The MMA world willingly suspends disbelief every time the UFC calls one in all its titles the “undisputed” world championship.
The time period “undisputed” champion was initially picked up from boxing, the place it holds a extra particular that means and uncommon accomplishment, when a fighter concurrently holds each single main belt in his division (WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO).
In MMA, the UFC belt is one in all many promotional titles, and on the finish of the day, it’s “merely an award they bestow on the very best fighter that night time.”
Within the earlier years, PRIDE, and to some extent Strikeforce, had clear say on having a few of MMA’s finest champions. As of late, many people have been responsible of simply accepting every time the UFC makes use of the undisputed descriptor. The logic behind that is with the UFC now being by far probably the most distinguished MMA group on the earth, usually — however not at all times — it has the highest fighters beneath its banner, and often the “finest” fighter within the division holding their belt.
Though in 2023, when the UFC tries to advertise its present mild heavyweight champ and future heavyweight titleholder as “undisputed,” it ought to give us all pause.
It didn’t take the UFC lengthy to tag Jamahal Hill because the “undisputed mild heavyweight champion” after he defeated Glover Teixeira at UFC 283. I gained’t denigrate what Hill did that night time in Rio de Janeiro. He put a beating on Teixeira that grew to become uncomfortable to look at because the combat wore on. The competition was so one-sided that Teixeira’s longtime coach John Hackleman tried to finish the carnage that was unfolding within the octagon and throw in the towel earlier than the beginning of the ultimate spherical.
Hill gained the combat cleanly and with out dispute, however to name him the undisputed UFC mild heavyweight champion is a stretch. Bear in mind, the Teixeira vs. Hill combat solely got here to be as a result of the UFC 282 mild heavyweight title combat between Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev resulted in a draw that bored UFC president Dana White so severely that he disqualified both man for competing for that vacant title.
The titles emptiness is one more reason to query the UFC’s proclamation that Hill is the undisputed champ. The person who vacated that belt, Jiri Prochazka, relinquished the UFC light heavyweight title due to a shoulder damage that prevented him from defending the title as he was initially scheduled to do — towards Teixeira — at UFC 282.
If one needs to look deeper on the state of affairs at mild heavyweight, there are additionally these of the opinion — and I rely myself amongst that group — that Hill isn’t even the second-best light heavyweight on the earth.
So sure, Jamahal Hill is the UFC mild heavyweight champion, however undisputed? Not right now. On the very least, Hill has to beat Prochazka and even then, there can be some doubt to his undisputed standing with Bellator mild heavyweight champ Vadim Nemkov competing within the 205-pound weight division.
The concept that the UFC is making an attempt to promote the winner of the upcoming UFC 285 heavyweight title combat between Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane as “UNDISPUTED” is, frankly, laughable.
That belt is vacant as a result of the UFC couldn’t come to contractual terms with Francis Ngannou, the person who gained the title in March 2021 after which defended it in January 2022. When the UFC stripped the free-agent fighter of the title in January 2023, Ngannou had gained six straight fights — 5 by knockout — and was coming off a call win over Gane.
There’s no means that the winner of the Jones vs. Gane combat would be the undisputed heavyweight champ, because the precise “undisputed” champion by no means misplaced his belt. If Gane wins, followers will level to his loss to Ngannou. If Jones claims victory at UFC 285, the win can be his first at heavyweight, and solely beating the quantity two (or three) heavyweight. Both means, the shadow of Ngannou will rightfully hold over the victor of that combat.
What I’m getting at right here is that now’s the time we cease suspending disbelief when the UFC makes a sweeping, patently unfaithful declaration and begin seeing issues extra dispassionately. And objectively talking, the present UFC mild heavyweight champion and the soon-to-be UFC heavyweight titleholder are usually not undisputed — even when the promotion needs to proclaim them to be in daring and all caps.
