In the words of Cage Rage co-promoter Dave O’Donnell: ”We are now doing an exclusive deal with an American company for the belts and they will be yours to keep after three wins. Because we are now getting top international and world class MMA stars we felt it was fair to break up the categories into British and world titleholders, giving British fighters the opportunity to push towards the world stage.”
In practical terms, this means that every weight category is now going to have two champions. What has yet to be decided, or at least explicitly declared, is what the interface will be between the British and world titleholders. This is a genuinely problematic area, since the standing of the British title, in particular, is not clear. Is the British champion guaranteed a world title shot after, say, three defenses? Or do the titles represent two distinct divisions, populated by fighters who are destined never to meet each other?
For my part, I hope that the former is true. It does not take a genius to recognize that there is a difference in terms of international standing between some of the current Cage Rage titleholders. Anderson Silva, for example, is a recognized international name, whilst Mike Bisping, an excellent and exciting fighter, is less well known on the world scene.
The move to two titles, if handled well, is certainly a good opportunity for Cage Rage. It could potentially allow them to incentivize British fighters, giving them their own division to fight in, and, after a set number of defenses the champion could progress into the world title picture.
I just feel a bit sorry for Ian Freeman, Paul Jenkins and Mike Bisping, who seem to have been left with British titles simply because of their nationality. You can only beat the man they put in front of you, and Jenkins in particular could feel aggrieved since he defeated Ronaldo Campos, a Brazilian, for his title. Had Campos won that clash, would he now be a world or British champion?
Either way, the decision has been made and I trust that Cage Rage will deal with this in the manner that they deal with everything, and that today marks another giant leap forward for the UK MMA scene.
The current champions are:
Heavyweight World Title – Vacant
Heavyweight British Title – Ian “The Machine” Freeman
Light Heavyweight World Title – Vacant
Light Heavyweight British Title – Michael “The Count” Bisping
Middleweight World Title – Anderson Silva Middleweight British Title – Vacant
Welterweight World Title – Vacant
Welterweight British Title – Paul “Hands of Stone” Jenkins
Lightweight World Title – Jean “White Bear” Silva
Lightweight British Title – Vacant
Featherweight World Title – Vacant
Featherweight British Title – Vacant