If Conor McGregor wins at UFC 205, he’ll be left with a big decision to make.
In the 23-year history of the UFC, no fighter has simultaneously held belts in two separate divisions.
Hall of Famers Randy Couture and BJ Penn are the only two dual champions in the history of the promotion. After losing the heavyweight strap to Josh Barnett the first time around, Couture bounced back to win the interim light-heavyweight belt against Chuck Lidell before unifying it against Tito Ortiz.
Penn won the welterweight title after submitting the great Matt Hughes, but was unable to defend it as he was stripped of the belt because he signed for K-1. After returning to the promotion Penn couldn’t defeat Hughes for the belt on the second time of asking and dropped down to lightweight and eventually became king of that division.
However, at UFC 205, Conor McGregor will be hoping to go one step further than Couture and Penn when he takes on Eddie Alvarez for the 155 lb title while holding the featherweight belt, but Dana White has ensured everyone that he won’t be a dual-champion for very long.
Dana says Conor will give up one of the titles after UFC 205 in New York.
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) September 27, 2016
Speaking to ESPN, Dana White confirmed that McGregor will have to give either the 145 lb or the 155 lb title if he manages to defeat Alvarez.
“So this fight’s coming up and he wants to try to gain both belts. He will give up one of the titles after that fight in New York.”
Interim featherweight champion Jose Aldo is waiting in the wings to find out whether he’ll get promoted to full champion or if he’ll have a unification belt against The Notorious, while there’s a murderers’ row of lightweight contenders eyeing up their very own Red Panty Night. However, Uncle Dana was reluctant to specify which belt McGregor would have to give up just yet.
“That’s a good question. That’s what we’ll figure out. He’s got some stuff going on right now, some personal stuff that he’ll announce when he’s ready. This fight made sense.”
