UFC 322 at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Saturday features two former champions who’ve turned in their titles to chase new ones. It’s the third such scenario this year, ushering in what feels like the post-double champion era. To understand how the UFC got here, Jeff Wagenheim looks back at the first double champion, and Dre Waters gives a statistical breakdown of two UFC 322 title fights and the trends to keep in mind heading into the weekend.
Conor McGregor had just made history, winning a UFC championship with a spectacular second-round knockout on the most hallowed of combat sports stages. But as he stood under the bright lights at Madison Square Garden on a November night exactly nine years ago, waiting for the “And new …!” announcement, McGregor did not look joyful or even satisfied. His angry eyes were darting in every direction, frantically searching for something.
“Where the f— is my second belt? I’ve already got this one,” McGregor yelled as his hand was being raised and a shiny title belt was wrapped around his waist. In that crowning moment, McGregor was utilizing his vaunted timing and precision to home in on what elevated this UFC 205 victory to the sports achievement stratosphere. He had walked into the fight as the featherweight champion, and after quickly and violently dethroning Eddie Alvarez, the Irishman left the cage reigning at lightweight as well. Never before had anyone ruled in two UFC weight classes simultaneously.
“They should have had those two belts ready, spit-shined for me, both in the Octagon,” McGregor continued, giving off the vibe of one who has a knack for creating iconic visuals. Sure enough, moments later, a UFC official came running into the Octagon with another brass-and-leather title belt as the crowd chanted “Where’s the belt?” And there was McGregor looking up and smiling at the groundbreaking image he saw on the arena’s video board of himself with one championship strap slung over his left shoulder, one over his right.
“This is what I dreamed into reality,” he said. “That looks good.”
Within three years, three more champ-champs would also live the dream. But after Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes and Henry Cejudo, that was it. Since 2019, no one else has walked the walk-walk. And that does not appear likely to change anytime soon.
On Saturday, in the pair of championship fights that headline UFC 322 at that same Garden in New York (ESPN PPV, 10 p.m. ET), the two challengers will be just a faded footprint away from the champ-champ path. Islam Makhachev, who challenges welterweight titlist Jack Della Maddalena in the main event, vacated his lightweight title after he defended it for the fourth time earlier this year. Same scenario for co-main eventer Zhang Weili, who relinquished her thrice-defended strawweight championship to fight Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight belt.
In all, 2025 has seen three champions give up their titles without a fight, all chasing future gold without hanging on to past and present hardware. Are champ-champs now a relic of a time gone by?
The UFC does not have a public policy that mandates champions vacate their titles before moving weight classes. In February, UFC CEO Dana White did heap praise on Ilia Topuria for becoming the year’s first champion to hand back a title, when the unbeaten featherweight announced a move to lightweight, where he now reigns. However, White stressed that vacating was Topuria’s decision, not the UFC’s. “[Topuria] said, ‘I shouldn’t be holding up anybody’s opportunities,'” White told reporters. “I respect when guys do that.”
Even when a champion opts to surrender a belt and move up in weight to chase a new title, it can be disruptive to the old division. In the lead-up to UFC 322 White offered his perspective on Makhachev and Zhang’s moves in a statement to ESPN, saying, “It depends on the fighter and how much of the division they have cleaned out. I like to see guys be looked at as absolutely dominant in a division before they move.”
However, White has not closed the door on the champ-champ concept, saying in February that he’s OK with champions holding two titles, “but you’re going to be busy.”
That was not the case with the four fighters who have reigned in two divisions simultaneously. Title defenses were scarce during the time of champ-champs. Only Nunes, while queen at both bantamweight and featherweight, defended both of her belts. Cormier defended at heavyweight but not light heavy, and Cejudo put the bantamweight title up for grabs while his flyweight belt collected dust. McGregor never defended in either division he ruled. That put UFC matchmakers in a tough spot.
It comes down to a math problem. The UFC normally puts on 14 pay-per-view events a year, and typically at least one title fight headlines each of them. Saturday’s UFC 322 will be one of eight cards in 2025 with two title bouts. By year’s end, the UFC schedule will have included 20 championship fights. Imagine if the promotion’s 11 weight classes were topped by just 10 champs or even nine; it would be difficult to fill all those headline slots.
This weekend, Makhachev (27-1) and Zhang (26-3) both will be fighting for the second time in 2025. Each fought once last year. The demands of two simultaneous title reigns would seem to necessitate more activity than that.
For those who enjoy the pomp and circumstance of the fight game, the apparent end of the champ-champ era could feel like a loss. If Makhachev and Zhang had not vacated, for example, the UFC 322 marquee would shimmer with a pair of champion vs.champion bouts, which are typically designated as “superfights.” Instead, we just get a pair of super fights with the exact same participants.
And what participants they are! How often do we witness clashes between the pound-for-pound elite? Zhang and Shevchenko (25-4-1) are Nos. 1 and 2 in the ESPN women’s rankings, respectively. Makhachev is No. 2 among men, Della Maddalena No. 8. A Makhachev win would be his 16th in a row, tying him with Anderson Silva for the UFC win streak record. Della Maddalena (18-2) has won 18 straight (though the first 10 came before his UFC run).
Although Makhachev and Zhang are not champ-champs, just ex-champ challengers, both are must-see and have reached “get it while you still can” territory. He is 34 years old and she is 36. Shevchenko, for that matter, is 37 and running low on time to add to her total of 10 title fight wins, the most ever by a woman in the UFC. Della Maddalena, the baby of this group at just 29, has much more road ahead and would supercharge his championship run if he could fend off Makhachev in his first defense. And for Saturday night’s main event and co-main, the UFC need not go searching the storage room for any second belts.
