Why defending your title, even against seemingly lesser opponents, is the most valuable thing in combat sports

[Hazuki Ryo]

1) Defending your title is hard because you always fight the #1 contender who trained his ass off in a grueling 4 months fight camp in order to take your head off and get your belt.
2) It's 5 rounds so it's always the hardest fight of your life
3) Anything can happen (ask GSP against Serra or Rockhold against Bisping) so every opponent has to be taken seriously because a flash KO happens easily
4) You have to deal with the pressure of being the title holder, sometimes in your hometown. You have everything to lose while the other guy have everything to win. You are the hunted, and it's not an easy status in every competitive sport in general
5) You face different styles, not only different fighters. Styles make fights, and what make Anderson Silva or GSP consecutive titles impressive is that they had to eventually deal with unfavorable match ups.
6) You have to be durable. Defending your belt for many years is impressive because as the sport is evolving, so are your opponents. As a champion, you're most likely around +30 and you keep getting older/injured while young wolves are after you


This is what defending your title will always be more impressive than a quick change of division in order to get another belt. Take notes, Islam, Pereira, Khabib, Conor etc...

 

[Davidjacksonjones]

Very well said I agree
There is a reason why all the top 5 GOATs are considered the greatest, mainly because of the ridiculous amount of title defenses.

I would say that a long time defending champion who clears his division is much more impressive than the champ who wins a 2nd belt without defending

​

 

[PulsingJones]

1) Defending your title is hard because you always fight the #1 contender who trained his ass off in a grueling 4 months fight camp in order to take your head off and get your belt.

This is categorically untrue, many champions defended against people outside of the Top 5 even. We just had a title fight against the number 10 ranked guy

It's 5 rounds so it's always the hardest fight of your life

Many non-title fights can be 5 rounds, and not all title fights go the distance.

Anything can happen (ask GSP against Serra or Rockhold against Bisping) so every opponent has to be taken seriously because a flash KO happens easily

And this applies to non-title fights as well.

You face different styles, not only different fighters. Styles make fights, and what make Anderson Silva or GSP consecutive titles impressive is that they had to eventually deal with unfavorable match ups.

Again, not exclusive to title fights.

You have to be durable. Defending your belt for many years is impressive because as the sport is evolving, so are your opponents. As a champion, you're most likely around +30 and you keep getting older/injured while young wolves are after you

Durabilty takes a hit from fighting, not having the world "title fights" slapped on your fights. People who went 10+ fights to reach the title are more battered than ones gifted the title shot after 3 or 4 wins.

Take notes, Islam, Pereira, Khabib, Conor etc

Just another stupid thread to shit on Khabib and Islam

 

[HeffDoesWant]

It's actually pretty rare to fight the number 1 contender.

 

[ernestventures]

I agree, it seems some fighters are only worried in holding the belt, but not cementing their legacy's as champions.

How can we know if Sean is the real champion if he has not faced Merab? The same goes for Topuria, that has to fight Holloway and rematch Volka. Jones should be at best the interim 'champion'. Aspinall was fighting everyone, ans Jones just beat one guy in HW.

 

[Hazuki Ryo]

This is categorically untrue, many champions defended against people outside of the Top 5 even. We just had a title fight against the number 10 ranked guy


Many non-title fights can be 5 rounds, and not all title fights go the distance.


And this applies to non-title fights as well.


Again, not exclusive to title fights.


Durabilty takes a hit from fighting, not having the world "title fights" slapped on your fights. People who went 10+ fights to reach the title are more battered than ones gifted the title shot after 3 or 4 wins.


Just another stupid thread to shit on Khabib and Islam

1) i'm obviously not talking about bullshit title fights
2) yes many non title fights can be 5 rounds, but ALL title fights go 5 rounds. And even though it doesn't go the distance, you have to TRAIN as if it will. Training for a 3 rounds fight or a 5 rounds fight is a different thing. Championship rounds means something.
3) It happens to non title fights as well, but it adds up to all the pressure of being a title holder
4) It's not exclusive to title fights but i'm talking about successfully defending your title WHILE having unfavorable match ups. I mean, yes Ferguson's run have been super impressive and he didn't have to defend, but he's kind of an orginal case in MMA
5) Well obviously when you have the title it means you also endured the 10+ fights to reach it.
6) Islam and Khabib specifically said they didn't want to defend a lot. Like just a few times. That's why i mentioned them. I love them as fighters. I also mentioned Conor and Pereira so please take your butthurt mentality with you and argument without letting your emotions go

 

[OldBoy91]

There's also the aspect that when you're a long reigning champion, you're always fighting somebody that is new to you, a new style a new look. But that person has been training and climbing the ranks with you in mind for a long time. Makes it even more impressive.

As an example. When Anderson Silva was defending his title against the likes of Chael and Vitor, Chris Weidman was starting his career already preparing to fight Anderson eventually. Anderson didn't even know who Weidman was.

 

[HeffDoesWant]

6) You have to be durable. Defending your belt for many years is impressive because as the sport is evolving, so are your opponents. As a champion, you're most likely around +30 and you keep getting older/injured while young wolves are after you.

Cruz being the obvious exception, lack of durability allowed him many years as champion.

Over 2years inactive before being retroactively stripped. That's a longer than average time to hold the belt and he didn't even fight.

