The championship fight. The pinnacle of achievement across combat sports for centuries. A premiere attraction that draws millions every year. But not all title bouts are created equally.
So which title bouts every week are the ones to watch? We’ll look over every title fight from across the combat sports landscape and give you the five best based on five criteria:
- Competitiveness: Is this an even matchup? Or just a warm body to throw at a champion? It’s a title fight, so we want the best possible at that division in that promotion.
- Excitement: How exciting will this fight be? A clash of two elite talents throwing everything they have at each other in an attempt to win the gold? Or a half-dead plod-fest devoid of action or risk?
- Juice: A sort of catch-all term for all the factors behind the matchup. Is there a story leading up to the match? A true rivalry? Anticipated rematch? Do the fighters dislike each other? Were the circumstances leading to the fight extraordinary, or was it just a promoter putting two names against each other? Is there a lot of excitement or hype going into it?
- Prestige: Applies to the belt itself, but also to the fighter wearing it. Is this a long-tenured champion defending? Is this an interim title or one that was vacated? Has the champion increased the prestige of the title or is this a fight that will increase the prestige of it?
- Viewing Ease: We all don’t mind suffering for our art (or hobbies), but sometimes paying twenty dollars for a choppy stream, or searching your cable plan for a channel you’re pretty sure was just invented three days ago in the 6000s isn’t the best of times. How easy, affordable, and stress-free is this bout to watch?
So here are your five best gold options for the weekend.
5. Fight To Win Pro Black Belt Middleweight No-Gi Championship: DJ Jackson (c) vs. Arnaldo Maidana De Oliveira
When/Where: Saturday, 5:00pm, FloGrappling
Competitiveness: 3: Maidana is a legit black belt and is world-class, but he doesn’t have many signature wins or golds to his record. He’s always in the mix, but when he steps up in competition, he usually falls.
Excitement: 4
Juice: 1
Prestige: 3
Viewing Ease: 3: This merits an enormous discussion for another time, but just as cable packages became too bloated to become sustainable, I feel we’re nearing that point with streaming services. Even if we’re just talking about combat sports, we’re looking at Fight Pass, DAZN (after a price hike), the Flo families, ESPN+, WWE Network (I know, but the fanbases do coincide with each other), plus any streaming packages you may have with cable networks through Roku or Android TV, as well as PPV services like Fite. You can easily pile up triple digits without even trying. Even without looking at the big picture, a fight fan has to cut where they can cut, and with Fight Pass, DAZN, and ESPN+ all pretty-much must-subscribe, Flo is going to get left in the dust unless you’re a hardcore grappling or wrestling fan.
Total: 14
t3. Inaugural Rizin Light Heavyweight Championship: Jiri Prochazka (23-3-1) vs. Muhammed Lawal (21-8)
When/Where: Sunday, 1:00am, Fite.tv
Competitiveness: 3
Excitement: 5
Juice: 3: On New Year’s Eve, traditionally the biggest fight night in Japan dating back decades, in the main event of RIZIN’s Light Heavyweight tournament, King Mo starched Prochazka and stood tall at the end of the year. Now it’s for gold. Does Mo still have Jiri’s number, or has he adapted?
Prestige: 2: Inaugural titles aren’t exactly teeming with prestige, but 205 can be a wildly entertaining division of RIZIN commits to it.
Viewing Ease: 2
Total: 15
t3. Lion Fight Women’s World Super Flyweight Championship: Amy Pirnie (21-3-1) vs. Sandra Godvik (9-1)
When/Where: Saturday, 10:00pm, CBS Sports
Competitiveness: 5
Excitement: 3
Juice: 1
Prestige: 3: This is the only world title that Lion Fight has on the docket for this card. This isn’t the best fight on it, but Lion Fight is a legit world-class promotion.
Viewing Ease: 3: With Glory no longer with ESPN, if Lion Fight can maintain a relationship with CBS Sports, especially being viewed live, that’s going to be huge for them.
Total: 15
2. WBO World Welterweight Championship: Terence Crawford (c) (34-0) vs. Amir Khan (33-4)
When/Where: Saturday, 9:00pm, Pay-Per-View
Competitiveness: 3
Excitement: 5: I’ve been trashing this matchup, and it is bad, but Khan will come to fight. He’ll make it interesting before the thunder hits.
Juice: 1
Prestige: 5
Viewing Ease: 2: Seventy goddamned dollars to watch Amir Khan’s lights get turned off. At least the undercard is fantastic.
Total: 16
1. Interim WBA World Junior Featherweight Championship: Brandon Figueroa (18-0) vs. Yonfrez Parejo (22-3-1)
When/Where: Saturday, 8:00pm, FOX
Competitiveness: 5
Excitement: 4
Juice: 3: At only 22, Figueroa is destined for great things and titles, but Parejo has experience and doesn’t get rattled. This will be his fourth straight fight in a different country, including challenging Ryan Burnett for that very same WBA Junior Featherweight strap a little more than a year ago. Now he’s inching towards it again.
Prestige: 3: This is the closest to an actual world championship on the Garcia-Granados card.
Viewing Ease: 5
Total: 20
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