The old UFC belt looks a lot different than the one used by champions today. Its appearance transformed along with the organization in the past decades.
The present day UFC is the biggest and the most prestigious league in MMA. The organization featured the best lineup of champions from the lightest to the heaviest divisions. And over the years, several of these champions have even been mentioned as the possible Greatest of All Time. However, the UFC we know today wasn’t the same UFC when it first started.
During the inaugural UFC, the event was initially designed to showcase the best martial art. With no time limit and multiple fights in one night, MMA then wasn’t even recognized as a legitimate sport. Also, fighters then don’t have a complete arsenal of techniques from wrestling to BJJ, to superior striking.
As the UFC evolved and created multiple weight divisions, the organization started giving belts for their champions to defend. And while the UFC became a mainstream attraction, the look of their championship belt also changed.
In this article, we’ll discuss the history and how the old UFC belt changed. We’ll give you an idea how champions earn their belts, and how much do belts really cost.
UFC Belt Design History
If you’ve been a fan of mixed martial arts since the 1990s, you may have noticed that the UFC never awarded championship belts when it was still starting. Instead, Royce Gracie received a medal in 1993 when he won the tournament. The first UFC belt only made its debut in 1995 during UFC 5.
Early UFC Belt Designs from the 1990s
In the early 1990s, the old UFC belt design looked more like a pro-wrestling belt than an MMA or a boxing championship belt. It looked similar to belts in the indie wrestling circuit with the old UFC logo smacked in the middle.
In 1995, The Ultimate Fighting Championship introduced the belt after Dan Severn won the tournament at UFC 5. On the other hand, the SuperFight title wasn’t awarded that night since Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock fought to a draw.
That said, there was a time when the UFC had two similar-looking belts. One is for the tournament winner and the other is for the SuperFight title.
By 1997, the UFC introduced divisional championship belts. Mark “The Hammer” Coleman became the first heavyweight champion of the UFC after defeating Dan Severn. That same year, Frank Shamrock became the inaugural UFC light heavyweight champion after defeating Kevin Jackson in Yokohama, Japan in UFC Japan.
And by 1998, a welterweight champion was crowned in UFC Brazil when Pat Miletich defeated Mikey Burnett. But just as the UFC changed, so did its belt’s design. Though the appearance of the belt changed a bit during this time, UFC was still in its early years. The organization was with then-owners SEG. The organization then was still using its old logo of a muscled bald man behind a globe.
UFC Belt Designs from the Early 2000s
Then in 2001, Zuffa purchased the UFC. Led by Lorenzo and Frank Fertita, Zuffa bought UFC in January 2001. Dana White, on the other hand, became the president of the company. As part of Zuffa’s vision for the company, the Fertitas rebranded the UFC. UFC received a new logo and the design of the belt changed as well. In 2001, the UFC dropped the muscled bald man and instead used the initials UFC.
The UFC belt introduced by Zuffa in 2001 became one of the most iconic belts in the organization. It stayed that way until UFC introduced its current design in 2019.
Along with the change in the belt’s aesthetics came more divisions for the UFC. The UFC introduced the lightweight and the middleweight titles in 2001. Jens Pulver won the lightweight title against Caol Uno while Dave Menne won the middleweight title against Gil Castillo.
By 2010, the UFC is already the market leader in Mixed Martial Arts after it bought PRIDE. In that year, the organization bought WEC paving way for lighter divisions in the organization.
As a result of the UFC-WEC merger, WEC had its last event in WEC 53. It featured the WEC Lightweight Championship between Benson Henderson and Anthony Pettis. The winner was scheduled to face the winner of the Frankie Edgar and the Gray Maynard title fight, in an attempt to unify the WEC and UFC lightweight titles. On the other hand, Dominic Cruz defeated Scott Jorgensen retaining his WEC Bantamweight title and becoming the inaugural UFC Bantamweight champion.
Old UFC Belt vs. New UFC Belt
However, the golden belt from 2001 still looked more like the WCW Heavyweight Championship wrestling belt. It was in 2019 when the belt’s look changed to what we see nowadays. The UFC gave it a new name too: the Legacy Belt.
Between the golden belt from 2001 to 2019 to the Legacy UFC belt, the new UFC belt doesn’t look like a wrestling belt. It comes with flag iconography that represents the countries of the first 8 UFC champions. Also, it came with 25 stones around the UFC logo representing the 25 years of the UFC.
Aside from the more modern look of the Legacy UFC belt, UFC also changed the way they crown their champions. For instance, before the Legacy UFC belt, the fighter is given an entirely new championship belt after every successful defense.
Only one champion receives the Legacy Belt. Instead of a new belt, an additional red stone replaces the diamond on the Legacy belt representing a successful title defense.
The red stones first replace the stones on the left side plate of the belt. The red stones will only start replacing the right side plate after the 8th title defense. The right side has 8 extra stones for more title defenses.
