After years of refusing to even consider allowing it, the UFC has gone champion vs. champion crazy. Conor McGregor was first to achieve champ champ status, followed by Daniel Cormier in July and now Amanda Nunes in December. Their 2019 kicks off with yet another scrap between two belt holders: bantamweight champ TJ Dillashaw will fight newly crowned flyweight champ Henry Cejudo on January 19th.
But why stop at double champ? Dillashaw and his coach Duane “Bang” Ludwig are already thinking TRIPLE CHAMP.
TJ let his interest in fighting featherweight champ Max Holloway be known in an Instagram livestream.
“Everyone wants me to go to featherweight and fight Max,” Dillashaw said. “I would love to. But look, one step at a time. Let’s run through Cejudo first then Max can be next. [I can] be the first one to ever go for three belts.”
MMA Junkie reached out to “Bang” Ludwig for his thoughts on the possibility.
”I think that would be more of a challenge to go up in weight than it has been to go down in weight,” Ludwig told MMA Junkie. “TJ is not a big bantamweight anyway. Going up in weight, that’s when we’ll see more change. I assume he would become possibly a little slower, but have more power. But we’ll see what ends up happening if that’s the journey for us. Right now we’re focused on the task at hand.”
That task involves getting the 135 pound Dillashaw down to 125 pounds, a process that has some fans worried as we watch TJ waste away. Meanwhile, his opponent Cejudo only seems to be packing on more muscle, making us wonder whether “Bang” recognizes just how much of a challenge this flyweight challenge will be. Whatever happens, Dillashaw is one game mofo. Garbrandt twice, Cejudo, then Holloway? That’s be a run for the ages.