat ANY 155lb"'er in UFC except one. That ain't no champ legacy. He has lost ALL his 155lb fights except that single one. So much for him.

Nunes was excellent but almost no credible opposition at 145lbs for her to fight so a very weak division.

Cormier is basically 5'9" tall. If he is honest he ain't even 5'10".

For a 5'9" man to become not only LHW Champ but also Heavyweight champ is I think a stunning testament to Cormier's abilities. And he took on everyone. Bigfoot silva, other monsters, he just said yes to all. (I do think he is happy he didn't have to face Ngannou though.)

So... For me it's Cormier easily.

(Cejudo was good but I just find him irritating lol and I cannot take him seriously.)

that's the thing, DC has very impressive MMA abilities, that slam he had on Josh was insane, shit he even slammed Jones in their first fight (impressive that Jones got right back up like nothing happened)

 

[Strijfy]

Name one UFC fighter before Conor who publicly stated they wanted to be SIMULTANIOUS 2 weight champ but got 'was not allowed' by dana..

list please.

BJ Penn was ALLOWED to do it when he was lightweight champ. Penn had a rematch with Georges St-Pierre in which he attempted to be the first one in history to be simultaneous 2 weight champ.



Conor was a groundbreaker for this achievement, regardless of his current spiraling downfall.



Also, Conor coined the term 'Champ Champ'

Aldo...
Who gives a flying shit who coined the phrase...

 

[bambammccoy]

Conor and Cejudo were the most fun for sure.

The dramatic momentum shift of the Moraes fight, the huge upset over MM, the heros victory over TJ being a brutal KO also helped, hunting down and KOing Cruz, was all awesome stuff.

Conors build up to and the dramatic momentum shift of the Mendes fight, the gigantic build up to Aldo fight, the KO itself, the hype around the first UFC in NYC then a goat performance over Alvarez, throw in the Diaz fights that were fun as hell.

Either one is it for me for pure entertainment

 

[tymikeson]

Aldo...
Who gives a flying shit who coined the phrase...

From what I remember regarding Aldo/pettis at 155, Aldo was planning to permanently move to 155 if he got a shot at Pettis, thus the reason Dana said the belt would be vacant . Alas this fight never came to be for whatever reason

Regardless..its a mute example as your whole point to me initially was that conor was the first allowed to the opportunity to be champ champ..which was completely wrong....as penn was allowed the opportunity years before Conor was ....

 

[Brendan The Hybrid Schaub]

defending the womens bw and fw belt is like defending 2 Alaska FC belts

 

[GroundNPouter]

Anderson really should have moved up to LHW and claimed it while he had a chance. He made Forrest look like a PFL fighter.

 

[Laheys'Liquorland]

DC all day.
Let's be real if Jones didn't exist then DC would be mentioned UFC Goat.

 

[CombatCyborg]

Penn, Couture, and Pereira

 

[Strijfy]

Conor by far.

He was the one bold enough to be the first to try it in UFC. nobody would have attempted it if he didn't do it first.

Regardless..its a mute example as your whole point to me initially was that conor was the first allowed to the opportunity to be champ champ..which was completely wrong....as penn was allowed the opportunity years before Conor was ....

so which is it champ? changing your story now?

Here also is a quote from Jose' himself during an interview that he did.

'José Aldo: What I want, what I always wanted to do, and everyone who is with me in a daily basis in the gym knows...let me tell you a quick story. When I wanted to fight with Anthony Pettis way back then in the lightweight division, Pettis' manager came to us, everything worked out, we went to Dana and he said: "No, if you want to take this fight you need to leave the featherweight division, give up your belt, and then you can fight Pettis in the lightweight division, and after that if you lose or win, you can make a fight to get your featherweight belt back." I didn't think it was fair back then and I don't think it is, I said "Okay, I will stay in my division because I know I am the champion, I am trying to do something good for you, the promotion, for everyone, and you want me to give up something mine..." and now something totally different is happening.'

More facts , less load gargling