The Former UFC Champion Michael Bisping Claims Old Title Belts Cost $300,000 Each!
UFC unveiled the new title belt design on January 18, 2019.
Henry Cejudo was the first man who put the new UFC belt around his waist. “The Messenger” TKO’d Bantamweight king TJ Dillashaw in 32 seconds to defend a UFC Flyweight title in the main event of UFC Fight Night 143, on January 19, 2019.
The opinion of the fight fans and MMA community are divided. While some criticize, others praise new design.
But one detail is different. The defending champs will only get a new stone on their title plates from now on, not a new belt for every successful title defense. Check the tweet below for more details.
Check out the new editions to the UFC Legacy Belt 👀 pic.twitter.com/2pSDoMpaiv
— UFC (@ufc) January 18, 2019
Michael Bisping revealed the potential reason why UFC decided to make this change in the recent episode of his podcast. “The Count” says the former Light Heavyweight champ Rashad Evans told him that Dana White once mentioned the manufacture of each old belt cost an impressive $300,000! (h/t Fightful.com)
“Rashad Evans, former champion, has a belt at home,” Bisping said. “He was having a conversation with Dana White, Dana White told him that the old belts, the ones that we have are worth $300,000 each.
“That’s what Dana White told Rashad Evans. Mine’s just been gathering dust back there. There’s another one in the other room just gathering dust, if I’d known they were worth $600,000 between them I might get them insured for one and then they get stolen … I’m joking.
“I might at least put them in some kind of case and keep the dust off of them. Apparently Rashad Evans swears they’re worth $300,000 apiece. Which yeah, I was happy. That’s good to know.”
It looks like this move will save a lot of money, especially in the cases of dominant champions like Demetrious Johnson, Jose Aldo or Anderson Silva. What do you think, did the big cost forced UFC to design a new belt?