 

[RockyLockridge]

I disagree with point 1. you wont always fight the number one contender. Islam might break the title defense record without doing it.

 

[Marko Polo]

This is categorically untrue, many champions defended against people outside of the Top 5 even. We just had a title fight against the number 10 ranked guy


Many non-title fights can be 5 rounds, and not all title fights go the distance.


And this applies to non-title fights as well.


Again, not exclusive to title fights.


Durabilty takes a hit from fighting, not having the world "title fights" slapped on your fights. People who went 10+ fights to reach the title are more battered than ones gifted the title shot after 3 or 4 wins.


Just another stupid thread to shit on Khabib and Islam

You’re showing a disproportionate level of emotion for what’s being said here. Maybe it’s an attempt to get likes or you’re just having a rough day.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

the thing is a lot of fans now a days aka casuals think more belts > more defenses. i bet most casuals don't even realize that Aldo has way more defenses compared to Max or Conor. just like nobody gives a shit Stipe has the most title defenses for HW, it's not like people respected him more for breaking the defense record. in this day and age it's all about belt collecting. UFC's marketing for the "champ champ' shit really took off.

anyone who knows though realizes that TS is correct. defending is way harder than winning a single cherry picked fight for a belt.

 

[PEDRO IVO RUSSO MIRANDA]

The fact that the whole division are watching your fights, looking for weaknesses and etc and you can't just make camp for everyone (until the fight was booked) make things really hard.

In the best case scenario, you will have 3/4 month camp to prepare for a guy that are analyzing your game for a whole year.

And all your fights will be like that.

 

[Lee Danger]

the thing is a lot of fans now a days aka casuals think more belts > more defenses. i bet most casuals don't even realize that Aldo has way more defenses compared to Max or Conor. just like nobody gives a shit Stipe has the most title defenses for HW, it's not like people respected him more for breaking the defense record. in this day and age it's all about belt collecting. UFC's marketing for the "champ champ' shit really took off.

anyone who knows though realizes that TS is correct. defending is way harder than winning a single cherry picked fight for a belt.

uneducated combat sports'fans don't understand that every defence is winning (again) the belt: 9 succesful defences = 9 times belt winner = winning 9 belts

 

[Jackonfire]

Both Volk and Holloway consider Aldo the GOAT. And both cite his years at the top with so many successful defenses as the reason. Volk recently talked about all the little things that can go wrong from a fight camp, to fight week to the fight itself and said its just incredible what Aldo was able to do for so long.

And I remember GSP saying wining the belt was easy. That was just one fight. But keeping the belt is the hard part.

 

[Hazuki Ryo]

Both Volk and Holloway consider Aldo the GOAT. And both cite his years at the top with so many successful defenses as the reason. Volk recently talked about all the little things that can go wrong from a fight camp, to fight week to the fight itself and said its just incredible what Aldo was able to do for so long.

And I remember GSP saying wining the belt was easy. That was just one fight. But keeping the belt is the hard part.

Exactly. You had guys like Machida who was on a tear with 7 consecutive wins and as soon as he won the belt he lost to a hard stylistically matchup in Shogun.

 

[World eater]

Again, addressing the wrong issue, imo. People go for double champ status because it is easy. Weight cutting has advanced so much that fighters are able to fight 2 weight classes below thier training weight, let alone walk around weight. Going for belt 2 means cutting less, it is no longer as big a challenge as it used to be. MW fights are fought by guys who are all above LHW limit come fight time. It is garbage, but it is legal. If you are fine with weight cutting, accept the fact that many will at least try to go for double champ and attempts at triple weight champ will eventually happen as well. Why wouldn’t they go for it, because some hardcores scoff at it?

 

[blaseblase]

Defending the title over a long period of time matters because you can't continuously duck harder competition. For example Jones wants to fight Stipe, Pereira, and then dip. But were he actually to go on a run at heavyweight it would be impossible to avoid Aspinall.

Look at Jones light heavyweight run, it's 10x more impressive than the bullshit he's pulling at heavyweight. Same for DC, he managed to beat Stipe and then defended against the easiest style in the top 10 for him. If you listened to DC talk when he was champion he specifically said he did not want to fight the Blaydes and Ngannous of the division, which would have been tougher fights for him.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

You're not the champ until you defend the belt - Rampage Jackson

 

[sandokan83]

I agree, it seems some fighters are only worried in holding the belt, but not cementing their legacy's as champions.

How can we know if Sean is the real champion if he has not faced Merab? The same goes for Topuria, that has to fight Holloway and rematch Volka. Jones should be at best the interim 'champion'. Aspinall was fighting everyone, ans Jones just beat one guy in HW.

We can check if a fighter is the champion at the very beginning of the fight. They normally say: "And his opponent is the reigning defending champion etc etc. " you can also check his record on the web or magazine .

 

[RockyLockridge]

This is categorically untrue, many champions defended against people outside of the Top 5 even. We just had a title fight against the number 10 ranked guy


Many non-title fights can be 5 rounds, and not all title fights go the distance.


And this applies to non-title fights as well.


Again, not exclusive to title fights.


Durabilty takes a hit from fighting, not having the world "title fights" slapped on your fights. People who went 10+ fights to reach the title are more battered than ones gifted the title shot after 3 or 4 wins.


Just another stupid thread to shit on Khabib and Islam

Holy fuck the bathtub boys are looking fragile right now lmao