Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion, Michael Bisping, recently told the mixed martial arts (MMA) community that championship belts were worth $300,000 apiece, according to his conversation with Rashad Evans.
On the open market, they’re only worth $55,527.
That’s what Canadian Museum of History paid to obtain the title Georges St-Pierre won with his technical knockout win over BJ Penn at the UFC 94 pay-per-view (PPV) event roughly a decade ago in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“We are very pleased to be the first institution to add to our collection a piece of memorabilia related to Georges St-Pierre, and in so doing recognize both his exceptional career and the popularity of mixed martial arts in Canada,” said Mark O’Neill, president and CEO of the Canadian Museum of History (via Ottawa Citizen).
St-Pierre ended up giving the title to a gym owner who helped a destitute “Rush” earlier in his career, but when the new proprietor fell on hard times, the belt changed hands and eventually found its way on the Internet.
That’s when the museum stepped in, by way of Classic Auctions.
“If I was able to have that much success in my career and to obtain that particular belt, it’s because of the support of the fans,” said St-Pierre. “The fact that now it will be exposed to the fans, it’s my way to say thank you.”