Conor McGregor has been hailed as the only fighter who could win belts at three different weights after making a surprise call-out of UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.
UFC legend Chael Sonnen, a former title challenger at middleweight and light-heavyweight, has argued that nobody else is in the unique position of being able to challenge for a third belt, and branded McGregor a "master" for his callout. He explained to fans in a YouTube video that there was "no way to say no" to his call for a title shot, despite losing his last two efforts.
McGregor has indicated that when he returns to the octagon this year that he will be competing at 170lb, where he holds a 2-1 record, as opposed to cutting down to his favoured lightweight. He has tacked on mass during his recovery from a broken leg, and is said to currently weigh in the region of 190lb.
"Here's what the master did," Sonnen explained. "Here's what the greatest player in the game did - Conor comes out of nowhere and says 'yes, I will be fighting for a belt upon my return; Kamaru's, I'm a 170-pounder now'. Then he lays out his whole case about being the 145lb champ, the 155lb champ, he knocked both guys out and he'll knock this guy out.
"He says he's going to be the triple champ, he's going to finish everybody and that's that. Well, he's kind of stuck us there, because if anybody can do it there's only one person and it's Conor. I don't mean that he's got some kind of supersonic skills, I mean he's the only guy that's already won two belts and has also fought in a third weight class.
"He is literally the only guy, you can put anybody out there you want, let them go and get a victory but they can't do that. He's one of the very few double champions still competing who has touched down at another weight, so it's very interesting."
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The only other double champions in the sport's history are Daniel Cormier, Henry Cejudo and Amanda Nunes, with BJ Penn and Frank Mir also on the list despite winning their belts at different intervals as opposed to simultaneously. Nunes has lost her bantamweight title, while Cormier, Penn, Mir and Cejudo are retired.
The latter has flirted with a return to the octagon, saying that he would only come back if he were paid appropriately and allowed a chance to win a belt in a third weight division; featherweight. But having started at flyweight and moved up to bantamweight, he has been told he'd need a win at 145lb before being given a shot.
McGregor, on the other hand, has wins over formerly ranked welterweights in Nate Diaz and Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone, the latter of whom he stopped within a minute back in 2020.
