The UFC Has Finally Released Images of it’s New ‘Legacy Championship’ Belt… This Isn’t the First Time the Promotion Has Refreshed Their Title… But the Popular Opinion Online Appears to be Emphatically Negative…
The new belt is finally out and it seems like UFC fans are already having withdrawal symptoms. The organization has had a number of different titles at various stages since 1993. Now there’s a new version to represent the UFC’s transition to ESPN. The Legacy Championship.
The first ever title will go to the winner of the flyweight championship on Saturday night when TJ Dillashaw takes on
The @ufc's championship belt got an upgrade for the #10YearChallenge 👀 pic.twitter.com/ksYnrRhDej
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) January 18, 2019
Not Impressed
As you can see from the selected tweets below, a lot of fans aren’t impressed by the aesthetic of the new belt. Many believe the old one is much classier, and that the current Bellator titles look the part. There were several cruel comments about old plastic replicas of WWF belts. See some of the criticisms below:
@ericp29: “whoever designed this should be fired.”
@danMcFarlane9: “It looks like a cheap plastic replica of an indie wrestling belt…”
@summerofbish: “This CANNOT be real. Hahaha look at the cheap detail in the flags…”
@LeeCharleton: “The meaning behind the design in areas is cool and little things about it but it looks awful. Looks cheap. Like the old WCW belt and the current UFC belts, you can’t beat them.”
@TalkoftheCard: “John Cenas spinner belt is genuinely prettier.”
@BS790: “I think the issue with it, is it tries to be an octagon, and it’s not an octagon.”
Check out the new editions to the UFC Legacy Belt 👀 pic.twitter.com/2pSDoMpaiv
— UFC (@ufc) January 18, 2019
Fighter Reaction
One man who seems impressed though is Conor McGregor. He retweeted the UFC’s breakdown of the new belt with a very simple caption: “Ok I’m back.” The Notorious famously became the first fighter to hold two UFC titles at the first time and clearly would like to bring home some more silverware. Henry Cejudo and TJ Dillashaw will have the first shot at the new title though. Dana White explained to Get Up:
“As we go into this next generation with ESPN, it was time for us to change up the belt. These guys are fighting for the first brand-new championship belt.”
This one's for Legacy.
The NEW UFC Legacy Championship Belt will debut Saturday night! #UFCBrooklyn pic.twitter.com/cZwuwkT3qz
— UFC (@ufc) January 18, 2019
Evolution
In the clip above you can see just how exactly the belt has evolved over the years. You can see a whole host of some of the most iconic fighters in the history of the promotion. These include the likes of Georges St. Pierre, Chuck Liddell, Conor McGregor, Anderson Silva, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Brock Lesnar, Jon Jones, and Daniel Cormier.
Fighters will no longer be able to pile up belts like Demetrious Johnson for example, who got a new one for each of his 11 successful title defences. Instead, red stones will be added to the side plates on the belt, signalling a successful championship defence. A new belt will be awarded if they win in a second weight class, like Amanda Nunes for example.
Eight countries are also represented on the belt: U.S.A., Canada, Brazil, the Netherlands, Poland, Belarus, the U.K., and Ireland. One of the coolest parts is that fighters will get their straps individually customised with their name and division weight when they win. What do you think of the new hardware?
