Is this the coolest championship belt in UFC history?
This special edition UFC championship belt, called “Tribe Belt No. 1,” was presented to UFC women’s flyweight champion Alexa Grasso this week ahead of her title rematch with Valentina Shevchenko in Las Vegas.
The event itself, Noche UFC, is a special UFC show to celebrate Mexican Independence Day, with Mexico’s Grasso playing a starring role in the main event as she looks to cement her position as 125-pound champion by claiming back-to-back victories over former long-reigning champion Shevchenko, who is hell-bent on avenging her loss in their first meeting at UFC 285 in March.
During fight week ahead of the event, Grasso was presented with the special championship belt, and photos of the ornate prize were provided to Fighters Only, along with a very descriptive explanation of the design and the inspiration behind it.
“The UFC belt is the hallmark of those who, on the arduous road to success, demonstrated the preeminence of their skills within the competition. Therefore, this award is the consecration of all those fights defeated inside and outside of the octagon,” said a press release.
“The Taller Jacobo y María Ángeles is pleased to present the intervention of the Tribe Belt #1 that seeks to exalt the leadership of those women who, among the adversities of the territory, make their way to face the adversities of life.
“This design retakes elements of the Mexican pre-Hispanic culture in the heart of the Mixtec/Zapotec cultures, in which values are abstracted in a design that as a memento shows the long road to triumph. Dexterity, courage, ability, and discipline are symbolisms through the iconography of the workshop as the house; protection, the fish; respect, person; people, butterfly; happiness, wind; movement and rattle; maximum power in a bid to materialize the arduous path of a champion.
“There is no triumph without defeat, no joy without sorrow. The opposites are dualities that complement each other. The colors that accompany this belt are the materialization of this thought, one negative of the other, both in the same space, both being a belt; an emblem of the synergistic relations.
“The Tribe Belt #1 seeks to exalt the courage and determination of the leader who puts her abilities and skills to the test; but just as important, to materialize the responsibility that becomes in a belt who the winner puts on her shoulder as weight of her memories, tears and glories.”
Photos: Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC