daniel cormier has the light heavyweight belt in ufc.
daniel cormier has the light heavyweight belt in ufc.
who has the light heavyweight belt in ufc?
daniel cormier
on october 9, the ufc officially announced that cormier would be making the first defense of his heavyweight championship against derrick lewis at ufc 230. cormier successfully defended the heavyweight belt against lewis via rear-naked choke in the second round, becoming the first man to submit lewis in mma. this makes cormier the first ufc fighter to win and defend both the light heavyweight and heavyweight belts, and the first ufc fighter to be a double champion who successfully defended both belts. a day before ufc 232, cormier relinquished the light heavyweight title - with his focus solely on defending the heavyweight title - stating: "i'd rather walk away this way, than have the history books say i was stripped".
daniel cormier
although fitzsimmons became a world champion in each of the middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions, historians do "not" consider him the first world light heavyweight champion to become world heavyweight champion, because he won the heavyweight title before winning the light heavyweight belt. michael spinks counts as the first light heavyweight world champion to win the heavyweight belt as well. however, fitzsimmons was the first middleweight champion to win the heavyweight title and the only heavyweight champion to drop down and win the light heavyweight title. fitzsimmons and later henry armstrong were the only men to win undisputed world championships in three different weight classes.
bob fitzsimmons