What the stats say:
Della Maddalena vs. Mahkachev | Shevchenko vs. Zhang
Rest of UFC 322 card
Della Maddalena may have already gotten a taste of how his upcoming fight with Makhachev could play out. To win the welterweight championship, Della Maddalena beat Belal Muhammad, a dominant grappler, who coincidentally has trained with Makhachev and his mentor, former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Della Maddalena, one of the best boxers on the UFC roster, proved against Muhammad that his cardio and volume striking could hold up for a full five-round, 25-minute fight. Despite constantly fending off Muhammad’s attempts to turn the contest into a grappling and wrestling showcase, the Australian’s striking output never dwindled — it actually increased as the rounds went on. Della Maddalena threw 61, 63, 77, 77 and 86 strikes, respectively. The welterweight champion is the most active striker and dangerous fighter Makhachev will have faced to date, landing nearly seven strikes (6.78) per minute while averaging just over one knockdown (1.13) per 15 minutes in eight UFC fights.
While Makhachev could use a similar approach to Muhammad’s during grappling exchanges, he has proven to be a more well-rounded fighter than Muhammad, and he is highly efficient as a striker and grappler. Surprisingly, Makhachev is a more accurate striker than Della Maddalena when throwing significant strikes. He is landing 59.5% of his significant strikes, while Della Maddlena lands 56.3%. And on the canvas, Makhachev will hold a large advantage, averaging 4 minutes, 43 seconds of control time per match.
It could be tempting to view this fight as a striker vs. grappler matchup, but the numbers suggest this fight could be closely contested for as long as it remains standing.
On paper, this is as balanced a fight as you can find, featuring the two most well-rounded fighters from the women’s flyweight and strawweight divisions. Although Shevchenko and Zhang have diverse skillsets, how they deploy those skills could be the difference in the contest.
When fighting on the feet, Shechenko often leans on her volume striking, having landed a division-leading 1,963 total strikes in 18 UFC fights. Knockdowns have been rare for the women’s flyweight champ, but her two career drops are actually tied for the second-most in divisional history. Perhaps her best ability is blending best-in-class striking with high-level grappling, which has allowed Shevchenko to lead the weight class in three grappling statistics: takedowns landed (49), total control time (1 hour, 27 minutes, 25 seconds) and top position time (1 hour, 15 minutes, 53 seconds).
On the other hand, Zhang is a highly touted striker, often relying on her power shots. Over 57% of the former strawweight champion’s 1,552 total strikes landed were significant strikes. Only 42% of Shevchenko’s total strikes landed were deemed significant. The biggest difference in this matchup will likely be Shevchenko’s three-inch reach advantage, which could allow champ to strike while remaining out of reach of Zhang’s big power shots.
Zhang doesn’t enter this matchup leading in any strawweight grappling categories, but she has been a more dominant grappler than Shevchenko recently. In her last five title fights, Zhang has averaged nearly nine minutes of control time — including racking up 16 minutes, 7 seconds against Amanda Lemos at UFC 292 in August 2023. Shevchenko has averaged 7 minutes,14 seconds of control time over her past five title fights.
8 prospects: This fight card is littered with past and present top MMA prospects. Erin Blanchfield, who topped ESPN’s top 25 fighters under age 25 list in 2023, takes on Tracy Cortez. Michael Morales was ranked just two spots behind Blanchfield on that same list. He squares off with ESPN’s No. 4-ranked welterweight Sean Brady on the main card. Fatima Kline, ranked No. 19 on last year’s 25 under 25 list, will face the most experienced fighter on the UFC women’s roster, Angela Hill. There’s also “Dana White’s Contender Series” standouts Bo Nickal (2022), Carlos Prates (2023), Malcom Wellmaker and Cody Haddon (2024) and Baisangur Susurkaev (2025).
28 wins: Three of those prospects (Morales, Wellmaker and Susurkaev) enter this fight card with quite a bit in common. None has experienced defeat, with a combined record of 28-0. And each has finished his past two opponents. Morales is coming off back-to-back first-round knockouts over Neil Magny and Gilbert Burns, respectively. Wellmaker has beaten each of his past three opponents by first-round knockout. And Susurkaev did the unthinkable earlier this year, earning a UFC contract on “DWCS” with a first-round submission on Aug. 12 then beating Eric Nolan by second-round submission in his UFC debut four days later at UFC 319. Can all three fighters remain unbeaten?
546 days: Of the six women’s fighters on the card, one has not seen a fight go to the judges’ scorecards in 2025. Kline has knocked out both of her opponents inside the Octagon this year. Aside from Kline, the last finish for the other five fighters was 546 days before UFC 322, when Hill beat Luana Pinheiro by second-round submission.
2x submissions: There are multiple skilled jiu-jitsu grapplers on this fight card, a list that includes four fighters who have won more than 50% of their professional fights by submission (Nickal, Rodolfo Vieira, Gerald Meerschaert and Pat Sabatini). But only one of the four is a UFC submission legend. Meerschaert is tied for the third-most submission wins in UFC history (11), and with another on Saturday night, he would be in sole possession of that spot. A 12th submission victory would also give him twice as many as the next closest middleweight fighter, Brendan Allen (6).