UFC BMF Belt
Aside from the current Legacy UFC belt, the UFC also came up with the UFC BMF Belt. BMF stands for the “Baddest MotherF****r”. It made its debut in UFC 244 when Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal fought in UFC 244. Unlike the divisional championship belts that have their ranking, the BMF belt was more of an honorary belt. Its purpose was to hype the Masvidal-Diaz fight.
The BMF belt looks similar to the UFC Legacy belt, but the former has the initials BMF instead of UFC. Jorge Masvidal is the first and last fighter to hold this title.
How Much is an Old UFC Title Belt Worth?
So how much does a UFC belt cost? Fight organizations don’t usually announce the cost of their belts. But since it comes with a velvet zippered carrying case for protection, it only means that it is not exactly cheap.
For the old UFC belt that stayed with the organization since 2001, Michael Bisping mentioned its worth in a podcast. He said that Dana White told Rashad Evans that the old belts are worth around $300,000 each.
According to Bisping: “Rashad Evans, former champion, has a belt at home. He was having a conversation with Dana White, and Dana White told him that the old belts, the ones that we have, are worth $300,000 each”.
Bisping added: “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”.
As for the new belt, it is speculated that the value is at around $330,000 mainly because of the gold materials and the diamonds. However, the new belts become more valuable after every defense as the diamonds are replaced by the more expensive ruby gems.
What made the belt expensive?
One of the main reasons that made UFC belts expensive is the materials found on the belt. The old UFC Championship Belt is 50 inches in length, weighing around 5.5 pounds. It came with 16 solid brass straps. The belt contained a significant amount of gold, making it pricey.
Though $300,000 already sounds expensive, this isn’t exactly the most extravagant belt in the fight business.
For instance, when Floyd Mayweather faced Connor McGreggor in a boxing match, the WBC 24K World Championship Belt was estimated at around $1 million. The WBC 24K World Championship Belt contained 3.3 pounds of 24K gold. In addition to this, there were precious gems including 3,360 diamonds, 600 sapphires, and 160 emeralds. And to top it off, the belt was made of Ferrari leather.
The UFC belts were never exactly as flamboyant as their boxing counterparts. However, another reason that could potentially add value to the belt is the history behind the champion who held the UFC belt. Belts from champions or former champions included in the GOAT debate are likely to have a higher valuation.
How Much is a UFC Replica Worth?
If you’re a fan, there is still a chance to have a UFC belt in your collection. And over the years, there is a growing interest in collecting replica belts. The good news is that there are plenty of options in the market.
Sold on Amazon are significantly cheaper replica belts. The cheapest replica belts start around less than $200, but the value can also go up. All you need to do is to have it signed by a champion.
However, not all replicas are the same. There are also some more expensive replica belts. Some of the gold-plated replica belts sold to the public at around $1000.
Do Former UFC Champions Keep Their Belts?
One of the most common questions asked by fans is if champions get to keep the belt even after they lost the title. Is the same belt passed around in every title defense? The short answer is that former UFC champions get to keep their belt. However, there is a twist.
Before UFC’s Legacy belt, champions who successfully defended their title get a new shining belt. This means that champions receive an additional belt worth around $300,000 per title defense. However, this practice stopped after the UFC unveiled its Legacy belt.
The cost of the old belt could explain why the UFC finally decided to stop giving a new belt every title fight. With the new belt, the UFC doesn’t have to spend an extra $300,000 on a belt for every title fight.
Just imagine the number of belts that Demetrious Johnson has in his trophy room. Mighty Mouse once displayed 10 shiny UFC belts. Mighty Mouse won the flyweight title in 2012 at UFC 152. And after that, he successfully defended the title before losing to Henry Cejudo at UFC 197 in 2016. Aside from Demetrious Johnson, GSP defended his belt 9 times throughout his career. Anderson Silva, on the other hand, had 10 title defenses while Jon Jones had 11.
Nowadays, the UFC just upgrades the Legacy belt and adds a ruby gem instead of spending $300,000 on a new belt.
Is the UFC Belt Real Gold?
Even if the UFC belt is not as extravagant as the ones in boxing, the UFC belt contains gold. Around 50% of the entire UFC belt is gold. Of the UFC belt’s total weight of 5.5 pounds, it contains 2 pounds of gold and costs at least $300,000.
But aside from the real gold, it comes with gold-plated metal too. Plus, UFC belts make use of genuine leather.
So what about the replica belts? The UFC replica belts don’t contain gold. Instead, these replica belts are usually made of zinc alloy underneath the gold plated metal. This means that it is also possible that real belts also contain zinc alloy underneath the gold plated metal parts.
Conclusion
It’s interesting to see how the UFC evolved. Today, there are a total of 8 divisions for males and 4 divisions for females. With the number of elite athletes on UFC’s roster, the amount of talent alone gives prestige to the championship belts.
Changes in the UFC belt’s design have always signified a change in the UFC’s era. From the old UFC belt to the current Legacy belt, UFC belts are precious not just because of the gold and precious gems. UFC belts are precious because of the champions who wore them and fought for them in classic matches.