“If you want to go up a division, you have to leave your title vacant” – These words by Diego Lopes created quite some chaos in the fighting realm. Every single champ aspires to become a double champion. But when Ilia Topuria moved to the lightweight division, he had to give up his featherweight title. So does that mean there would be no more double champions in the UFC? Well, not exactly. Dana White had confirmed that if a champion had already proven his stance in his own division and was confident enough that he could defend two belts simultaneously, he had no problems in letting them go for it. 

With hopes of watching the new UFC double champions, the fighting community started wondering who has the potential to become a double champ this year. Here are the three prospects who have the highest probability of attaining the champ-champ status in 2025.

1. Islam Makhachev

Well, the lightweight champion simply doesn’t want to leave the sport without a second belt on showcase. Following his impressive win against Renato Moicano at UFC 311, Makhachev told Joe Rogan in the post-fight interview all about his current goal. He said, “I’m not leave this sport without a second belt. I need the second belt, after I will talk like I’m the greatest or something. But right now, my goal is to be double champ.” 

The Dagestani has already competed against some of the elite lightweights and defended his championship title four times. And 4 out of his 5 title fights ended up in finishes. His last victory over Moicano with a first-round submission win cemented his legacy in the lightweight division. Now, it’s high time for him to move up in the weight class and fight for the welterweight belt. 

With superb wrestling and better-than-average striking, Makhachev has been making waves in the MMA realm. Well, his striking is what arguably makes him better than Khabib Nurmagomedov.  But it’s the champ-champ status that he needs to completely surpass his coach and friend. Makhachev continued, “I’m gonna [keep] fighting, [keep] winning, defend my belt. How many times the UFC want me to defend my belt, I will defend. And even when they give me chance, I want to be [defending] double champ.” 

His words about ‘defending’ both belts are significant. His head coach Javier Mendez also agrees that for Makhachev to have a meaningful welterweight reign, their friend Belal Muhammad had to vacate the title and move up.

On top of that, he even called out Dricus Du Plessis and claimed that becoming a triple champion was also possible according to him. All he needed was a chance from Dana White. This brings us to our next ‘champ champ’ contender. Where does DDP stand in the double-champion picture?

2. Dricus Du Plessis

We can say without a second thought that Du Plessis has established himself as one of the greatest middleweights of the current time, only behind Israel Adesanya. On an 11-fight win streak, DDP has already defeated the former champions Israel Adesanya, Sean Strickland, and Robert Whittaker. But during his last fight against Strickland at UFC 312, ‘Stillknocks’ sent a challenge for Alex Pereira. Later on, when ‘Poatan’ understood the challenge, he put one condition – the fight should happen in the light heavyweight division – and Du Plessis agreed. 

During an interview with Cameron Saaiman in 2024, DDP said, “Everybody wants to be a double champ, I understand that. I want to be a double champ and I’m going to be a double champ… I just believe it’s fair to say defend your belt three times because that’s very convincing in taking care of your division then go up to Light Heavyweight. I’m willing to make that happen.”

With a strong sense of grappling and unpredictable striking, Du Plessis can actually manage to go up in the weight class and become a double champion. But would it happen in 2025? We got to wait and watch. After all, his opponent might be Alex Pereira if he retains the championship belt, or Magomed Ankalaev, if he manages to defeat ‘Poatan’.

3. Alex Pereira

The man with the hands of stone has already become a two-division champion. After reigning the middleweight division for about 4 months, he moved to the LHW realm and defeated Jiri Prochazka to become the champion. Now, he has 3 successful title defenses in the light heavyweight division. And if he manages to win against Ankalaev at UFC 313, the count would go up to 4. This might deem him worthy of moving up in the weights and entering the heavyweight arena. 

Well, Jon Jones has already targeted Pereira, even before he defended his heavyweight belt against Stipe Miocic. However, the Brazilian didn’t agree to it completely, even though he showed some interest in fighting Jones on the internet. Nevertheless, he does have the potential to become a double champion, don’t you agree?

Dana White does not seem to be a fan of the idea. Why? He thinks Jones is far superior as a grappler and would just maul ‘Poatan.’ The upcoming UFC 313 main event against Ankalaev will be Pereira’s opportunity to change White’s mind. At least on paper, the Russian poses the most threat to Pereira as the most grapple-heavy fighter he has faced. If he wins this fight there is a high chance that Pereira’s next challenger would be from different weight class. The only question is if it would be Jones or Du Plessis.

Is there any other fighter who has the potential to become a double champion in 2025? Who do you wish to see shouldering two belts simultaneously this year? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.