5 best UFC legends who could've become double champions
Recently, Alex Pereira became the latest fighter to become a UFC double champion, as he claimed the light heavyweight title by knocking out Jiri Prochazka.
Over the years, we’ve seen a number of double champions in the UFC, but could some other legends have also achieved this?
The answer is definitely yes, with varying circumstances meaning that some of them simply never had the chance.
Here are the five best UFC legends who could’ve become double champions.
#5. Kevin Randleman – former UFC heavyweight champion
While he was inducted into the UFC’s Hall of Fame in 2020, the late Kevin Randleman feels like a footnote in the promotion’s history at this point.
However, would ‘The Monster’ be better remembered had he become the first UFC fighter to become a double champion? The answer is obviously yes. Could he really have pulled it off, though? Again, the answer is yes.
Randleman’s reign as heavyweight champion only lasted for a brief period. He won the vacant title by beating Pete Williams in late 1999, then defended it against Pedro Rizzo before losing it to Randy Couture a year later.
Despite this, ‘The Monster’ was actually better suited to fight at 205 pounds, where he competed for most of his career in PRIDE. In fact, he did drop to light heavyweight in the octagon in 2001 but suffered a knockout loss to Chuck Liddell before departing for Japan.
Had he been given an instant shot at then-light heavyweight champ Tito Ortiz, though, there’s every chance that Randleman could’ve pulled off the victory.
After all, while neither man was a great striker, ‘The Monster’ was a far more credentialed wrestler than Ortiz, and was probably the superior athlete too.
Therefore, had the promotion made that fight in early 2001, Randleman could’ve become the first-ever double champ, and probably would’ve become the new poster-boy too.
#4. Vitor Belfort – former UFC light heavyweight champion
It’s arguable that Vitor Belfort’s light heavyweight title win in 2004 ranks amongst the worst in UFC history, as it came largely via a technicality.
Seconds into his bout with Randy Couture, Belfort’s glove caught the eye of the champion, essentially ripping his eyelid off and forcing the fight to be stopped.
However, ‘The Phenom’ is still remembered as a former champion, and under different circumstances, he could well have become a double champion too.
Almost a decade after his 205-pound title win, Belfort dropped to 185 pounds and began to cut a path of destruction through the middleweight division.
Knockout wins over Michael Bisping, Luke Rockhold, and Dan Henderson positioned him as the top contender to Chris Weidman’s title. Given the form of ‘The Phenom’, there seemed every chance that he’d claim the crown.
Unfortunately, Belfort’s red-hot streak was also being fuelled by testosterone replacement therapy. When the treatment was banned in 2014, all of his momentum came crashing to a halt.
The Brazilian didn’t look the same when he finally faced Weidman in 2015, suffering a first round TKO loss. Had he taken on ‘The All-American’ complete with TRT, though, there’s every chance he’d have become a double champion, cementing his legend.
#3. Jose Aldo – former UFC featherweight champion
Despite the accomplishments of the likes of Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, Jose Aldo is widely recognized as the greatest featherweight in MMA history. But could the Brazilian have become a double champion at any stage in his career?
Aldo famously failed in his quest to do just that when he moved to the 135-pound division back in 2020. He faced Petr Yan for the vacant bantamweight title that summer, but suffered a fifth-round TKO loss.
However, the Aldo of 2020 was arguably past his prime, whereas the Aldo of a few years earlier seemed capable of achieving anything.
It’s unlikely that prime Aldo would’ve dropped to bantamweight, but could he have moved up to 155 pounds at any stage? Had he done so in 2013, for instance, he’d have come up against either Benson Henderson or Anthony Pettis.
Could Aldo have beaten either of those two? At his peak, the answer is probably yes, as he’d largely outclassed everyone he’d fought, including a former lightweight champ in Frankie Edgar.
Aldo obviously chose to stick around at 145 pounds and is about as legendary a champion as it gets for his efforts there, but had he chosen a different path, he could almost definitely have become a two-division UFC champion.
#2. Frank Shamrock – former UFC light heavyweight champion
While his feud with Dana White means he’ll likely remain persona non grata with the UFC for the foreseeable future, Frank Shamrock remains one of the most legendary champions in octagon history.
Shamrock claimed the 205-pound title in his very first appearance in the promotion by submitting Kevin Jackson. He reeled off four successful defenses before vacating his title and heading into retirement in 1999.
It’s easy to forget, though, that Shamrock was simply never a true 205lber. At the time in which he fought in the octagon, in fact, the UFC only had three divisions – heavyweight, light heavyweight (known then as middleweight) and welterweight (known then as lightweight).
Naturally, Shamrock was better suited to 185 pounds, and given how he was able to dominate larger fighters than himself like Tito Ortiz, it’s hardly a stretch to suggest he’d have won a 185-pound title with ease had it existed.
In fact, when you consider the relative weakness of the first-ever middleweight champ, Dave Menne, there’s absolutely no doubt that Shamrock could’ve become a double champion. Had he done that, his absence from the Hall of Fame would be even more jarring.
#1. Anderson Silva – former UFC middleweight champion
The best UFC legend to not become a double champion is almost certainly former middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva.
The simple truth is that, at his prime, ‘The Spider’ was so good that he could easily have moved up to 205 pounds at any time and effortlessly claimed the light heavyweight title.
In fact, Silva did have a handful of cameos at 205 pounds, switching the lights off on journeyman James Irvin in 2008 and completely embarrassing Forrest Griffin a year later.
Given that Griffin was a former light heavyweight champion in his own right and was renowned for his toughness, to see Silva dispatch him with such ease was truly scary.
So why didn’t ‘The Spider’ ever pursue the chance to become a double champion? Put simply, it was a matter of bad timing.
Silva’s best chance of achieving light heavyweight gold would’ve been in 2009, but at that point, his friend and sometime training partner Lyoto Machida had claimed the 205-pound title.
The two Brazilians vowed never to fight, and by the time Machida lost the title, Silva had too many contenders to deal with at 185 pounds to really justify making the move up in weight.
If you look at any time from 2007 through to 2011, though, there’s no doubt that Silva was probably superior to the light heavyweight champ, whether that was Griffin, Machida, Rashad Evans or Shogun Rua. That makes him the best UFC legend to not become a double champion.