UFC 322: A look at champions who have earned second division title and those who came up short

Only 10 fighters in UFC history have won championships in two different weight classes. At UFC 322 on Saturday, that exclusive group could expand by two.

In his first fight since vacating the lightweight title, Islam Makhachev will challenge welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena in Saturday's main event. The co-main event is a similar story, with Valentina Shevchenko defending the women's flyweight championship against Zhang Weili, who vacated the strawweight title to move up for the fight.

The list of fighters who have held UFC titles in two weight classes reads as a list of current or future Hall of Fame inductees. Unlike boxing, where weight classes are separated by fewer pounds (i.e. junior middleweight at 154 to middleweight at 160), moving between weight classes in MMA requires a much larger jump. For comparison, Makhachev is moving from 155 pounds to 170 for this fight.

The size disparity between divisions reduces the number of elite fighters who are able to ply their trade at a championship level in multiple weight classes.

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Let's take a look at the history of fighters who have managed the rare accomplishment.

Who has won UFC titles in two weight classes?

Of the 10 fighters who have accomplished the feat, only one has been a woman, Amanda Nunes. Weili will look to become the second when she faces Schevchenko on Saturday as a slight +102 underdog, according to DraftKings.

Only two fighters, Randy Couture and B.J. Penn, won a title in two weight classes prior to the 2010s. Couture's incredible career saw him win titles at heavyweight twice before a pair of reigns at light heavyweight, and then another run as heavyweight champion.

Meanwhile, Penn's story is unique in that he was a highly touted lightweight, who failed twice to capture the title at 155 pounds, losing to Jens Pulver at UFC 35 and battling Caol Uno to a draw at UFC 41. At UFC 46 in 2004, Penn moved up to welterweight and upset dominant champion Matt Hughes. After a few years out of the UFC following a contract dispute, Penn returned and lost a welterweight title eliminator to Georges St-Pierre and a title fight rematch with Hughes that chased Penn back down to lightweight. It wasn't until UFC 80 in 2008 that Penn would finally win gold at 155 pounds, submitting Joe Stevenson for the vacant title.

Penn and Couture are the only two double-champions in UFC history who won their first titles at a higher weight than their second.

St-Pierre had his own interesting path to a second title. St-Pierre was a dominant welterweight, winning the 170-pound title twice and successfully defending it nine times in his second reign before retiring as champion in 2013. He would come back in 2017 and defeat Michael Bisping for the middleweight title, ultimately retiring without defending the championship.

Three of the 10 UFC double-champions (Jon Jones, Alex Pereira and Ilia Topuria) managed their second title win in the past two calendar years.

If both Makhachev and Weili are successful on Saturday, that will mean 42% of double champions in UFC history have won their second title since the start of 2023.

The UFC's approach to champions wanting to challenge for a belt in another division also changed in recent years. In the past, fighters could retain their title while taking a stab at a second belt. This led to Conor McGregor becoming the first man in UFC history to achieve "champ-champ" status, holding both the lightweight and featherweight titles simultaneously after defeating Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight strap in 2016 --  which happened to be the first UFC event held at MSG.

While McGregor held championships at both 145 and 155 pounds, he never defended either title.

Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes and Henry Cejudo also held simultaneous championships across two divisions.

Failed bids to become double-champion

There have been plenty of failed bids for a second title in UFC history, too. Some of those who failed have done so multiple times.

Vitor Belfort won the light heavyweight championship in 2004 when his glove sliced Couture's eye just 49 seconds into a fight that took place less than a month after the disappearance of Belfort's sister, Priscila. However, when Belfort moved down in weight later in his career, he was unable to replicate that success at the title level, suffering first-round knockouts to middleweight champions Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman in 2011 and 2015, respectively.

Frankie Edgar, who became lightweight champion in 2010, would go on to lose a 2013 featherweight title fight to Jose Aldo before failing to capture the 145-pound title a second time when he lost to Max Holloway in 2019.

Here are some other notable failed attempts to become double-champion:

• July 2014 -- Former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida lost to middleweight champion Chris Weidman
• December 2017 -- Former women's bantamweight champion Holly Holm lost to women's featherweight champion Cris Cyborg
• December 2018 -- Former women's strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk lost to Valentina Shevchenko for the vacant women's flyweight championship
• January 2019 -- Bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw lost to flyweight champion Henry Cejudo (Dillashaw failed drug test)
• December 2019 -- Former women's featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie lost to women's bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes
• July 2020 -- Former featherweight champion Jose Aldo lost to Petr Yan for the vacant bantamweight championship
• September 2020 -- Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya lost to light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz
• April 2021 -- Former women's strawweight champion Jessica Andrade lost to flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko
• February 2023 -- Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski lost to lightweight champion Islam Makhachev
• October 2023 -- Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski lost to lightweight champion Islam Makhachev

Makhachev turned away two attempts by Volkanovski to become a double champion and now looks to bust through the gate he himself previously kept on Saturday, while Weili looks to do what Andrade and Jedrzejczyk could not against Schevchanko.

History will be made one way or another on Saturday in Madison Square Garden.