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. Glory Women’s Super Bantamweight Championship: Tiffany van Soest (c) (22-6-2) vs. Aline Pereira (6-1)
When/Where: Saturday, 2:00pm, Pay-Per-View
Competitiveness: 3: Pereira is a fine fighter, but the division is still just TvS and Anissa Meksen.
Excitement: 2
Juice: 1
Prestige: 4
Viewing Ease: 3: Glory has had so many goddamned homes over the years. ESPN2, Spike/Paramount, Fight Pass, and now here we are, going the straight PPV route.
Total: 13
4. KSW Featherweight Championship: Salahdine Parnasse (c) (14-0-1) vs. Daniel Torres (11-4)
When/Where: Saturday, 2:00pm, Fite.tv
Competitiveness: 4: Parnasse is making his first defense of his title, and at only 23, is destined for big things in MMA, but Torres has wom three straight, including two in KSW, and is a rightful challenger.
Excitement: 3
Juice: 1
Prestige: 3
Viewing Ease: 3: Twelve bucks isn’t bad at all for the most consistent European MMA promotion there is.
Total: 14
3. IBF World Super Middleweight Championship: Caleb Plant (c) (20-0) vs. Caleb Truax (31-4-2)
When/Where: Saturday, 8:00pm, FOX
Competitiveness: 3
Excitement: 4: Truax has problems with hard punchers, and BOY, is Plant one of those.
Juice: 1
Prestige: 5
Viewing Ease: 5: World championship boxing on network TV, finally PBC taking advantage of the airwaves.
Total: 18
2. Undisputed Glory Light Heavyweight Championship: Artem Vakhitov (c) (20-5) vs. Alex Pereira (ic) (41-6)
When/Where: Saturday, 2:00pm, Pay-Per-View
Competitiveness: 5: Both fighters are on eight-fight winning streaks, with Pereira never even losing the middleweight championship. As evenly-matched as we can get.
Excitement: 3
Juice: 3: Pereira never lost his middleweight title and is attempting to claim the light heavyweight title now.
Prestige: 5
Viewing Ease: 3
Total: 19
1. Undisputed Glory Welterweight Championship: Cedric Doumbe (c) (74-7-1) vs. Murthel Groenhart (69-24-3)
When/Where: Saturday, 2:00pm, Pay-Per-View
Competitiveness: 5: They split a pair of decisions in 2016 and 17, and the argument can be made that it’s past Groenhart’s time, but 2017 wasn’t THAT long ago.
Excitement: 4
Juice: 4: Glory tends not to delve into the war-of-words to sell fights and their rivalries seldom go beyond competitiveness, but this matchup is actually pretty spicy. Toss in that it’s a trilogy fight and we have a real rivalry, here.
Prestige: 5
Viewing Ease: 3
Total: 21
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